Our Lufthansa Delayed Bag Experience

We checked a couple of bags on our recent trip from Sylt to Dusseldorf via Frankfurt, and they ended up being delayed. That’s a bigger risk right now than in the past, given all the travel chaos, so I figured it would be useful to recap my experience.

Many frequent travelers would never check a bag, and I totally get that. However, I’ve increasingly warmed up to the idea, so let me provide some background:

We were flying from Sylt to Frankfurt to Dusseldorf with an 80 minute connection (the minimum connection time at the airport is 45 minutes, don’t ask me how). When we landed in Dusseldorf, we received an email from Lufthansa stating that our bags didn’t make it on that flight.

Let me state that for the remainder of the summer I absolutely wouldn’t book an 80 minute connection in Frankfurt and expect my bag to make it. However, we were traveling in mid-June, and this was right when travel went from normal busy to insanely busy.

Prior to flying that day, we found travel to still be quite orderly and calm, and we had connected at several hubs in Europe. But it was during that very connection in Frankfurt where we both commented to one another how the real summer rush had started.

The email we received from Lufthansa about our bags being delayed mentioned that our bags had already been “rebooked” on LH82, the flight later that afternoon. We were initially scheduled to arrive at 2:05PM, and the other flight was scheduled to get in at 5:05PM. Great, that’s not too bad.

Rather than waiting at the baggage office to file a claim, the email from Lufthansa said to visit the carrier’s website to provide an address for delivery, and/or contact details. So we quickly filled that out, and I chose the option to pick up the bags at the airport myself, since I figured that was the safest and quickest option.

I wanted to minimize the risk of anything further going wrong, so shortly after LH82’s scheduled arrival time, I headed back to the airport. Only after arriving at the airport, and well after the flight’s arrival time, did I receive a message stating that our bags had been “rebooked” on LH88, the flight later that night, due to land at 10:10PM.

At this point I started to worry a bit. There’s not really a human touch to lost baggage, so I wondered if our bags would simply be “rebooked” on the next flight to Dusseldorf for eternity. After all, why didn’t the bags make the flight they were initially “rebooked” on, as there was plenty of time?

Since I was at the airport, I tried to go to the lost baggage office, which is actually a door that leads to baggage claim. The catch is that they’ll only let you in if your bag has arrived. I was informed that our bags had been rebooked on another flight, there was nothing they could do, and there was no one to talk to.

Late that night after LH88 had landed, I was expecting to receive one of two emails:

Instead we received nothing. So at 7AM I decided to head back to the airport. I decided to take the lack of notice as confirmation that our bags were on the flight that they last said they were on.

At this point I once again walked to the same door, and over the loudspeaker explained that I had bags that arrived the night before. She claimed there was no record of them arriving, and said I’d have to wait until I received confirmation stating that they had arrived.

I basically begged, and eventually the agent let me in. She brought me to the lost baggage office, where there were hundreds of bags. Sure enough, I easily found our bags there.

Only after I left the airport did I receive an email stating that our “delayed baggage has arrived at the airport,” which was presumably triggered by me picking up the bags, and them recording it.

You really do have to advocate for yourself in situations where bags are delayed, and I imagine that’ll only get worse as the summer progresses. One has to wonder how long the bags would have sat there before I would have received an email indicating that the bags had arrived.

I’m happy I was persistent, and that I didn’t request baggage delivery to the hotel, because that would have given me even less power to try to solve the situation myself.

Anyway, all’s well that ends well. While going back and forth to Dusseldorf Airport two additional times wasn’t fun, in the end we got our bags about 18 hours after our arrival.

The European Union has fantastic consumer protections for air travel in the form of EU261. This protects people in the event they’re bumped, a flight is oversold, or bags are delayed or lost. However, not all consumer protections are equally clear.

For example, EU261 clearly spells out the exact dollar amount you’re due in the event that your flight is delayed. When it comes to lost baggage, though, regulations are much more vague. They just state that airlines should reimburse you for any necessary expenses as a result of the delayed bags, without spelling that out much further. Of course on top of that there’s also credit card protection for delayed bags.

In this case we didn’t end up pursuing either avenue:

Our priority was just to get our bags back in our possession as quickly as possible, though I am curious what experiences others have had with this.

For the first time in years, we had a delayed baggage situation on a recent Lufthansa flight. All is well that ends well, and in this case we were just inconvenienced and didn’t have our bags for 18 hours, so it could have been much worse.

If you are traveling this summer and checking bags, make sure you leave a lot more time than that when connecting. And ideally I’d recommend not checking bags right now, especially if connecting.

My biggest takeaway is how hopeless the whole delayed bag experience is. Your bag is essentially just going through an automated process, and there’s no one you can talk to who can realistically intervene (in other words, you can’t call someone who will find your bag, and you can’t get a real answer as to what’s going on with your bag).

If you’ve dealt with a lost or delayed bag this summer, what was your experience like?

Reading these comments is so distressing. Our family of seven traveled from Barcelona to Frankfurt with a one hour connection from Frankfurt to JFK in NY on 7/25/22. The second flight was delayed “to load the baggage” in Frankfurt, and Lufthansa requested that carry-ons be checked (for FREE) due to the full flight. We arrived in NY to an email message that none of our TEN luggage items made the flight. We had to submit a delayed luggage claim and list four different delivery addresses, then fly back to FL the next day. Despite telling us the luggage would be on the next morning’s flight to NY, we are now told there is no record of the bags leaving Frankfurt. In all my 40+ years of traveling, I have never experienced anything like this. I will NEVER fly Lufthansa again OR go anywhere where I have to connect flights. I prefer to stay at the interim location and take my bags with me instead. This taints an otherwise wonderful vacation…Lufthansa should be ashamed.

I went on a short trip to Europe and my luggage did not arrive with me in Zurich; filed a claim and checked everyday but nothing, so I had to get buy with the few essential items I bought; came back to LA on July 5 and kept checking because my suitcase was in Munich I thought I would never see it but on Friday I got a message from Lufthansa that my suitcase arrived in LA and would be delivered to my house; on Saturday I waited all day and by 10 pm I got it, after 25 days. Now, I don't know where to file for reimbursement of the items I bought

My family was returning from a trip to Italy and had a stopover in Frankfurt on route to JFK in N.Y. On Lufthansa airlines. Our flight arrived in JFK on 7/12 and our baggage was not on the plane along with many other passengers on board the flight. It is now 7/24, almost 2 weeks later and we have Not received any information on what they are still referring to as our delayed baggage. How do we go ahead being compensated for our losses? His is my first time posting!

