Well, the rantings of Facebook have helped me decide on a topic this week.
I felt terrible for the girl my friend posted about; she had put in her checked luggage a camera, MacBook Pro, iPad, and hard drive, but it had gotten lost and when the bag was returned she was missing these items. All things she uses for her studies in university. It would be devastating to lose all of that, however, my first question was, “Why did she pack those things in her checked luggage?”
When packing for a flight regardless of which company you’re going with your valuables go into your carry on.
Why? Well as thorough as companies are when hiring people you never know when one might think, “How easy would it be to sneak a few things out of a bag?” You never really know, there’s a lot of people behind the scenes who handle bags and are all of them trustworthy and moral people? Maybe they come off as such but an employer might not really know until it’s too late.
Additionally, bags get lost every day. I was flying to Sydney, Australia, we went via Calgary-Vancouver-Beijing-Sydney – it was the cheapest way to get there. My bag got lost in Beijing, but I had luckily packed some clothes in my carry-on and lived for about a week with three changes of clothes. It sucked not to have everything and was inconvenient, but I knew there was a chance it would happen, direct flight or not.
Finally checked bags get tossed around and they fall off stacks of other bags. The contents can be jolted and broken; by checking luggage you accept these risks.
I feel like it was possibly the first time this person flew. Despite the latter concerns I listed, most travelers simply prefer having their valuables with them. When I travel my carry on even goes at my feet, so my paranoid brain knows my valuables are safe, no one else can get to them, and I can have a nap.
The girl issued a claim with the company for her stuff and when she received the maximum this company gives back (just under $2,000) for lost or damaged items. She was livid because that doesn’t come close to covering it all, so she and some friends have decided to boycott the company – stated in the comments of the post. It’s clear on any airlines’ website that checked baggage worth more than the max of the company’s liability is to have extra insurance through either the company you’re flying with or through your own insurance provider.
I feel terrible thinking that she is partially at fault in the incident and obviously it would be devastating to get your bag back and things missing, but when you fly with ANY company there are risks and by agreeing to fly you assume those risks.
All airlines have policies in place and recommendations online about packing and how valuables should be kept with you. Situations like this don’t happen often, but do on occasion, which is why airlines have these policies.
This girl learned a lesson the hard way, to keep your valuables with you when flying, and although I feel terrible for her, at the same time I think it’s rather short sighted to simply blame the company and threaten to boycott them when the same thing could happen with any airline.
