Originally Posted by
Tchiowa
If you don't pick up your luggage then don't count on it making it to you. Customs may refuse to process it if you're not there. At the very minimum they will search it thoroughly. They may declare it as abandoned. Not worth the risk.
So what would customs do if the bag didn't show up then, but showed up later? Would they refuse that as well? Certainly there must be some protocol for bags that get lost.
I think what I might do is just go to the baggage desk at the final destination and say that it didn't seem to make it at the point-of-entry, and that I didn't have time to talk to the baggage folks at the point-of-entry. Maybe I would ask a flight attendant on what to do while the aircraft is airborne, that way there is no way they can tell me that I have to wait.