We when london, Frankfurt, Barcelona. 5 days and still no sign of our bags Lufthansa are terrible and Frankfurt airport are just as bad Do not transfer via Frankfurt

I arrived in Budapest from Frankfurt through Lufthansa airlines on July 14, and today July 24, one of my baggages is not delivered. This has caused me so much pains and distress. I logged a complaint immediately on my arrival, and I 've visited their airport twice, yet nothing shows up!

Everything about lufthansa seems useless at the moment. They are not proactive. They seems not to care and they don't feel the customer pain or the stress one had gone through. They distabilize and disorganised your journey and to me it seems they are doing this on purpose

Just got our 2 expensive guitars back, after 11 excruciating days of little help from Lufthansa. Local baggage handlers in UK do nothing, and even give a phone number that no one answers. After calling Frankfurt twice, and being on hold for ages, we got one message to say a guitar was on a flight after 8 days - and fortunately my father dropped in at the airport to check again a few days later as the second one had arrived with no record of its flight, and no notification from the local office. Have spent over an 2 hours on the phone to Germany as they say say ‘over 5 days is unusual.’ 11 days was torture as the instruments were of huge sentimental and financial value. Dread my phone bill now.

Stuck in SFO without my luggage since Sunday. Supposedly it was already on the plane and got offloaded. So far it has not been located almost 48 hours later. 30% of the ground staff at Lufthansa in Germany are currently on sick-leave so this is definitely a meltdown. My take-aways so far:

Lesson 1: avoid checking bags... Lesson 2: put everything you need to survive for at least 2 days in decency into the...

Lesson 1: avoid checking bags... Lesson 2: put everything you need to survive for at least 2 days in decency into the carry-on Lesson 3: a direct flight in first class is no guarantee your luggage will make it Lesson 4: airlines cap the damage in case of loss at approx. 1200 Euro. I made a list of what is missing with running shoes, some formal and informal clothes, a good outdoor jacket and the value of the luggage and content is already way beyond that Lesson 5: take a picture of the luaggage and the content before checking it in Lesson 6: put a clearly visisble name-tag on the luggage and a piece of paper with all contact details into the luggage Lesson 7: Get Apple Airtags or Samsung SmartTags for the luggage Lesson 8: An AirBnB has no reception which can accept deliveries of delayed bags so a hotel for the first 2 nights might not be a bad idea after all. Lesson 9: Wear shoes on the plane you would comfortably run a marathon with since they might be your only shoes for the next 1 or 2 days...

All good take-aways... we had to go 5 days without our luggage. At the very last minute, Lufthansa made us check our carry-on luggage. Their requirements for carry-on luggage is very strict and their weight requirements are even stricter, so a super small rollaboard w/ necessities is crucial. Shoes that you don't mind wearing day after day is also necessary. Tumi luggage with Tracer is a great idea, although it still doesn't mean they won't...

We checked bags in Malta, had an over night lay over night in Frankfurt (plenty of time to get bags to the proper flight) bags did not make it to JFK. Two plus weeks in, we still don't have them. Air tags are great but they can't put your bag on the plane for you. We know our bags are still in Frankfurt. We need someone to get them and put them on a plan to the US. Have been tempted to fly back there myself and get them but after reading this realize that they probably won't be much more help in person either. Thank you for your article

Apple Airtags people! Gonna buy myself some before my next big trip.

Traveled with Lufthansa from DC to Lisbon on July 27 with a connecting flight in Frankfurt. Same story where I got an email saying the bags didn’t make the flight but would be on the next flight in. Not knowing how chaotic things were and assuming Lufthansa was a top tier airline, I naively chose the option for them to deliver my bags since I’d be in Lagos the next 4 days and would not be able to pick up the bags myself from the airport. Long story short, I never did receive the bag, could never reach a human by phone despite dozens of attempts, customer service at the airport said they could not help me, and the website was useless. It is now 18 days later, I am back in the United States and when I did speak to a human on the phone (after a two hour wait) they said my bags were back in the US and would be delivered directly to my home (although this was a couple days ago and still no bags). At this point i’m almost hoping they get delayed another few days so I can legally request the maximum amount of compensation for a 21 day loss. I understand bags get delayed/lost but it’s the lack of customer service that has been the most frustrating. Anyone have any tips on seeking and getting compensation for a similar situation?

Hopeless, ... nothing else left but waiting for miracle ;-( as not possible either to get in touch or to learn anything from LH or their agents.

I was travelling BCN-FRA-GDN July 3rd and checked in 2 bags. One arrived smoothly another one according to system was located in FRA. It was sent to GDN 2 days later i.e. July 5th. Since then LH clock stopped. Well expected from LH service not hiding.

My luggage went missing in Frankfurt on 26th June 2022 and to date 14th July 22 it is still considered delayed! Insurance co are useless as is Lufthansa

A similar situation with Lufthansa while travelling from Mumbai to Frankfurt to Madrid. Baggage was not loaded onto the connecting flight from Frankfurt to Madrid. We were told the baggage was arriving in the next flight which meant a 4 hour delay, we waited at the airport since we were in Madrid only for 2 days and then moving on. The delay for baggage arrival went on for 7 hours still we claimed our baggage and then moved on. On the return journey from Amsterdam to Frankfurt to Mumbai with a 80 min layover in Frankfurt, our bags were again not loaded onto the connecting flight from Frankfurt to Mumbai. Received our baggage 3 days later in Mumbai. Apparently some conversations were overheard stating there are loader issues at Frankfurt and the staff is also on strike (not sure if true). Such issues just overall kill and mess up the vacation mindset for travel to Europe.

Travelled to Lebanon from Bhx on first of july missed connecting flight due to delayed takeoff at Bhx, got to Frankfurt and was told by business class purser staff would be waiting to book us on next flight and provide hotel, no-one was there and we were told by the cleaners to sleep on floor.

We took taxi to a hotel paid ourselves and got the flight in the morning. We haven't seen our...

