What Happens If Your Luggage Is Lost On A Connecting Domestic Flight When You Are Headed To Bkk?

[YoungAndRice]

Say you are flying from LA to NYC to BKK.... If your check-in luggage is for some reason delayed or sent to a different location other than NYC, and you are flying to Bangkok, does the domestic American airline deliver your luggage to Bangkok at a later time?

[IvanLaw]

Have you tried telephoning the airline?

Personally, up to now, always managed to collect luggage on arrival

Regards

Say you are flying from LA to NYC to BKK.... If your check-in luggage is for some reason delayed or sent to a different location other than NYC, and you are flying to Bangkok, does the domestic American airline deliver your luggage to Bangkok at a later time?

[NanLaew]

Say you are flying from LA to NYC to BKK.... If your check-in luggage is for some reason delayed or sent to a different location other than NYC, and you are flying to Bangkok, does the domestic American airline deliver your luggage to Bangkok at a later time?

Whichever carrier lost or delayed your baggage in the domestic US is the carrier with ultimate responsibility to get your bag to Bangkok. However, you file a claim on arrival at Bangkok referencing the final carrier i.e. the airline that was used to arrive in Bangkok. The paperwork will be Thai Airways letter headed and the local contact telephone will be in Bangkok but it's up to the negligent carrier to get your bags to Bangkok via the 'final' carrier's baggage retrieval system who will pass to Thai who will do the final delivery. Claro?

My experience. UA left my bag behind in SFO when my original flight was oversold and UA upgraded/rerouted me via Beijing on UA & CA. When I arrived in Bangkok with no bags coming off the CA flight, I filed a report that showed CA as responsible since they were the 'final' carrier (it was only after the fact that I learned it was UA's cock-up) so calling UA did not help as they said CA is the carrier handling it. After 4 nervous days, my bag was received off a UA flight and delivered by Thai to the hotel in Bangkok I was originally staying at. That hotel forwarded it on the 5th day to their sister hotel in Pattaya where I had moved to.

[Shrubbery]

Were your bags checked through to BKK. If they were only checked in within the US, you may well be "stuffed".

Assuming they were checked in to BKK, does the airline have a contact number or address for you.

Do you have a travel insurance policy that you can claim against.

[PeaceBlondie]

Let's see, I've had my baggage lost maybe four times.

Houston-Chicago, Continental Airlines had the worst 'customer problem resolution program' but that was a single trip. Two days to retrieve my sleeping bag (zero degrees F that night!).

Aer Lingus, Edinburgh to Shannon, single trip. Three or four days.

Austrian Airways, Palma de Mallorca to Vienna to Thailand, they left my stuff at Vienna. They fixed it, next day.

Aer Lingus again, Heathrow-Shannon, single trip. Four long days.

I've practically sworn off air travel. Next time, I'll swim across the Pacific.

[karazyal]

Say you are flying from LA to NYC to BKK.... If your check-in luggage is for some reason delayed or sent to a different location other than NYC, and you are flying to Bangkok, does the domestic American airline deliver your luggage to Bangkok at a later time?

I left Boston and my connecting flight (AA) to JFK was late, I missed my CI flight to Bangkok. My checked in bag was stuck in quarantine. AA put me up in a hotel at the airport. Next day CI re-routed me to LAX or SFO (can't remember) and from there I ended up in BKK via Taiwan. No bag on arrival. CI gave me a voucher of around $50 for underwear, shaving stuff, etc. I stayed one night in Bangkok and the bag did not show up at that hotel. I went on to Pattaya the next morning and called CI, they found the bag and delivered it to my hotel in Pattaya. Nothing missing too!

Another time there was a crash in Taiwan that closed down the runway. CI already had my bag, the re-routed my flight from JFK to California again, paid for an overnight stay in a hotel, instead of remaining in California for another night on CI's dime, I got a swap to a UA flight going to Taiwan (CI paid for it, some kind of mutual emergency help deal) and from there to BKK on a late flight which CI held up for me and gave me a personal guide to the departure gate. No bag on arrival again. CI found the bag the next day and delivered it to me in Pattaya again. Nothing missing from the bag this time either!

Crap happens! If the airline steps up and takes care of problems that's okay with me! Besides I didn't have to lug that extra bag with me on the Skytrain and on the bus to Pattaya! Because of these two incidents I alway pack some extra skivvies with me together with an extra shirt and pants when I fly now!

The above is for arriving in Thailand, I have had bags that were not on the carousel when I arrived in Boston too! All of the times (probably 3 or 4?) the missing bags were because I was able to catch an earlier flight and my bags were still on the later original flight! The bags were delivered to my house the following da for free. When I pass through customs and immigration in Detroit I have to allow extra time for "additional individual bag inspection" because I fly too much, etc. Sometimes I get a wave through and end up with an extra hour or two, this is when I ask for and get a switch to an earlier flight. If they can't locate my bag in time they deliver it to my house. Another bag I don't have to lug on the "T" during the ride home!

[jackspratt]

I've practically sworn off air travel. Next time, I'll swim across the Pacific.

And miss the security pat down at Suvarnabhumi?

I don't believe you PB

[flyer]

Say you are flying from LA to NYC to BKK.... If your check-in luggage is for some reason delayed or sent to a different location other than NYC, and you are flying to Bangkok, does the domestic American airline deliver your luggage to Bangkok at a later time?

The rule is that the FIRST airline you have been flying with (the one that took your luggage) is reponsible for it till the end of the trip no matter what other airlines were involved inbetween. This rule is valid only if your luggage was checked trough of course.

[CbrLad]

What most reputable airlines do is they put the lost bag report into a system that a company called SITA run's. If the bag turns up somewhere (like Paris for example) then who ever finds it reports it being found on the SITA system and if a match is found they then sort out with the carrier it was reported with as to how to get it back to the custimer.

SITA is a co-op style company set-up by the airlines to handle IT issues and inter carrier IT interoperability. Most international airports only have SITA terminals, when Qantas in BKK checks someone in they use SITA to access the database on the Qantas system and away you go. Many of the low cost carriers don't use SITA, hence if you fly one of them then lost baggage location and return is much more complex.

When you final destination is a foreign country quite often you will have to fill out a customs declaration form for the lost bag, which enables the carrier who finally finds it to clear it through customs for you.

The funniest lost bag report I ever made was at Heathrow with Air France. Made the report and the guy told me the bag was still in Paris. Whilst filling out the customs report a guy came from out the back with the bag. As it was put to me in the time I was standing there the report went to France, where they checked their records showing it was shipped to Heathrow, they then reported that back to Heathrow who went and found it out the back. Took all of 5 minutes. Apparently my bag had made it onto the flight before me. It is a great system when it works......