nk15

Either way you should consider getting an apple air tag for the bags, so at least you now what country they are in...

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trav...d-threads.html

AA once lost my bag in a series of back to back trips within the US, the Carribean, and then Europe...They would email me with different bag sightings in different cities and countries, lol, it was comical...I got the bag back two months later and about $1k for new clothes...

sweetsleep

I recently had THREE different packages from THREE different companies delivered to an apartment complex over a half mile away. I was very fortunate that the kind man(who happens to be a PI) redelivered ALL packages to me with a note and his business card. His address did not even remotely match mine nor did his name. This was FEDEX! These were domestic items and one box was medical supplies!

Not sure any company is reliable anymore! If I were the OP I would invest in Apple Air Tags(assuming the OP has an iPhone) to at least track the bag(s). After this happened to me recently plus so many bags going MIA(Missing In Action) everywhere I just bought some for a trip next week.

Brooke.E

The baggage situation with British Airways at Heathrow is absolutely horrible! I would not be comfortable with a 2-3 hour connection there. You've made a very good decision in not flying BA lately.

We were rerouted through Heathrow in Feb. and it was a disaster; BA systems down, the airport was filthy, baggage issues, etc. We had a 14 hour layover, connecting from AA to BA, and we got a call from an American Airlines agent at baggage claim in terminal 3 to let us know that they had our baggage. The bag was tagged to JNB so it shouldn't have ended up at baggage claim in LHR but British Airways had a system outage that was causing havoc. The AA agent could send it along but highly advised us, since we had time, to come actually get the baggage from them so that we could deliver it personally to a BA counter in terminal 5. She said that baggage was so backed up that she didn't think that airport/BA would manage the transfer between terminal 3 and 5 in time (we still had about 12 hours of our layover remaining at that point). When we got down to the baggage claim area it was completely packed with bags (very few people). They clearly had a major problem on their hands and I guess it has been happening with frequent regularity.

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VegasGambler

If you don't have a connection and your bag is properly tagged (check this after they attach the tags) the chance of a mishandling is very close to 0.

BabyBearNewYork

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. I guess the majority view seems to be that shipping the bags may be problematic. Yes, my flights are non-stop point to point so no connections en route. I'm overseas right now, so as soon as I get back to the US, I will check shipping rates, but most likely will keep my bags with me.

SeaLuggageLover

Just chiming in to agree with all who've said lost or mishandled bags are extremely rare. I was caught up in the cancellations/irrops in NYC recently which caused me to be completely rerouted through a different airport after I'd already checked my bag on the first leg of the trip. I was nervous my bag wouldn't make it but when I landed in SEA my suitcase was waiting in the baggage claim office. I was very impressed.

nk15

I think many of the lost baggage incidents were also from before they started the tracking option in the app. However, if you get caught in messy IRROPs these days with three bags it can get messy.

BabyBearNewYork

Hi! Am back to provide an update.

Long story short - based on the recommendations of lots of friends, I decided to ship my bags from RDU-DFW after all. I dropped off both bags at the FedEx store in Raleigh one day before I left. Total shipping weight was around 80 lbs (one bag was 47 lbs and the other around 32 lbs) and the cost to ship was $117, which was lower than luggage fees would've been on RDU-ORD and ORD-DFW. I chose 3 day Ground. The first bag arrived at my Dallas hotel in 24 hours, I assume they had some extra space on the overnight service so the smaller bag went in there. The bigger bag reached the Dallas hotel the morning of my arrival so it worked out perfectly. It seems that there were pretty long luggage waits at both Chicago and Dallas so I'm grateful to have escaped that. Also got lucky in that only one flight was delayed and that too only an hour and no cancellations. Would definitely do this again should the need arise in the future.

Flights were packed and both the crews and pax were a little snappy, but I was just relieved that there were no big glitches. The day after I flew out, American cancelled 150 flights, yikes!