We took taxi to a hotel paid ourselves and got the flight in the morning. We haven't seen our bags for 2 weeks, i cut the holiday short, left my wife in Lebanon and flew back to frankfurt, there, nobody would speak to me, the main manager told me the bags are with 15000 thousand piled up in the transit bag area.

He said you will get them when your get them. This whole thing is a farce and airlines are getting away with.

No money is going to repair the mind blowing ignorance of Lufthansa. 1 July to 12 July.

We flew from Krakow to LAX through Frankfurt on July 4th. In Krakow we were told to check in our baggages because plane was full and ours weren't in European sizes, looked bigger than everyone else. I regret for agreeing to let check them in but they were little overweight so I cave in. They took our 4 baggages. Both our planes were delayed but we still had the same amount of time between them, 1h 15 min at first. When sitting in plane from Frankfurt to LAX pilot apologized for delays and announced it will take another 30 minutes because the problems with loading baggages. It never run through my mind they won't be able to load all of them, and one of them will be ours. I was sitting in the middle row so I didn't even bother to look through the window. We landed in LAX and went to baggage claim. After standing there for an hour and stressing about connection flight to Phoenix we received email that our 4th baggage wasn't loaded on that flight. Email had link for opening delayed baggage claim which I couldn't do at the airport customer service because our flight was leaving in 45 min and we still have to go to the other terminal. For 2 days there was no updates, " trying to locate your baggage". I couldn't sleep because of jag leg amd stress about baggage - all the stuff I bought in Europe and some memorable things after my late Grandparents were in that baggage, so I checked the status even in the middle of the night. Once system couldn't find my case but it was 4am in Phoenix and baggage customer service was closed. When I checked an hour later it said my baggage was located and will be on the next flight to LAX on Jyly 7th. No updates until night of July 8th when system was updated and was saying "your baggage was scheduled for delivery". No other info was provided,how it will be delivered to us in Phoenix. On Monday afternoon there was a FedEx guy knocking to our door and holding our baggage. Is very dirty and handle is broken but I'm happy I have all my stuff, the one I can't replace the most. I wish all of you that miracle and I hope all of you will find akl your missing baggages. Someone posted pictures from Heathrow airport with thousands of baggages. Looks like there is a mess everywhere. Don't loose your hope and pray for your miracle!

Mines been missing for 15 days now with LH. They have never called. That website never updates. I had to buy clothes out of my own pocket for my entire trip and now I am missing some of my best clothes at home. I have tried everything. They don't care. I have no clue how to resolve this issue. I don't know if they will ever compensate me. I feel pretty helpless honestly...

There is a form to submit a claim. I am going to the airport to get one, if you want one let me know , Ill ask for 2. (or copy of mine) send an address Ill put it in the mail

I still need help. We were misconnected from SAS Copenhagen to Rome on 2 Jun. We were re-accomodated on LH connection in FRA To Rome. No bags, no msg from LH. Was not an LH person (maybe the problem).We were on a cruise on the 3 June, filled out forms at the airport with our itin for the next 10 days. No bags (july 12) Rome said the bags were now in Florence. Cannot get Florence by phone (always busy???) I can not get a live human to talk to and follow thru.

I have a flight on June 28th from Viena to Amsterdam with Lufthansa and then with united to Chicago. I had 6 pieces of luggage in total. Received all but one at the Chicago airport. Filed a claim with United at the airport. To this date, I have not received my luggage. I have been following up with United and Lufthansa on daily basis talking to their agent through text message and on the call. On July 5th an agent told me my luggage is on schedule to be on a flight from Frankfort to Denver on July 6th. Instead of getting an update from Lufthansa or the airport, I received a call from a lady in Denver that my luggage was delivered to her by mistake. she was able to find my contact since I had a tag on my luggage with my information. The delivery company said they will take the luggage back to the airport and hand it over to Lufthansa that same day. Since then there has not been an update on my file. United doesn't have any info on my luggage since Lufthansa hasn't provided any info and hasn't handed over the luggage yet. Lufthansa does not respond to any of the United follow-up requests. I live in OH and have no way of going to Denver to search for my bag. United doesn't pay for airfare for me to go fly there. No one is responsive. I am on the call with them several hours a day without any resolution. This was the summary of my pleasant experience flying with Lufthansa!

Exact situation with me. Had a connecting flight from Billund, Denmark to Frankfurt to Glasgow. Received email in Glasgow about baggage not being placed on plane in Germany. Filed report with hotel info. No response. 5 days later, we were flying back through. While in Frankfurt, I went l to baggage claim office area and the lady was a rude bitch! Would not let me say a word. She said, “can you listen? Ask the stewardess where you check in!” She would not answer any more questions. She brushed me off. So I asked the check in desk and they had no answers and only mumbled replies to me. He basically told me that my delayed baggage would be on the next plane I would be boarding in just a few hours. It wasn’t. So this whole thing started on 6/29/22. We returned to the states on 7/5/22 and I have been trying to call, chat, email, use their automated systems to report my “delayed” baggage and I still have no answer. Only once in Stockholm Arlanda airport did an employee call and attempt to help me, but she probably could not since my luggage is probably still in Germany! So, I’m pissed off! My best and ONYL pair of button fly Jean shorts were in there and I had no less than 4 brand new pieces of clothing that I had not worn inside that bag. So I am so very pissed! But I have originals, copies and pictures of tags, receipts, and every boarding pass. I also kept all my receipts from the clothes I had to purchase. So I probably just spent money. I’ll most likely never be compensated but whatever. They can do better. There is no reason customer service has to be this ridiculous! Thank for all your stories. I don’t feel so alone now. I’m sorry for everyone who hasn’t received their property. Maybe we all will soon. Much love! Alicia from Mississippi!

We traveled from Mumbai to Chicago via Frankfurt on July 8. The first leg was delayed by over 3.5 hours and our bags did not make it to our connecting flight from Frankfurt to Chicago.

They were supposed to be on the next flight but it's been 3 days and the bags have not yet been delivered. There is no number where we can call to get a status update.

We traveled from Mumbai to Chicago via Frankfurt on July 8. The first leg was delayed by over 3.5 hours and our bags did not make it to our connecting flight from Frankfurt to Chicago.

