Our luggage debacle

[henrygee]

What a debacle that turned out to be! It shows what a simple act of someone not thinking can do (this is just a small example!)

It's so annoying when something silly like this happens really isn't it...the adult shouldn't have sent the nephew to pick up their luggage and instead should have picked it up personally.

Though I guess in the rush of everything it's something that could happen to almost anyone if they weren't thinking :(

 

Good 3 morals to your story, I thought- the ribbons trick is also highly recommended as it's something I always do with our luggage when travelling by ship or airplane...haven't had any trouble yet so it must be a pretty good tip to pass on!

 

P.S. You tell a good story, too ;)

[room010]

I learned my lesson when I opened "my" suitcase after a long flight and discovered it wasn't mine at all. Unfortunately the person who mistakenly grabbed my bag didn't realise either until he opened it on an offshore oilrig where he was starting a 3 month shift. After a LOT of phone calls and a couple of days later the bags were returned to their rightful owners. Luckily we had both put our names and phone numbers on the tags - which obviously we didn't read. A lot of people don't even do that. It's also a good idea to put another tag inside the bad with your details on it so if the tag on the handle falls off during handling there's still a way of knowing who the bag belongs to.

[angelkisses]

Someone grabbed my son's luggage a few weeks ago in Jacksonville Port. Fortunatly, both him and the girl who took his luggage by mistake had their CELL PHONE numbers on the tags. He found an unclaimed bag that looked just like his so I told him to call the number and about that time his phone rang and it was the person who fortunatly realized she had the wrong luggage. So PLEASE include a cell phone number on your luggage tags if you have a cell phone with you.

[StillPooh]

we had both put our names and phone numbers on the tags - which obviously we didn't read. A lot of people don't even do that. It's also a good idea to put another tag inside the bad with your details on it so if the tag on the handle falls off during handling there's still a way of knowing who the bag belongs to.

Reading this thread, I was just wondering if I am the only person on the planet who actually checks the tags to make sure the bags I grab really are mine. :confused:

 

The handle tag was torn off my largest bag during embarkation on our cruise. I had filled out the pocket tag on the bag, though, and it found its way to our cabin the same time as all the others. :D

[Molly the Cat]

I've had the handles and tags torn off several times so I use fabric paint and stencil designs all over the surface of my luggage. My old black set was covered, front and back and down the sides with a red rose trellis with the stems and leaves in green glitter paint. It didn't stop a man at the airport taking my luggage off the carousel and going through the outer pockets - as I was watching!

 

My new red set is covered with purple flur-de-lis and outlined in gold glitter.

[iceshots]

My old black set was covered, front and back and down the sides with a red rose trellis with the stems and leaves in green glitter paint. It didn't stop a man at the airport taking my luggage off the carousel and going through the outer pockets - as I was watching!

.

 

He was probably upset that his luggage got hit by graffiti taggers while on the plane and was checking to see if anything had been removed from the pockets. :p

[MargaritaPlease]

I say lighten up. Stuff happens all the time. Don't let it ruin your cruise! If you spend the whole trip worrying about what color your luggage is, you're gonna miss a lot of fun! :)

 

We went to Mexico last year. My wife (not my kid) grabbed the wrong bag. It was an accident! She didn't realize it until she opened it at the hotel to realize it wasn't her stuff! Ooops! After a few phone calls, everything was resolved and a few hours later bags were swapped.

 

I send my kids to get our bags all the time. Then *I* check the tags! (Didn't realize I had to do the same with my wife!! LOL!)

 

Keep valuables out of your bags, carry some essentials in your carry-on on the way out, don't worry if you're laundry is delayed coming home.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

On our second cruise, my bag almost got on a bus headed for NC from Miami.

 

Since then, we've ALWAYS self disembarked with all of our luggage.

 

Moral of the story: You can't lose your stuff if you have it all with you.:cool:

 

 

I always get negative comments from people when they see us carrying on or off our own luggage. Our response is we've never lost a piece of our luggage either. It might be a little bit of pain to manage your own bags but I walk off the ship and straight to my car on debarkation. I don't have to worry if I will have clothes to wear during my cruise cuz they are with me until I can lock them up in my room. I don't check bags, never!

[crusinpsychRN]

I find it annoying going in a store to where luggage tags are dold and there only 3 or 4 to choose from. I use brightly colored ribbon no one wants on their luggage. So far so good.

[jayesouthworth]

We go to Michaels Hobbies (or WalMart as well) and we buy the brightest colored duct tape, and we tape all the handles with the tape. It's easy to spot and no mistake for anyone to take your luggage. You were lucky to get your luggage back.

