# luggage didn't arrive/Spain



## calgal (Aug 30, 2010)

DS is starting his semester abroad. He was en route to Madrid via Brussels, with a tight connection and a late arrival. He sprinted to the connecting flight (a codeshare flight on Brussels Airlines) but was not allowed on since they said his luggage was not going to make the connection. He was placed on a later flight, but his luggage still did not make it to Madrid on that plane. He is now at his hotel. Will the airline deliver the luggage through customs and to his hotel or will he need to return to the airport to go through customs with his luggage? That is assuming the luggage shows up at some point.


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## JackieD (Aug 30, 2010)

Hello,
Similar thing happened to me this last April.  I flew from Denver-Malaga, Spain.   DEN-IAD (United) IAD-MAD (UAL operated by Aer Lingus) MAD-MALAGA (Spanair - Star Alliance Codeshare).  I carefully watched 3 suitcases get tagged in Denver to go all the way to Malaga since it was Star Alliance situation.  All our luggage got lost somewhere (they could/would never tell me where).  The airline found it and delivered everything to our timeshare the next day.  I'm assuming they went through our stuff at the airport but we didn't have to go back and do any customs at the airport.

Good luck!  Hope they show up very soon.

Jackie


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## Kay H (Aug 30, 2010)

I'm pretty sure that if they lose it, they deliver it.  Hopefully.:whoopie:


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## calgal (Aug 30, 2010)

Thanks for the encouraging words. He has no functioning cell phone, no transportation, and a very limited budget, so I hope it all works out. I feel guilty for not spending the extra several hundred dollars to fly him nonstop to Madrid.


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## Ridewithme38 (Aug 30, 2010)

calgal said:


> Thanks for the encouraging words. He has no functioning cell phone, no transportation, and a very limited budget, so I hope it all works out. I feel guilty for not spending the extra several hundred dollars to fly him nonstop to Madrid.



Several hundred dollars...I'd just buy new stuff


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## siesta (Aug 30, 2010)

Ridewithme38 said:


> Several hundred dollars...I'd just buy new stuff




haha definately.  He could probably get some more stylish threads since he's there!  

but on a serious note, his luggage should and will turn up, and yes they will deliver it to him.  I would just buy a a 3 pack of some undies and tshirts just in case it was more than a day or so, and its not like you couldn't always use extras of those.  Usually within 24 hours all my "lost" luggage has arrived at my door, that includes overseas flights.


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## Anne S (Aug 30, 2010)

Sometimes luggage is  misplaced even on a direct flight. Coincidentally, we flew to Madrid on a direct flight (Delta) and our luggage didn't. However, it was delivered to our hotel the following morning while we were at breakfast. This is the reason I always pack a change of clothes in my carry-on.


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## dougp26364 (Aug 30, 2010)

Had the same thing happen to us flying into Barcelona. Our luggage wasn't misplaced. It just wasn't put on the plane. Seems as if they had had a weight problem and our luggage plus another families luggage was the cure. 

It arrived the next day and they said they would deliver it. Since we were on a cruise the next day I didn't wait and went to the airport to pick it up (only one USAir flight per day at that time). Their security was just a teeny, tiny bit tighter than ours here in the U.S. You'd have thought I was asking for their first born son to go back and get my luggage and one of the lost luggage reps had to be summoned to make sure my luggage was expected, that they had lost/misplaced my luggage and that it was all right for me to be back there. Then they'd only allow me to go back and my wife had to wait out front. Boy was she hot. I wasn't to happy trying to man handle 4 large pieces of luggage either.


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## Laurie (Aug 30, 2010)

Did he go to the lost-luggage desk before leaving the airport to get some info?

As other's have said, they should deliver.

Our luggage didn't arrive in Paris this past May, after a delayed flight and a missed connection. We weren't staying in Paris, but about 4 hours south. We were assured by the lost-luggage desk that it would be delivered 2 days later, but in fact wasn't delivered until *5 days later *due to weekends & holidays, when the delivery service was closed. We were quite annoyed, but that was their policy.


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## x3 skier (Aug 30, 2010)

Useless Air lost our luggage once on a trip to the UK. We had a connection in Manchester on BMI and were suppose to go through Customs in Manchester. It showed up two days later in London. Useless Air reimbursed us for clothing we bought for three days.