They were supposed to be on the next flight but it's been 3 days and the bags have not yet been delivered. There is no number where we can call to get a status update.

We paid a huge amount of money to travel business class. Did not realize that Lufthansa is such a crappy airline with terrible to non-existent customer service.

On 27 June 2022 I flew to Frankfurt from Bergen and had a connecting flight 2 hrs later to Zurich. Lufthansa would not check my bag through to Zurich from Bergen as the Zurich flight was an add on. Firstly the Bergen to Frankfurt flight was delayed by nearly an hour. Then i stood waiting at the carousel in Frankfurt for half an hour and my bag did not arrive. I had to make a choice, to leave the bag and rush for my connecting flight or stay and wait or join the queue for "Lost Baggage" and miss my connecting flight. I decided to leave without my bag. The next day I filled in a 'lost bag' report online and received an automated acknowledgement. I was surprised and cheered by an email the following morning to say my bag had been located and was on the first Bergen-Frankfurt flight of the day. They would inform me immediately when it had arrived and collected by the courier for delivery to my temporary address (the option I chose). I could track my bag online Needless to say, I never heard another word from them in spite of many further mails. 9 days later I was due to fly home to Cape Town, South Africa...also with Lufthansa. I sent them another mail 2 days before that in an attempt to cancel the delivery request and ask to collect the bag in the Zurich airport. No reply, no acknowledgement. 3 days later my bag was delivered to the temporary address in Zurich with none of the notifications they had promised. I now have to get the bag back to SA at my own expense. I understand that all the airports and airlines are chaotic at the moment but I will really think twice about flying with Lufthansa again

My daughters suitcases were delayed 3 weeks flying from Florence to Munich and the airport baggage in Italy admitted they routinely leave behind suitcases because of weight. The flight involved Dolomiti and Eurowings although the baggage tags were from Lufthansa. The bags were not traceable in the Eurowings system nor Lufthansa’s .The games began with all three entities pretending the others were responsible for the bag . The bags did arrive but I have yet...

We had a horrible experience with Austrian airlines. Our baggage in a direct flight from Los Angeles to Vienna didn't make it. We had planned a nice Europe city sightseeing starting from Vienna. We were going to attend my wife's friend wedding in the end of the trip and had thousands of dollars worth of clothings, shoes and cosmetics in the baggage. The luggage was never delivered to us and Austrian Airline ruined our vacation. The customer service is nonexistent in EU. The maximum lost luggage compensation is €1500 which is a joke and probably was set decades ago. Will see if they reply to my claim, but I have low hope that they even respond.

Lufthansa lost my luggage on 1st July in Frankfurt and I still haven’t gotten any response…. I filled the report but my luggage still lost….there is a lot of valuable stuff inside… it’s really sad…

Flew RIX>LPA via frankfurt yesterday, we saw our bags and pram next to the plane at frankfurt to be loaded and I even took a photo, as soon as they finished loading all other bags they put ours back on the luggage trailer and drove them off...no explanation , no i am in gran canaria with 2 children and no clothes ..its ridiculous

I am still awaiting my delayed luggage from my July 1 return flight to Detroit, originating in Zurich and with a lengthy layover in Paris. It’s been ten days and, after a two hour on hold wait with Delta (the flight was actually on Air France, a Delta partner), I was offered reassurance that, while two of my three checked items were still in Paris, eventually things would get sorted. The third checked item was my walker, which was delivered to my home on July 5, five days after my arrival. Meanwhile, it was necessary to purchase another walker as I flew again on July 3. I also needed to replace makeup, hairbrush, comb and another suitcase, this time actually not letting it out of my sight! If you’re traveling in Europe in the near future, I highly suggest that you NOT check luggage. Between the shortage of employees and the ongoing strikes, it’s too much of a gamble.

Flew SFO to Edinburgh via Frankfurt on 28 June. Checked in 2 bags, and a 3rd bag was a Gate Check. Notified that one bag was delayed in Frankfurt about an hour after arriving in Edinburgh. An hour later, another email stated they located the bag and it would be on a flight the next day. It did not arrive that day, 30 June, or the next, or the next. We went back to the airport where the Menzes baggage agents looked everywhere. They were very helpful but still no bag. It is now 10 July. No bag, and our on-line delayed bag claim must have expired because our claim record can no longer be found. Lastly, there is no reasonable way to contact Lufthansa. Emails are system generated, do-not-reply. Twitter? Got 2 responses from the social media department stating they do not have access to baggage claim info so, "sorry. We can't help." Very disappointed in Lufthansa. Very poor service.

I had similar experience with Austrian which is part of Lufthansa. Airlines need a couple of class action lawsuits to make them clean up their act. These days you can't even bring necessary items with you in the carry-on due to dumb liquid container size limit. Aren't most of explosives solid? So why is liquid not allowed in the flights but solid objects like a bar of soap is allowed?

...Not to mention their ridiculous 8kg (17 lb) weight limit on carry-ons.

We flew from Nice to Frankfurt last week (June 30) and had an hour connection, which has always been easily completed in Lufthansa’s terminals. But our Nice flight was delayed and we missed our connection to Denver. Well, the airport was a madhouse. Passport control was a disaster—a sea of people fighting their way to the front who were trying to make their connection and the others not knowing if they should still go through...

The customer service line was so long. I waited 2.5 hours to get our flights rebooked. When I was done, the line stretched all the way down the terminal. We had checked 6 pieces of luggage-one small bag for each person in the family and 2 car seats.

Lufthansa rebooked us for the next day Frankfurt to Heathrow then onto Denver. They gave us a hotel voucher, which we did not use because the hotel did not have AC and was 45 minutes away. They also gave us taxi vouchers to that hotel as well (we did not use them either). All the hotels within a 30 minute radius of the airport were sold out. I chose a Hampton Inn downtown for the evening instead…it has AC. My 17 year old daughter had the same Nice to a Frankfurt to Denver flight 2.5 weeks earlier and the same thing happened to her…delay in Nice caused the missed connection. However, she waited only 15 minutes in customer service and stayed at Airport hotel. Nothing seemed out of sorts in the airport at that time. I requested our €600 and received it within 8 days from Lufthansa.

