Originally Posted by
Alan in CBR
No, I agree it's useless. Speaking to QF last week when my bag was lost, they said, "The first we will know about it is when it turns up. Then we'll call you".
In other words by the time Worldtracer shows anything, you've already got your bag back.
For the record, my bag arrived a full five days after I did. I was beginning to resign myself to never seeing it again. It got lost making a single connection - LAX. They had 10 hours to get it from my arriving flight (from IAD) to the SYD flight and they didn't do it. Then they continued not to do it for five days.
That function of the airline business must well and truly be broken. From previous experience (the airline bag people usually tend to be able to tell you where your bag is if you call them) your bag doesn't sit in an airport for a week - they fly it places. One missed connection in DXB had our bags pass through LHR twice before ultimately joining us in BKK. Son mentioned that his had been around the world. For some reason I think the bag handler who discovers a lost bag marks it with a "lost bag, rush" tag (which clearly means "have fun with this for as long as you like" and puts it on an airplane heading somewhere which he believes will be closer to the final destination. Once at that airport, another handler sends it on to the destination of his choice, as likely as not where it just came from since that's his best guess of the best path.