Cheers


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## Passepartout (Aug 30, 2010)

As I type this, it's about 11pm in Spain. No amount of 'It happened to me this way' will get this person's luggage delivered before morning. I'm assuming he went to the lost baggage desk at the arrival airport and provided an itinerary of where he'll be tomorrow. They can and will do whatever they can to deliver his luggage as soon as possible. They don't want the luggage and they are liable for a few hundred dollar$ if it doesn't show up.

Anyone who travels by air and checks luggage either has or will have their luggage delayed. It's why we allow extra time. It's why we put a change of clothes in our carry-on and even put some of each spouse's clothes in each others' check bag- along with an itinerary. A trip can be inconvenienced, but not ruined.

Best wishes, CalGal. I'd guess he'll have his bag before noon local time. You'll probably hear from him about midnite that all's well.

Jim Ricks


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## JudyH (Aug 30, 2010)

Good grief, its enough to make you  want to do carryon only.  We went on a cruise this summer departing from Greece.  Someone else missed connections in Syracuse New York.  Her luggage never ever made it to the cruise, although it was promised at every port.

Note to self, next flight, wear all clothes upon   boarding.  Who care if you look fat?


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## Laurie (Aug 30, 2010)

Passepartout said:


> They can and will do whatever they can to deliver his luggage *as soon as possible*.


That's what we thought, before our last experience - not.

They sure didn't go out of their way to rush anything *or* to get us accurate information. They (said they) knew where our luggage was, and each day after we spent frustrating time calling for an update (we were trying to figure out whether it was actually lost, or just delayed, as we wondered whether to go on a shopping spree - which wasn't as simple as it sounds as we were in a very rural region of France) we were told it should be delivered "tomorrow." With 2 airports within a 45-minute drive from our accommodations, we expected better and faster service. 

This was Continental Airlines. I never did figure out whether it's the airline or the airport who decides which delivery service to employ, but the airline personnel had no idea what the delivery policies and schedules were.

JudyH, I like your idea!


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## calgal (Aug 30, 2010)

I hope he filled out forms at the airport. I cannot contact him really, so will have to trust that this son-of-a-tugger was savvy enough to do what was necessary at the airport. I will provide an update once i hear from him again (ie, once he gets a phone card or internet capacity). At least he is safe and sound, and found his way to the hotel where the group is staying.


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## patty5ia (Aug 31, 2010)

We've been doing carry on only for years - you learn to take travel clothes and few of them!  I have never felt deprived, just sure that I have what I need with me.  You really don't need that many clothes if you can wash them every couple of days.


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## Luanne (Aug 31, 2010)

patty5ia said:


> We've been doing carry on only for years - you learn to take travel clothes and few of them!  I have never felt deprived, just sure that I have what I need with me.  You really don't need that many clothes if you can wash them every couple of days.



For a semester abroad I think he's going to need more than just what he can put in a carry on.


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## dougp26364 (Aug 31, 2010)

Luanne said:


> For a semester abroad I think he's going to need more than just what he can put in a carry on.



It depends on your thinking. I've known people who have been gone a long time with just a backpack and nothing else.


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## Luanne (Aug 31, 2010)

dougp26364 said:


> It depends on your thinking. I've known people who have been gone a long time with just a backpack and nothing else.



I imagine these are people who may be traveling the entire time they're gone?  For a student who is going to be in one place for several months, I would think they'd need, or want, to bring more than would fit in a carry on.  Or maybe I'm just thinking of my dds and knowing what they'd bring for a semester abroad. 

My younger dd spent only 2 1/2 weeks in Geneva as part of a class.  They were required to bring both professional, and casual, clothing.  Definitely more than would fit in a backpack.


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## calgal (Aug 31, 2010)

I thought he could get by with just one suitcase, since the senora for his homestay will be doing his laundry, but he brought two checked bags. They did not show up today.


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## siesta (Aug 31, 2010)

that sucks, hopefully it will arive soon. I hope he's bought himself some necessities.


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## Passepartout (Aug 31, 2010)

calgal said:


> I thought he could get by with just one suitcase, since the senora for his homestay will be doing his laundry, but he brought two checked bags. They did not show up today.



That IS a bum deal, calgal. Hopefully he has some cash to buy some new clothes, and that he didn't have irreplaceable stuff in his bags. I know there are different rules for international liability as opposed to bags delayed form domestic flights. Is he aware and following up?

I'm sorry his bags haven't arrived, and will keep fingers crossed that they'll show up soon.