Well the next day we gate checked our stroller and we’re told we could grab it in London for our 5 hour layover. Well, that didn’t happen. Once in London, we were told it was checked through to Denver. Annoying, but whatever. Arrived in Denver and the stroller and car seats did not make it. $700 worth of car seats. I have already filed for our €600 compensation per person for our delayed arrival. That is so easy to do with Lufthansa luckily.

It is now 8 days later and no car seats and I just received a notification that the stroller will be delivered in the next day or so. United (which was our London to Denver operator) has no timeline at all for the car seats according to my conversation with them today.

According to the news, there are over 20,000 bags piled up in Frankfurt right now and they are canceling passenger flights to operate ghost flights to get the luggage where it needs to be. I am assuming our car seats are in the sea of that luggage. Just crazy that they couldn’t get them on our new flight that was 24 hours later.

I totally agree on your assessment to skip intra European flights and take the trains. The TGV in France is so quick and easy. Or just wait to go to Europe in the fall.

My baggage was delayed on the MXP - FRA flight of June 30th. On July 5th Lufthansa informed me that the baggage was found and on its way back to MXP with LH254 flight of same day. It's July 10th.....and baggage is yet to arrive at MXP..... I tried also to call Lufthansa service center but, in spite of more than 45 minutes waiting at phone, nobody replied. Terrible company.....after 10 years of FTL I will definitely change preferred company.

Is there any way those of us who have been treated so badly and cannot get a single response from Lufthansa to jointly file a class action suit in Europe against them? Perhaps if they are forced to pay out millions of Euros, they may decide to start doing something and look for our bags. Their complete lack of care or attempt to have any human being deal with frustrated travelers makes a mockery of the supposed German efficiency.

I am experiencing this right now and I cant for the life of me find the Contact Form / Email address / Contact Anyone link ... ?? do you ? I want to apply for compensation for what I had to buy while waiting on my bag.

My experience with Lufthansa that began a week ago has been a nightmare and ended with the Lufthansa agent saying that they are no longer responsible for my bag because they located it and turned it over to a delivery service a week ago. My case is closed. No one ever contacted me about delivery. On the second day of the saga I was given an email address and by the end of the week five different phone numbers purporting to be somehow connected to ASO, the company delivers Lufthansa bags. The only number that was answered by a human was by someone who said that he knows nothing about my bag and his colleague would call me. I have been writing emails to the address Lufthansa gave me and never gotten a response. This morning when I went to check the Lufthansa website, it said that no reference file exists with my number and name. When I called, they said it was because they case is closed. The agent said the treatment of my case was "unacceptable" but that there is nothing I can do. Since they located my bag, I cannot file a lost bag. My case (on phone daily for at least 3 hours) has more aggravating details about conflicting (mis)information from Lufthansa agents at their call center, but I won't bore people with it here. Needless to say the inconsistent stories, lack of information, lack of professionalism (one agent actually told a lie) and lack of a system for getting my lost bag delivered to me has shocked me. I know the airlines are all in chaos but my experience with Lufthansa has been incredible.

My bag is still missing, since 30june, now 8days. I had a transfer in Frankfurt from Bologna to Stockholm. I recieved the email that my bag was not loaded on the flight from Frankfurt to Stockholm, fine. I made the missing bag report and now nothing is happening. There is no one to talk to, no one that can do anything. The answer I get from customer care is just to wait, and nothing can...

There are over 20,000 bags piled up at Frankfurt currently. I too connected through there on the 30th and am missing 2 car seats. No updates yet. Last scan was in Frankfurt.

We traveled from Heathrow to sofia on 17th june.

As we checked in our bags, we were told by airline staff that the conveyor belt wasn't working and"just put you bags over there" pointing to massive area with hundreds of bags. This had us a bit concerned but we followed their instructions. However upon arrival in Sofia no bags arrived. We decided to put in delayed baggage claim. I sent emails every day for 15 days. Finally the bags arrived. But of course we had to buy clothing etc while we waited for our bags. Heathrow blamed our airline ,but I believe it was Heathrows " tech error " as they called it. Very frustrating and distressing for us and many others .

I travelled Los Angeles to Rome with a connection in Frankfurt. We were late getting into Frankfurt and we’re met by an airline employee and escorted to the connecting. Once on board the Captain made an announcement that they were holding the flight to make sure all the baggage was on the flight. Guess what? Mine was not. I spent 2 hours in line waiting to file a lost baggage report. I tried calling for the next 2 days to no avail. Finally my online status was updated to let me know my luggage has been found. By that point I was already in Positano. 2 days later I received a phone call at 7:30 am (I was sleeping). I was told they could not get her my luggage to Positano because it would take 2 days minimum and on the online tracker it indicated that I would have left Positano by then. They would call back. Within one hour I updated my online information to have my bag delivered to my friend in southern Tuscany as I would be there in 2 weeks and I would make due until then. 2 days go by and I get a phone call. Are you in Positano??? No, I say! They asked me where to send the luggage and I told them I updated it on line. No!! I will send you an email where you want the luggage to go (so why do they have you do the online tracking??) I responded immediately with the information asking for confirmation that it was received. Crickets!!! So will they send my luggage? Will it go missing again?! I just changed my itinerary to go back to Rome one week from now if my luggage does not show up an my friends house in Tuscany. I should have just gone back to get it in Rome but I haven’t had a vacation in years. I work 60 hours a week. This is just insane!!! Thank you for listening to me.

We arrived to LAX from Frankfurt on Lufthansa July 2nd. Today is July 8th and at 3.00 am California time 2 of our 4 checked bags arrived at our place. We had an OVERNIGHT CONNECTION in Frankfurt for our July 2nd LAX flight but obviously 12 hours was not sufficient to get our bags on the LAX flight. Bag #3 arrived to LAX on July 6th and supposedly will be delivered to us today. Bag #4 is still somewhere in Europe after taking a trip to Stockholm yesterday. No idea when we will see bag#4. There is a phone number for Lufthansa baggage in the US but no one ever answers the call- I have waited hours to be connected to a human on this number with no luck so far to get an update on bag#4!

I totally agree you need to be proactive with delayed or lost baggage as the system is totally automated and without contacting a human somewhere along the way you have to wait for the system to update the data on your situation. Not looking forward to having to go through Frankfurt Airport again for the return trip as it appears they will need 2-3 months to sort out their critical staffing shortages at the airport according to a press release from Fraport earlier this week.

