Suggestions for monitoring misplaced baggage amid Southwest struggles

TAMPA, Fla. — You’ve got in all probability seen among the photographs which have come out of nationwide airports since Southwest Airways canceled most of its flights: a sea of checked baggage left behind – even at Tampa Worldwide Airport. 

Nearly all of Southwest flights on Tuesday and Wednesday had been listed as canceled because the airline contends with huge backlogs following a winter storm. 

A whole bunch of luggage had been packed into the declare space at Tampa’s airport Monday and Tuesday whereas passengers, now with out a flight, turned more and more pissed off about what precisely occurred to their checked baggage.

Whereas it might take a while to reunite passengers with their misplaced luggage, we compiled a listing of sources that would assist you may have a greater concept about the place your belongings could also be positioned now and for future travels.

If you cannot discover your luggage, some airways have trackers arrange for vacationers to make use of to determine the place precisely their belongings are positioned.

On the airline’s web site, officers say if folks cannot discover their luggage, they should discuss to an agent on the airport after touchdown. The agent will give them a 13-character file reference quantity to make use of when filling a declare, however it will also be used to verify the standing of their luggage.

The quantity might be plugged right into a portal that helps pinpoint the place their luggage are.

On the airline’s web site, there is a software that enables vacationers to trace their checked luggage by simply typing of their bag tag quantity, affirmation quantity or file reference quantity.

“All baggage exercise [is] proven within the native time of the airport location. In case your itinerary contains journey on airways apart from Delta or its Connection carriers, baggage monitoring data will not be full. Please verify with the working service on your baggage standing,” the airline wrote on its web site.

On the airline’s web site, vacationers that wish to know the place their luggage are can full a kind on-line by typing of their file reference quantity given by the Baggage Decision Service Heart together with their first and final title.

If the airline you are touring by way of does not present a tracker, most individuals will file a declare with the airport’s Baggage Service Workplace if they can not discover their bag. Airways comparable to Spirit, Southwest, Frontier and JetBlue inform vacationers to talk with an agent on the workplace to create a report of the bag.

If you happen to occur to depart the airport, there are methods to file a declare on-line, as effectively:

Even when airways that present a tracker mess up and might’t monitor your bag, you may file a declare with them too:

For the airways that do not have trackers for vacationers to make use of, the most suitable choice can be to have your personal Bluetooth gadget to determine the place your luggage are. Apple AirTags and Tile Mates are the way in which to go, in line with The New York Occasions.

For folks with iPhones, the newspaper recommends the AirTag whereas Andriod customers are advised to make use of a Tile Mate. These units merely connect to the checked luggage or are positioned inside them to permit vacationers to hint them as soon as they arrive at their vacation spot.

An NYT author examined the 2 units and mentioned each the AirTag and Tile Mate despatched notifications to her cellphone when her suitcase landed on the airport she was at. However she did say the AirTag up to date its location a lot quicker than the Tile Mate, which confirmed her bag’s exact location about quarter-hour after touchdown.

“Each the AirTag and Tile Mate had been efficient in my testing. They’re straightforward to arrange, easy to report lacking, and sufficiently small to slide into any sort of checked baggage,” the NYT author defined within the article.

Right here is a few data from the U.S. Division of Transportation for individuals who have their luggage delayed:

• When a checked bag doesn’t arrive at its vacation spot, airways are answerable for finding the bag. Airways have monitoring methods in place to attempt to determine the bag’s location.  
• Some airways now provide purposes for cell telephones, tablets and different digital units, which offer passengers with knowledge on the placement of their baggage. It could be useful to make use of this expertise to find your baggage, if obtainable.
• Passengers ought to file a baggage declare with their airline as quickly as attainable. 
• Passengers ought to keep in shut communication with the airline after submitting a declare and through the baggage location course of. 

The Related Press contributed to this report.