5-day wait for bags!
 

Hi,

I checked my luggage through from San Jose to Tel Aviv on Sunday morning, and El Al claimed they didn't get the bags in timeto LAX, so they are on the next flight out -- Thursday evening! This is due to the Shavuot holiday.

So I have to wait til Friday to get them. And there are some important business docs in them, too.

Am I entitled to any compensation? I live in Israel. Thanks.

If they don't deliver your bags until after Sukkot, I should say so.;)

That's the problem.
It's a tricky one when your luggage doesn’t arrive on your return. (home country)
Much easier getting comp when it's the other way round.
I would try though, you have nothing to lose.

What about you travel insurance, wouldn’t that cover something?

I'm very curious to hear how this works out for you haniboo, and whether any of our FT friends can comment on whether you're actually 'entitled' to some comp given whatever rules apply for LY and Israel. My expectations of LY would be pretty low.

I once flew TLV to LHR with a 4 day visit there until flying LHR-ORD on another carrier. I checked my bags at the trom tisa (I forgot, is that the name?) at the mall in Rishon, and like the newbie idiot American frier that I was, I found myself lured in by the plastic bag-wrapping 'service' they were offering. I think the only reason it 'seemed' like a good idea is that I had just bought the suitcases before my monthlong visit, and they still looked brand new.

That may not have had anything to do with it, but one of my bags went to EWR (Newark), while the other went to MSQ...Minsk, Belarus. The latter came back with a 'seal' made of fabric string that had been sown through the zipper and sealed with what seemed to be a melted lead ball. Both bags, luckily, arrived the morning before I flew LHR-ORD. (I probably could have fought harder, but I got nothing from LY at the time.)

I don't think that was the problem. Before getting hard plastic luggage I had my bags wrapped all the time in MXP and never had a problem with it arriving in TLV.

On the other hand, my unwrapped, plastic, suitcases have taken up to three days to catch up with me.

I find MXP the capital of lost bags everytime I transfer through mine never make it. I lost one last month while going between flights. You have to deal with it and get on or make sure you take clothes in cabin. ^

That may be true on connecting flights but I have never connected through MXP. Each time I flew there (even on my way back from the US) I spent a week or so with my UIG (Used Italian Girlfriend) before continuing on to Israel.

CDG and FCO are where my bags are usually lost.

I'm sure you're right. It was ultimately the LY ticket agents who had to put the bag tags on. I just figure(d) that the commotion of getting them wrapped and such might have distracted them and caused them to mistag me or something.

Did someone post recently (or did I read somewhere else) that some of those remote bag drop offs are gone now? Maybe no train station or Rishon? Do/did they have have that kind of thing up in Haifa or anywhere else?

They are all closed (but I believe LY is supposed to open a new one in Tel Aviv).

They are all closed indeed. There is a new service now where they pick the bags from your home for $50.

There are talks about building a new early check-in facility on the old drive-in open air cinema next to the exhibition grounds in Tel Aviv. I pass by there every day and there is no construction going on at the moment ...

Just information for anyone else who cares:

My next question was going to have been whether someone like Dov could use it....

It still seems like a pretty good deal if you're traveling as a family with kids. It would probably 'just' work for me as family near whom I usually stay my last nights in Israel live right near Gedera.

One bag flew to Newark, the other one to Minsk, and you were flying to London...that's really great!! When did this happen?

Such a mess is also worrisome concerning the way their security system is working... Their planes are not supposed to take off with "unaccompanied" luggage; btw, this policy has become widely applied by most airlines, at least on "high risk" flights. But obviously, even LY is not applying it seriously.

It was some time within the last 5-10 years. My wife's not here to remind me exactly which trip it was.

Here in the states, and I can't recall the exact order and way the rules were implemented, but I believe that as long as bags are screened for explosives they can fly on any plane. I'm pretty sure this decision was made to avoid the difficulty of pulling bags when pax don't show at the gate, misconnects, etc.

Anyway, as far as the situation at LY, it did happen after I and my bags were screened by security.

In Europe, at least for flights to Israel and the US, a plane is not supposed to take off with unacampanied luggage. This can result in rather long delays, because it can be complicated to locate the bags in the belly of the plane, especially with widebodies... Bags are SUPPOSED to be screened, but they are not systematically. And even when they are screened, no system is 100% efficient. Cargo carried in passengers planes is supposed to get additional levels of control.

This is right and it is wrong. Planes will not take off if the passenger was supposed to be on it and did not show. In this case, the baggage is removed.

However, if the passenger showed for his flight but the baggage did not make it on board, it will be put on a later flight -- even though it will be unaccompanied.