Originally Posted by Sancha
Assuming I don't have somewhere to rush off to immediately after I land, I much prefer to check my luggage.
I'd love to be able to check all my luggage, but between photographic equipment and computer equipment, I've got about 5 grand in my backpack, so "keep your luggage in sight at all times" is gospel to me.
Originally Posted by respectable_man
NW has never lost/misplaced an item. The only minor problem I ever got was three weeks ago. The MSP-AMS flight was delayed by 4 hours, and I missed my AMS-MAD connection. I was promptly rerouted via CDG, could not find my bag on arrival in MAD but was immediately told that my bag had not travel with me and would arrive on a KL flight within the next 30 minutes. This is the longest I have ever waited.
I just flew from Hawaii to Newark. My one checked bag was yellow-tagged, and although
I had layovers, it was given priority, and was waiting for me at the carousel in Newark... before any bags from the flight I was on even came out. That was neat.
Typically, I'll have a bag or two get delayed in a given year - but it happens at the interisland level within Hawaii after I've flown 5, or 10, or 15 thousand miles from somewhere else in the world with no problems. And then the bag's on the next interisland flight, typically within a couple hours.
I'm now considering getting a rolling carryon - one small enough to fit wheels-out in a 752 overhead) for clothes and most of my camera gear, with a non-huge laptop bag (I like Marware's slimline neoprene ones) or small laptop/camera bag for my laptop and some other gear. That'd remove my need to check things unnecessarily, but I might also be able to put the cheaper gear in the rolling bag if I had to gate-check it, while keeping the more expensive stuff in the smaller bag.