Amil

So I had a J Flight from NYC > AMS > MAD, when I got to AMS this is where I goofed up but I wanted to spend some extra time there so I asked at the lounge if they can put me on a later flight so I can enjoy a day out in Amsterdam. She got my baggage number and said my bag will be on the new flight and assured me the bag will be there on the flight. Well I get on my flight and saw the bags being loaded and didnt catch mine. I just assumed it was sitting at Madrid and made it on the original flight. I guess it didn't I checked their storage and it wasnt there. So now I have a reference number but I want to know if theres anything I can do to proactively help locate my bag? .

Yes I usually have an airtag on it but the airtag itself actually somehow went missing at the airport in Vilnius a few months back and I never replaced it . This is me being stupid to not put a replacement. I know. But to be honest I havent had a lost bag since I had a flight diversion 16 years ago so I guess it was bound to happen. Also if they can't find the bag whats the max the airline is on the hook for? Its a rimowa so I doubt it'll even cover that . But I did use my Amex Gold Plat Business on an award ticket to pay for the taxes so maybe theres some coverage there but thats assuming that it goes missing which i hope it isnt.

dkeng

Three things to do:

1: Check worldtracer and make sure your contact information is all correct.

2: Go and purchase necessary essentials and save the receipts for later reimbursement.

3: Check worldtracer about once daily. When it is known what flight your bag will be on it will show up there.

There is absolutely no purpose in calling anybody. It will achieve nothing.

The airline has 21 days to locate your bag. In the very unlikely case your bag is completely lost the Montreal convention limits the liability to somewhere around 1300 Euro. Anything more than that needs to come from your travel insurance.

Amil

I have a formal meeting tmw. is it safe to assume that buying formal clothes like a suit will not be covered?

Fabo.sk

It can be covered, for a reasonable sum. Off the rack suit will be covered.

erik123

An airtag also wouldn't have helped as the info wouldn't be used.

Goldorak

Just FYI, your bag would have never fly in your original flight without you on-board, for obvious security reasons.

irishguy28

I think the agent was being unhelpfully accommodating in assuring you that your bag would seamlessly arrive on your new flight.

In future, only ask for these kind of spontaneous favours BEFORE YOU CHECK YOUR LUGGAGE IN. It's never a good idea to change your plans when you have already committed your luggage to a certain itinerary - regardless of what the particular agent you deal with might say.

FlyingBlonde89

This.

For a company business trip (4 days) about a dozen bags were lost*. Sports wear (we were there for a sales and marketing sports product launch), casual wear and buisness wear were all reimbursed for those who had bags lost. No one went wild but it wasn't cheap.

*Bags were subsequently located but it wasn't until after the trip was over.

Amil

airtag would have helped with peace of mind of where my bag is. so yes it would have definitely helped . like right now its supposedly in the istanbul airport for 24 hours now waiting to be delivered to my hotel room but they dont know for sure.

That's really good to hear lets see what happens when I make my claim.

why are you yelling. lol

in a perfect world my bag would have been on my new flight as well. I remember my girlfriends bag ended up on earlier flight after she missed it at the gate so there are there are times when the bag does go on the original flight even though they are not supposed to.

FlyingBlonde89

I find this a little harsh. It's KLM's responsibility to make sure they're getting the luggage where it needs to be. Agree that there's more risk involved once the luggage has been checked in and if there's a change in the itinerary but it's hardly the OPs fault or responsibility.

Would I do it? Depends what's in my luggage and what the purpose of the trip was.

irishguy28

I was giving advice here; apologies if it seemed I was being harsh, or blaming the OP. It certainly wasn't intended that way.

Once a bag is checked in and gone into the system, it's no longer easy to redirect that bag - regardless of what this agent said. As I said above, I believe the agent was being actually very unhelpful by appearing to be so helpful; redirecting a bag is not an easy task and the agent should not have given the impression that this would be easily sorted out.

Luggage is an encumbrance; one should always aim to travel as light as possible.

However, once luggage is in the mix, it's best not to do anything unusual or unexpected; if luggage is checked in, it's not advisable to voluntarily change your itinerary.

Whenever the passenger ends up travelling in a different manner than was envisaged when the bag was checked in - and admittedly this is usually as a result of misconnects or other misfortunes outside the control of the passenger - it's suddenly more likely that the luggage is not going to show up wherever the passenger does.

KLM usually charges a fee (€275) to fish a bag out of the system at the passenger's request; I genuinely believe that the agent should have realised that getting the bag back out of the system, and relabelled for the new flight, was going to be actually quite an involved process and not one that should so lightly have been promised. And no, I am not saying that the agent should have attempted to charge the OP for the privilege of extending his stay in AMS, but rather that the agent should have indicated that there was a good chance that this would screw up the baggage delivery....because it's the first thing I would have expected when hearing the scenario as outlined.

Amil

So my bag apparently landed yesterday 06/04/23 at 4pm in Istanbul airport but they have no way of confirming the next step with the courier . I am supposed to leave here at 2pm and start a road trip. Anyone know what the odds of getting my bag? They said I can't go to the airport until I receive a confirmation to get it. I may just delay the trip and extend my stay another day if I know it will come here.

dkeng

I thought you were in Madrid, but whatever...

Once the bag arrives it is under the control of the local ground handling. You may be able to find a phone number for them, but you can also head to the airport if is not too inconvenient for you. No need to wait for them to contact you first. Some airports make it easy to get in touch with baggage handlers from landside, others less so, I do not know how it works in IST.

You likely wont see any further updates on worldtracer unless your bag is forwarded elsewhere.

Amil

I was for 3 days but now in Istanbul, the bag apparently made it to Madrid the day I landed in Istanbul. (I'm traveling around the world its my work but honestly had I known if the bag was actually going to go to Madrid after I left I would have waited but they don't exactly upload worldtracer often)

Then they forwarded the bag to Istanbul and WorldTracer Showed two flight numbers arriving and landing on 06/04/23 and the AF/KLM staff did say it arrived on 6/4/23 but got no confirmation. Just checked Worldtracer again and was just updated to 6/6/23 lol. This is getting ridiculous I told them my itinerary in full. Im gonna extend my stay in Istanbul another day and see if it actually comes.

I'm logging all this for someone who might be in the same boat later on.

Amil

hopefully one of my last updates. KLM has apparently assigned Turkish Air to handle the bag now and they called my hotel to tell them they have my bag at the airport but will not be able to deliver it here for 2-3 days unless I want to pick it up now and its available. it sounds like they just don't want to deliver it . The airport can be far depending on traffic I wish they would just do the right thing but whatever I'll just go tomorrow to grab it before I head out on my road trip.