Left luggage

If not for the left luggage of the spouses Raymart Santiago and Claudine Barretto and their party, the rumble at the international airport involving media man Ramon Tulfo, would not have taken place and hog the headlines for days as if the nation had stopped working to listen to the reports. Even the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona that resumed after weeks of suspenseful wait, had to take the back seat.

The problem of left luggage is not unusual for Cebu Pacific. All airlines and every frequent traveler had some experience with this. If one does not want to take the risk of luggage being left behind, the only way to avoid it is not to check in one. This, of course, is impossible unless one is traveling light and does not have to carry such load.

I have had several instances of my luggage not coming in with my flight. They were not left behind but were just sent somewhere else inadvertently.

Let me pause with a joke I read about left luggage.

A woman checked in three pieces of luggage and told the man in the counter that she wants one bag to go to Detroit, the other to Los Angeles and the other to Washington.

The man at the check-in counter said “This cannot be done” to which the lady replied “Well you did it before with my three pieces of luggage.”

Left luggage is a reality in travel by plane and so we must be prepared for it and not lose our temper. Airlines do not like to leave luggage because it is additional cost to them aside from losing good reputation with their customer. But they happen.

What is important is what the airline does when luggage is left behind. I do not know the policy of our domestic ones because I had never had this experience, only flight delays. But I had experience with international airlines which I hope our domestic ones have this same service as well.

When I flew via KLM to Stockholm I waited for my luggage at the arrival area but none came out of the carousel. I reported this to the airline and they told me, after a check, that my luggage went to London. I need not worry, they said because when it arrives it will be delivered to my hotel.

The horror was that my winter clothes were there and I had only one jacket. I went out the airport with just a coat. The temperature was 11 ° . Four hours later, my luggage was delivered with an apology note. No free flight, though.

At another time I left via Singapore Airlines for Singapore and I waited for my luggage that did not arrive with the plane. A check revealed that my luggage arrived in Bangkok and would be delivered to my hotel at ten the next day.

Meantime, since my things were there, the airline gave me S$400 to buy the things I needed – shirt, toiletries, underwear, etc. It was more than what I needed for the meeting the next day. Fortunately, my hotel had a good department store but the prices were outrageous. No wonder they gave me S$400 when my ticket was US$200.

This seems to be a policy – delivery to the left luggage to one's address. This also happened when I arrived in London, only to be informed that my luggage went to Amsterdam. But my luggage was delivered in three hours because British Airways had plenty of flights and my luggage had a card “Priority” pasted on them.

Cebu Pacific explained that they unloaded some baggage because the plane was overloaded. I know that some airlines would block off passengers or cargo (unaccompanied luggage) rather than leave luggage behind otherwise, as we can see, tempers arise and imperial passengers berate ground stewards who would not even know why the baggage was left behind.

One horror when luggage is left behind is if one were on a connecting flight. Imagine taking a plane from Bácolod to Manila for a connecting flight to the US within three hours without luggage until four hours later?

If one took the same airline, then he can collect his luggage at the final destination. This is the reason that people prefer to take PAL all the way to LA or a country's airline. They just check in their luggage and collect at their destination, unless their baggage strays or gets mangled. Even then there is an assurance of immediate relief.

Leaving passenger's luggage is bad publicity. The airline can get a wallop that will take some time to remedy. This episode should make our airlines adopt means by which passengers have little to worry about even if their luggage stayed behind or strayed elsewhere.*

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