[FanofFlorida]

Airlines have lost my luggage twice; returned safely but created very stressful situations (once I was on my way to Miami to cruise; the other returning home from Disney, and the loss caused us to miss our connection on a separate airline)

 

Considering the OPS story and other "oops I grabbed the wrong bag" incidents- OR situations like that couple in AZ who were stealing luggage right off the belt- SOMETHING extra is safer

 

Anyway, I realized how valuable DUCT TAPE is to cruisers once again. It always shows up on the 'odd things to pack' lists, and now recommended for luggage adornment? I noticed this before and just assumed travelers had mishaps in transit. Silly me!

Regardless the beautiful sense it makes, I just cant see myself defacing my bags with lime green duct tape :o.

I am all for an alternative prints, yet there is no way my husband is going to pull a hot pink with leopard print suitcase around. I think he would rather buy a new wardrobe! lol

 

I think the best idea is just to pack light and carry it on when flying. (I am SO GLAD we are driving to the cruiseport this time. And I will be thinking about the possible mishaps at the docks-duct tape it may well be!)

 

:) thanks for sharing your story, OP!

[Drew's Wife]

I purchased a royal blue set of luggage for myself that I thought would be easy to find. My husbands luggage is very unique in that it has his AFOne insignia on it.

 

I made some unique luggage tags in the hopes that no one would pick up our luggage acccidently. I chose one of our formal night cruise photos, made a 3x5 size and put put our names, address and cell number on the back of the photo. Had them laminated, and put them on with the zip ties. I made two for each piece of luggage. One goes on the outside and one is always ziptied to the inside of the luggage.

 

When I print our documents I always print extra tags and laminate those. Of course there is one on the outside of each piece of luggage and one on the inside. So each piece of luggage has at least four tags on them! :D

 

 

I've always been really scared of loosing our luggage after we arrived at our Honeymoon destination and our luggage did not!:eek:

[oncruisecontrol]

Something similar happened to one of travel mates in October. We had gotten off the ship, onto the Carnival shuttle, and made it to the airport in Ft. Lauderdale. The driver offloads the luggage at the first stop and those getting off there select their luggage and go to their respective terminal. We were on the last stop. Yup, my friend's luggage was not there, but there was another "unclaimed" black bag. The driver was upset and went back to the first stop, but there wasn't any luggage there on the sidewalk. Finally, we look at the remaining bag and see there is an airline sticker on it from the incoming flight. My friend hikes back to the first airline (other side of the terminal complex). They run a check, and yes, the person is on an outgoing flight and has already checked in. The airline personnel inspect the checked luggage and finds my friend's bag. We don't know if the person who took the bag ever knew about the mistake, but that person clearly didn't look at the bag even when checking in. It had been marked with colored tape!!! Luckily we had enough time before the flights departed to make the switch. The moral is... it's not always the baggage personnel to screw up the luggage transfer.Jim

 

The few times we've taken shared transport to and from the port, one person in our party always gets out of the van at each stop to ensure that our luggage is not mistakenly unloaded. A hassle I'll admit, but obviously necessary.

[yogi2929]

Our girls have neon pink luggage. To make them really stand out they had a friend paint the front and sides, one an Ipod and the other a huge guitar.

[Ohio Bob]

An idea for marking luggage stand out: I travel at least once a week and my luggage for return home is taken care of by my employer (ESPN) They mark 2" wide white tape with "TRUCK CREW - HOLD AT TRUCK" and "TV CREW" on my suitcase. A couple of million miles later, I have never (knock on wood) had a bag misplaced.

[Chacooe]

I put on the handles of each one of my suitcases an item called "Rescue Facts". The reason that I do this is, in case I am in an accident going to my destination any medical emergency person has all of the information they need in case of an emergency, another reason I use them is when I go to get my luggage out of hundreds of others I know that no one else had red/blue luggage with these medical covers on the handles.

[redskin80]

I have made luggage identifiers for all of our luggaage and for others for have traveled with us. For DH and I we have Broncos luggage tags. For my mom hers is Betty Boop and so on. What I done is taken strips of material and then sewn the sides and turned them right side out. Tide them to the luggage on both handles. We have had no issues with our luggage since. All of our friends cruised with us a few years back and they are still using theirs today as well. In a crowed airport or cruise terminal your luggage needs to stand out.

[bean-si]

my luggage is a bright blue, plus, I took a large black PERMANENT marker, and put my initials ( Large ) on several sides of both pieces, so even another lady with blue luggage would see it wasn't hers. I have seen friends owning black luggage put initials or stars etc in permanent gold, silver or white markers.

[soozles]

My luggage is currently silver, and I have a bright yellow chick wearing a hat as a luggage tag. I love that little chick, it's been with me around the world, on many different suitcases. If I don't have enough stuff for the regular sized silver suitcase, my suitcase that's smaller is black with hot pink polka dots and a bright pink bow in the front. I even have a matching duffel bag and matching tote bag. I should get the matching large size suitcase, but my silver one is still good, so I have no excuse.