Originally Posted by
annerj
Is this not making it at all or not making it on time?
Either way its pretty impressive. Are a bulk of your flights just single hops?
I've flown a couple thousand flights and I've had dozens of cases where the bags didn't land with me (made it on the next flight), many that made it the next day, and more than a couple that made it further out or didn't make it on the trip (or in my heavy hop days stayed a day behind me for a week).
Virtual all my flights are connectors and I went through a period several years ago that the luggage delivery person and I became very acquainted with each other as she was having to bring my luggage out to my house on the return portion of trips on a weekly basis.
All that said, I still don't want to be lugging my luggage though multiple airports to get somewhere. I'll continue to check.
I guess I've been lucky. Over 40 years of extensive travel and I can count the number of lost bags on one hand. All but one was returned within a couple of days with one being gone a couple of weeks. I have also never had anything stolen from a checked bag.
Whether I check depends on the trip, destination and planned activities. While I generally prefer to only carry-on I do not go through silly contortions to avoid checking. I have little interest in packing like a backpacker reliving his youth, emulating a laundress scrubbing underwear in a hotel sink or wasting business or vacation time frantically searching for thrift shops in far-off lands to buy disposal clothing. When I have needed to buy something on the road it was the result of a packing failure because I did not properly anticipate the conditions or neglected to bring a piece of equipment.