Many TPGers solely journey with carry-on baggage and refuse to examine baggage. However for longer journeys, it is typically exhausting to keep away from checking a bag. (So far as I am involved, it is principally why Apple AirTags had been invented.)
Airways have vastly improved their know-how, so you possibly can observe your checked bag’s progress throughout journey and obtain alerts about what baggage carousel it’s going to land at. Nonetheless, if in case you have lately checked a bag, you might have observed an odd pattern: The listed carousel quantity is commonly unsuitable.
So when does this grow to be an precise problem and never simply an inconvenience? Here is what you might want to know.
What is going on on with baggage carousels?
In case you’ve performed this sport of “baggage roulette,” you most likely waited for what felt like an extremely lengthy (like a nail-biting, is-my-bag-ever-going-to-appear lengthy) time, solely to search out your bag circling on an countless loop on one other carousel. You aren’t alone, although.
In a quick TPG Lounge ballot on Fb, we recognized 16 airports the place readers lately had this expertise. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport (ATL), Ronal Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport (DCA) and Phoenix Sky Harbor Worldwide Airport (PHX) all appeared as repeat offenders.
“This simply occurred final Tuesday at EWR. The announcement, app and the carousel signal had been incorrect,” one TPG Lounge member instructed us. As somebody who flies out of Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport (EWR) means too usually, I can add that this has occurred to me lately, too; United Airways lastly bought my bag to me after a prolonged 45-minute delay.
One other TPG Lounge member who works at an airline gave us this inside bit of data: “As an airline worker in Denver, we normally ship up the baggage on the introduced and posted carousel. Once in a while we’ve to make use of a distinct one proper subsequent door. The rationale normally is as a result of one other airline is obstructing the place we drop-off the baggage.”
Whereas this is smart, the frequency with which we have been seeing this discrepancy makes us surprise if there’s some method to get compensated for our time (and our agita once we’re observing an empty carousel).
Associated: Misplaced vs. delayed baggage: How are they completely different and the way do you shield your self?
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Do airways provide bag ensures?
The reply is, nicely, typically. Within the case of two airways, you will be rewarded for standing on the proper carousel when your baggage do not present up — when you’ve been ready lengthy sufficient.
Each Delta Air Traces and Alaska Airways provide a assure so that you can be reunited together with your baggage. In case your baggage should not on the carousel inside 20 minutes of your flight arrival time, you may be entitled to 2,500 miles in compensation. (Alaska additionally affords the choice of a $25 low cost code to be used on future Alaska flights; nevertheless, since Alaska miles are value 1.45 cents every based on TPG’s January 2025 valuations, you would be a lot better off taking the two,500 miles, that are presently value $36.25.)
Whilst you’re ready to your bag, set a stopwatch. When you hit 20 minutes, you possibly can proceed to assert your miles.
For Delta, you possibly can submit the declare on-line — simply have your journey particulars, together with your affirmation quantity, readily available. The app will affirm that you simply had been ready previous the 20-minute promised time. Then, go to the declare submission web page, enter your data inside three days of your flight’s arrival and click on “Submit.” If accepted, the bonus miles may take as much as two weeks to put up. (Word that there are some fine-print guidelines.)
The method is completely different for Alaska. There isn’t any on-line submission possibility, so you should communicate to an Alaska baggage agent on the airport inside two hours of your flight’s arrival to submit a declare. In case you suppose you are eligible, ensure you do not depart the airport earlier than chatting with somebody. As I discussed earlier, you are additionally not obligated to pick the miles — a $25 nontransferable voucher (redeemable on the airline’s web site) can be an possibility. In case you do choose the miles, although, they need to put up inside three days. You possibly can view the full phrases on-line.
Backside line
Checked baggage are a booming income stream for airways — U.S.-based carriers collected nearly $33 billion in charges in 2023 alone. However, as many people uncover the exhausting means, a checked bag does not all the time find yourself the place it is presupposed to be. Though having a suitcase waylaid to a different carousel is extra irritating than trip-ruining, it may well nonetheless be a demanding and time-consuming occasion.
In case you’re flying Delta or Alaska and your baggage go to a distinct carousel than they’re presupposed to, you could possibly obtain compensation (in the event that they take greater than 20 minutes to reach). This coverage is nice for vacationers, and it is a critical incentive to examine your bag (particularly if you are able to do so free of charge). Moreover, having a transparent time constraint like this makes it simpler for airline staff to supply top-rate service and hopefully get your bag to the right carousel earlier than you grow to be crazy.
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