I will avoid flying with Lufthansa at all costs. They did not give us the seats we reserved and paid extra for. I've been waiting for 2 months now for that upgrade to be refunded. Good luck calling them!

Pre-Pandemic, we travelled a lot through Europe, almost always by plane. We only travel with a small backpack the same as most school children use. Even on low cost carriers this qualifies as a free carry-on. Our longest trip was 5 weeks with 13 flights. Some connections were as short as 20 minutes. Yes. Frankfurt can be a real challenge running to a gate in another terminal in 20 min ! We've done it! You can easily carry all your essentials with a small soft backpack. At the end of 5 days, find a self serve laundry. You meet the greatest people and get fantastic advice from locals who are at the laundromat with nothing better to do than talk. BTW, we're seniors, not kids. In case the gate agent wants to put your carry-on in the hold due to space, simply say, "I've got all my meds inside" They always move to the next person with a hard cover carry-on. Life is so much easier when you don't have extra baggage!

I had a similar but worse experience with Lufthansa. When you try to call for help, you are in an endless loop of referrals. Their service is not very good, period. So much for German efficiency - even at the mothership Frankfurt.

We flew Lufthansa last month and were similarly notified via email that one of our bags did not make the flight and would be delayed. Since we only received a notice about 1 bag, we went to baggage claim to collect the other bag. Surprise: both bags were at baggage claim.

My niece arrived from Frankfurt to Newark New Jersey on July 1st and today is July 6th. To this day she did not get her bags even though we pleaded with the personnel explaining that by mistake she left her medication and inhaler in the luggage (she is only 17). The luggage is supposedly sitting at the storage since July 3rd. We went to the airport twice, it took us 3 hours each trip, paid exorbitant parking fees, but nobody helped. By phone, there is no answer. At the airpor, there were airport employees of Lufthansa sitting in a group having good time on their work hours and could not give a dam. One helpful employee finally went to check but came back 20 minutes later that they have hundreds of luggages there and could not find ours. This is not first summer of travel for airlines. It is outrages and totally irresponsible that companies can notput act together, hire capable people who will be glad to have a job. Shame on politicians who are letting this society go down the drain.

Hi, I just had my bag delayed by Lufthansa by 6 days. I'm wondering what the best way is to go about getting compensation as their website is a nightmare and calling customer service is also impossible. We also had our flight canceled, through our travel agent got rerouted and then stuck overnight in another city. This was all out of Munich on June 24th. Lufthansa kept saying over the loudspeakers that they would...

This applies to delayed baggage only. My luggage was delayed by 4 days on my flight from Boston to Munich in June. No one has replied to my email inquiry for delayed baggage compensation instructions sent four days ago. Pre and post email sent, I looked at their website numerous times. I just found this page below and they don't make it easy to find the info. I am submitting my original receipts with a...

Note: You must submit your request within 21 days of receiving your baggage to get compensated

Hope this helps. Good luck!

https://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/local-page/customer-relations-usa

I’ve already done it twice already this month due to long delays and missed connections. They owe you €600 per person reimbursement. But it gets processed within 2 weeks—maybe a tad longer now with all the July 4 weekend disasters. Be patient and wait for their reply each time. They WILL ask for bank account info to send payment too. I told them I wasn’t comfortable doing that over email, but this is only way they will do it. So I did as a pdf attachement. Got my direct deposit about 3 days later. Make your email short and sweet about your flight cancelation and by EU law you would like your reimbursement. Don’t include any baggage issues in the same email to avoid delays in your compensation.

8 days! That's how long it took for Air Canada (or its designated courier) to deliver our mishandled bags! Disgusting! It seems to me there was no sense of urgency whatsoever on Air Canada or their courier's part to return the missing bags to their owners (who are on vacation for only 11 full days in Italy, and where the bags have been missing for 8 days).

The courier had every excuse why the bags...

The courier had every excuse why the bags cannot be delivered. First, they called that the bags would be delivered to the hotel on June 11th (we arrived on June 9, 2022). Then they called to say they can't deliver it by then because their schedule was full (I guess we weren't special enough to make the schedule, though our bags were tagged 'priority' - that didn't matter). Then, they said they will deliver it on June 15th, I said to deliver it on the 16th instead at another hotel since we'll be in transit on the 15th. Alas, there were still no bags when we arrived at the new hotel on the 16th! Frustration is mounting!!! I called the courier that day and asked what the cause of the delay might be. Here's what they said: it's more difficult to deliver to the islands (we were in Sardinia). Seriously??? This is their job as a courier - logistics is their business - to deliver whatever needs to be delivered.

At this point, I emailed Air Canada to say just deliver my bags back to Los Angeles (of course, I didn't get a response back). Then I remembered reading from one of the travel newsletters I get daily in my inbox to go on Twitter and address it there. I don't have a social media account so I asked my daughter to send a message hashtag Air Canada via Twitter. And guess what, she got a reply telling her to 1) somebody will contact her via DM and 2) take down the message on Twitter. My daughter didn't get a DM and neither did she take down the message. But good news, the very next day, the 17th, our bags were delivered. Allelujah!!!

Who or what made it happen? Twitter message???

I was traveling with my wife from Izmir Turkiye to Munich -Germany,and after that we have connected flight to Boston -Massacuset. Flight was at the time in the Logan Airport in Boston.Flight number from Munich to Boston Was operated by Lufthansa LHO424 S 06 JUN ALSO UA 8902.WE WAS IN LINE TO PICK UP OUR LUGGAGE AND WE WAIT MORE THEN ONE OUR.THERE WAS NO OUR 2 LUGGAGE WE FILE CLAIMS FOR 2 LUGGAGES..THEY GAVE AS REFERENCE NUMBETR FOR LUGGAGES AND TOLD ASS LUGAGE GONNA BE AT HOME ADRESS SONE.FIRS LUGAGE CAME AFTER COUPLE OF DAYS BY LUGGAGE WAS DESTROYED.SECOND LUGGAGE DID NOT CAME .DELIVERI AGENT WAS FEDEX TO DELIVER THE OTHER BAG.ACORDING TO THE FEDEX TRACKING NUMBER BAG ARIVING ON JUNE 14 2022,NEVER DID.FEDEX AND LUFTHANSA BLAME EACH OTHER FOR LOST LUGGAGE .WE FILE CLAIMS FOR DAMAGE AND LOST BAG BUT NO RETURNED INFO.WE OPEN INVESTIGATION ABOUT LUGGAGE,NO RETURNED INFORMATION.WE SEND WIA E-MAIL SEVERAL MASSAGES AND RESPOND WAS:THANK YOU WE RECEIVED YOUR E-MAIL BUT NOTHING ALSE.SINCE THAT TIME PASS MORE THEN A MONTH NO INFO ABOUT DAMAGE OR LOST LUGGAGE.LOST LUGGAGE WORT MORE THEN $1000 ,PLUS DEMAGE LUGGAGE $150.

