Having flow 100k miles for each of the past 15 years I have a rule to never check luggage. Only on family vacations have I ever varied and even then I only check one or two bags at the most.

This summer my family and I planned and are on an epic road trip through Europe, Central Asia and into Mongolia by land. We flew out of SLC yesterday morning and into Paris but needed to bring along many items that didn't get shipped with the Land Cruisers. In total, the four of us checked five big bags full of essential last minute items.

To my utmost chagrin and consternation, not one of my bags showed up in CDG. The worst part is that LH has no idea where the bags are. The CSR was very nice and even showed some distress at my misfortune. We opened a lost bag file and I got a login to LH's lost baggage system.

I cannot believe the massive and catastrophic nature of this failure. We even took some precautions and spaced items out so that if we lost one or two bags we'd still be okay but all five is crazy. I hope all five are somewhere in the same place just waiting to be scanned and shipped to my hotel.

I know compensation is not great for lost luggage (something like 1.2k for each traveler-which will just cover the cost of the suitcases and nothing inside).

I was a bit bemused that LH said I can spend 50 euro to get basic items (toiletries/underwear) and they will cover 50% of other basic necessities like shoes/pants/shirt, etc. Unfortunately, 50 euro doesn't go far and each of my bags was full of high end items (I know I'm stupid for checking them and not getting insurance... lesson learned)

Do anyone of you have suggestions on how I can help pinpoint where the bags went missing? Each bag had a bar-code so I'd assume there is some data on where it may or may-not be. The only info on the LH lost baggage site is "tracking continues, please check back"

We have about 5 days before we head to the wilds of rural Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan then Mongolia. Any help would be greatly appreciated!