Jim Ricks


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## calgal (Sep 1, 2010)

Good news from abroad. The luggage arrived at the hotel one hour ago. I am sure he is relieved and ready to focus on the adventure ahead. Thank you all for your support!


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## Luanne (Sep 1, 2010)

calgal said:


> Good news from abroad. The luggage arrived at the hotel one hour ago. I am sure he is relieved and ready to focus on the adventure ahead. Thank you all for your support!



Great news!


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## JackieD (Sep 1, 2010)

Yippie!   So happy for your son and YOU...I know it's gotta be hard not being able to help him from so far away.  Let the adventures begin for your son!!:whoopie:


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## x3 skier (Sep 1, 2010)

An adventure to relate on Facebook, I am sure!

Cheers


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## Jennie (Sep 2, 2010)

Hubby was traveling from New York City to a remote top of a mountain location, many miles from Santa Fe, to attend an astronomy event. Due to an emergency situation with an incoming plane in New York, all out-going flights were halted for over an hour. Because of the delay, he missed his connecting flight in Chicago. They rushed him through to another flight about to take off and told him that his luggage would be on that plane. NOT! 

In El Paso (his final destination), he was told that his luggage was on a plane due to land in two hours. So he and his four buddies, who had arrived in El Paso on other flights, had dinner at a restaurant in the airport while awaiting the luggage. When the plane arrived, it was discovered that my husband's luggage had mistakenly been put on a plane to Los Angeles. They said it would be delivered to him the next day. He was really nervous about this because the astronomy event was being held in a very remote location with no formal address--just the Jones farm in a town not even listed on a map.  There was no cell phone or Internet connection there either. My husband wrote out detailed directions to the farm but was not sure the employee he gave it to would pass it on properly to the delivery person.

The next day the guys went into town and were eating lunch at a Mexian Restaurant when a man came in to use the restroom. He then asked the Manager how to get to the Jones farm. The Manger told him he would never be able to find it w/o detailed directions from a local person. My husband overheard the conversation and jumped up to ask the man if he was coming to the Astronomy event. The man replied that he was trying to deliver luggage to an American Airlines passenger. You guessed it--it was my husband's suitcase. I don't know who was happier--the man who did not have to trek up unnamed mountain roads, or my husband who was reunitied with his waylaid clothes and telescope accessories.  

I'm so glad your son had a happy resolution too.


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## jehb2 (Sep 2, 2010)

Luanne said:


> I imagine these are people who may be traveling the entire time they're gone?  For a student who is going to be in one place for several months, I would think they'd need, or want, to bring more than would fit in a carry on.  Or maybe I'm just thinking of my dds and knowing what they'd bring for a semester abroad.
> 
> My younger dd spent only 2 1/2 weeks in Geneva as part of a class.  They were required to bring both professional, and casual, clothing.  Definitely more than would fit in a backpack.



You're right on target Luanne.

Depending on the program and purpose there are a lot of things that students need for study abroad.  In many countries they will arrive in August wearing shorts, but leave in December wearing winter coats.  Most students will need laptops,video cameras, and other equipment if they're doing any type of research.  Sneakers, dress shoes, and sturdy hiking boots are often all a must.  Their current language books and good translation dictionary can be difficult to replace (and are really important).  There is so much more depending on the program of study.  So, fitting everything into a carry-on is pretty unrealistic--backpacking around the globe should not be confused study abroad.  

I was really feeling for your son when I read your post.  I'm so glad he got his bag.


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## calgal (Sep 2, 2010)

Thanks again. I have not heard from him since the happy resolution (I am not his Facebook friend even though I "invite" him every so often), so he has clearly moved on. I did get an online survey from Expedia about the flight, not sure what to say since ultimately they did transport him (and his luggage) safely across the Atlantic.


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## Patri (Sep 3, 2010)

Jennie said:


> The next day the guys went into town and were eating lunch at a Mexian Restaurant when a man came in to use the restroom. He then asked the Manager how to get to the Jones farm. The Manger told him he would never be able to find it w/o detailed directions from a local person. My husband overheard the conversation and jumped up to ask the man if he was coming to the Astronomy event. The man replied that he was trying to deliver luggage to an American Airlines passenger. You guessed it--it was my husband's suitcase. I don't know who was happier--the man who did not have to trek up unnamed mountain roads, or my husband who was reunitied with his waylaid clothes and telescope accessories.



This is one of the coolest stories I have ever heard!


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