Any advice for someone who’s bags are still stuck in Frankfurt? We live in the US and can’t get a Lufthansa agent on the phone. My daughter flew from Turkey to Frankfurt and the lay over was cut short so her bag never made it. Advice?

Report it here. https://www.lufthansa.com/pe/en/baggage-irregularities

There are over 20,000 bags piled up at Frankfurt, so don’t expect any speedy replies though.

My wife and I had a bad experience our luggage, flying from Bilbao to Munich (where we live) on June 25th. Although it was a simple connection, after landing in Munich and waiting for an hour (at 10:30pm!), all passengers on the flight were informed that baggage claim was closing for the night, we should file a lost baggage claim online. The website wasn't working at all that night, so we filed the claims the next morning. We received a confirmation mail apiece, but nothing else. For days nothing happened. Mid-week one of my wife's two pieces of luggage was delivered by courier to our apartment - unfortunately the less important one. Last Saturday my suitcase was delivered by courier. My wife is still waiting. And now she can't even access the information page on her luggage. We hope that's because she submitted the written inventory, and the case is somehow in another box now. But we don't know. Really a horrible experience. According to the local press there are still around 1000 "lost" bags in the Munich airport. Lufthansa provides a great example of how not to handle customer communications.

Flew into Frankfurt from London. Simple 1 hour easy flight. Bottom line, my wife’s suitcase made it. Mine, lost. Since we were traveling around England first before flying to Germany, everything I traveled with was gone. I only have 5-6 days of meds. Totally screwed. Totally frustrating. I made a claim and have been following up 3-4 times a daily. Frankfurt Airport is a horrible place.

Lost luggage. Mine was lost somewhere between Heahrow and Vilnius. We changed flights at Frankfurt. I had only the clothes I stood up in for a 8 day cycling trip. I was reunited with my luggage on my arrival back at Heathrow. Nothing as yet from Lufthanza

You are lucky to get any communication and auto rebooked flights from Lufthansa. Try Air Canada. We were stranded at the airport couple weeks ago in YYZ flying back from Athens. Not only we missed our connections due to airport chaos and late arrivals, we lost our luggage too. To top it off, after stood in line for 2 hours at YYZ to get rebooked, we were told there were no more flights available for...

So at that point, we tried 800 # which were not available since they were no longer accepting phone calls due to high volume! What a total disaster! I feel for many passengers there at YYZ. We ended up spent $500 a night staying the airport hotel for 6 hours with our own expenses. Fortunately we had booked our own flight home using miles and was able to get home the next day! Once home, our luggage was not arriving.

Took Air Canada 10 days to send the luggage to me via Fedex! Until today, there's no communication whatsoever from AC. Only way I knew my luggage was arriving was through my Fedex shipment notification subscription.

I had a baggage delay on Brussels Airlines when I arrived at Naples, Italy. I got conflicting information and it took 3 days to get my bag. Although I had requested delivery, I was told I had to return to the airport to get my bag. I was reimbursed for what I had to buy for clothes and toiletries (about $100) but they refused to pay for the taxi ($60) as they don't deem it...

On a recent Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Houston, our bags were delayed over an hour. Not horrible except that this put us in Houston rush hour traffic which I had purposely tried too avoid by booking the earliest morning flight. We had flown Business Class and were told that our bags had priority. They were among the last to arrive. AND our flight from Istanbul to Frankfurt was like sitting in Economy Class with...

We got also an email that the bag didnt make it in our connection flight but even they didnt confirm it left the origin. No news from them after 10 days filed all reports no news lots of inconvenience we had presents for family mosquito protections, suncreams, medicine, expensive clothes, basic toiletteries we had to buy again. That amounts to much more money than what they can compensate and still we dont know if they will help us

I flew Lufthansa to Delhi from JFK via Frankfurt. Stopover in Frankfurt was already short but was made worse by the fact that we left an hour late from JFK and parked at a remote gate in Frankfurt. Got the delayed baggage message after landing in Delhi and quickly filled out the missing baggage form (had 2 bags) since I had a domestic connection within a few hours. Took them about half a week to reach out about my missing bags and how I can track them. I finally received one yesterday but am still waiting for the other one. Lufthansa customer service didn’t respond to any of my messages (phone, email, Twitter) so that was great. Hopefully no one else has to deal with the mess I had to endure.

The Montreal Convention covers lost / delayed baggage for 99% of airlines. Its clear and states airlines legally have to cover you expenses for toiletries and clothing in accordance with the convention. The requirement is that you are entitled to approx. Eur 1336 , but must keep the expenditure to a minimum and provide receipts. I've just claimed this back from Lufthansa in recent weeks. They did try to ignore me but you have to...

I can see this becoming a larger issues in the coming months, especially in Europe where airlines have made sweeping cuts to staff and services and used Covid as the excuse.

We've had an absolutely horrendous experience with Lufthansa and I would never use them again. My complaint is quite detailed but basically because they gave us the wrong information it resulted in my grandson not being able to get on 2 flights back to Thailand, costing me quite a lot if money in the end u had to get him a flight with Emirates. I asked Lufthansa for a transcript if my calls, gave them date and time but they said they wipe tapes after 2 weeks so i coukdnt have (I understand companies are supposed to keep for 6 months). Needless to say they have refused to take any responsibility leaving me nearly £1000 out of pocket. I would never use them again and would advise anyone else not to either.

One thing that UA is doing surprisingly well is their baggage tracking notifications. At least in my experience, I felt like I was getting just the right amount of information at the right time.

Hi Guys I Flew Vancouver+Munich+İstanbul with Munich connection at 5 July And my two luggage didn’t arrive Istanbul.I’m pretty Upset because all my holiday stuff some where and I’m just with my back without any second Clothes and shoes..It’s my first time I never done this before.I already had report with Turkish Airlines L&F office yesterday and we still waiting response from Lufthansa.What a disaster way to start holiday..I would like to hear yours...

I just came back from a trip to Europe where my bags were lost twice. The first time it was with SAS and it was lost for 5 days - the number that they gave me to call only went to the general reservation desk who had no information. I called 36hrs after they lost my bags and their response was "we have 5 days to locate the luggage so why are you calling so early; check the website and call us back after the 5th day!". Great Service. If I wanted any up-to-date information then I would have to go to the baggage office in Stockholm. The only problem is that the baggage office was near baggage claim which was after security so if you did not have a ticket you cannot access or go to the baggage office. It was completely inept. My bags finally arrived and I like you said I would just pick it up as who knows when they would deliver it to the hotel.

Lufthansa’s way of doing everything was hopefully the right path for everything in general.

For the duration, I'm a convert to Team Carry-on. Being a bit details oriented, I've looked into what constitutes carry-on. Problem is that it varies considerably between airlines, and how rigidly it is enforced. This is a problem when using a number of different airlines in a whole itinerary. So a bag up to 7kgs is fine, but the 'personal item' also allowed is very much at the discretion of the check-in person. I've regularly gotten away with a second, different looking bag (of around 10kg) as my personal item, as they only ask you to weigh the primary 7kg wheelie. Checking in early, with a Business or F ticket also helps I find. I have seen comedic scenes of disorganised last-minute Basic Economy passengers rolling up with assorted baggage in tow demanding to take it all on board. Unfortunately for them it all gets checked-in with excess baggage fees which become the subject of heated argument. Don't you be that person!

Don't know how applicable this is to Europe (and point taken re: no time to buy from shops before they closed), but P2 and I have had AA delay our bags twice over the past few months, one day delay each time. We cleared $1000 worth of necessity reimbursement in total between the two of us (doubtless it helps that I'm EXP). These days, we don't quite mind a delay :)

I got delayed bags from Munich to Miami. Same as in your story, SMS and ordered delivery online. Got them 3 days later. But - then I tried to claim reimbursement for clothes and cosmetics. Lufthansa said, that without complaint numer, you can get in the lost baggage office, they will not pay . So great to inform the client, that they can do everything online and afterwords saying, that it's not true if you want your money...

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/travel-rewards/montreal-convention-luggage/

I had a golf travel bag for a golf trip and a regular bag checked on a British Air flight from YVR to DUB with connection in LHR on June 25th. Regular bag arrived on Sunday night on time but golf travel bag did not arrive in Dublin despite six hour layover in LHR and Priority tag for Club World.

I did not get notified on arrival and reported claim of missing bag to Swissport....

I did not get notified on arrival and reported claim of missing bag to Swissport. I had to cancel three days of golf and flight out of DUB Monday morning due to no clothing or equipment. Had three nights of prepaid, nonrefundable lodging near golf course and partially refundable plane tickets from and back to Dublin.

As on Monday morning, bag had not been located. Still no word on Monday night. Had purchased extra lodging in Dublin to wait for bag. Got word on Tuesday morning bag was on flight from LHR. Arrived at hotel Tuesday night. Reworked iitnerary.

Submitted claim to British Air with documents for equivalent of about $800 USD for lodging in Dublin, nonrefundable lodging near golf course, and nonrefundable sports bag fee on Aer Lingus flex ticket.

Still don't know if bag sat in LHR or never got loaded in YVR. Was third in line in Enerald/First class at YVR check in and probably had first oversized bag, so plenty of time.

Have had five segments so far at LHR with connections and missed at least one bag on four of the connections. This was worst and the first claim I filed.

I have boarded on June 17, 2022 on a Air Canada flight AC447420 Toronto to Sibiu. I arrived to Sibiu, in Romania, on June 18, 2022 and my luggage did not arrived. I have received, ticket number SBZOS10085 for lost baggage. The baggage had a tag with the destination address. After many calls and complains today July 7th is still no answer about my luggage. It is still classified as 'delayed bag'. I will get to the end of the week back in Canada after 3 weeks without a luggage and I will go to the airport after landing to ask where my luggage is? I had no luggage in a 3 weeks vacation. It is a very frustrating experience to go in a 3 weeks vacation and the Air lines to not deliver the luggage.

We went from LAX to Athen via Munich on Lufthansa. We were told an hour before landing Fri night by the pilot that no bags were loaded on the airplane including the flight crew & to submit a claim online. Our bags sat in Los Angeles for over 24 hours before finally making it to our destination on Sunday just a couple hours before our cruise was set to leave. My bag had been...

Two of our three bags never made if out of Los Angeles on our Lufthansa business class Los Angeles to Bari Italy flight. We arrived on Sunday night for a three day wedding series of events beginning the following night. Although we were given a claim number and telephone numbers to call, we got absolutely no information the day after we arrived except that our bags were still in Los Angeles. The good news was that the bag which did arrive contained the clothes my wife would be wearing to the actual Wednesday wedding. Since I had no clothes except what I wore on the plane, we spent the our first vacation day at the hotel boutique and an Italian mall in Fasano buying me clothes and toiletries. The following morning we were told our bags would arrive that night but, when they didn’t, we were told they were instead send to a courier and they would arrive the following day which was the day of the actual wedding. The stress levels were increased and my wife was lobbying hard for me to get a suit for the main event the following day. Rather than buying a new custom made suit that morning which my wife wanted me to do, I gambled and we instead did some sightseeing in Puglia. We got back to our hotel around 230 and the bags with my suit arrived simultaneously—we were to leave for the wedding at 5. We quickly had the suit pressed on an emergency basis at an inflated price and made it to the wedding on time fully and properly attired. But the stress and increased and unplanned for significant expenses for three days while on vacation should not have happened and we are in the process now of seeking reimbursement from Lufthansa only for our out of pocket expenses arising from the delayed luggage—not our stress. Of course they are handling our claim quite apathetically just like they handled our delayed luggage. What a surprise! But we are not going to let it go. Going forward we are no longer going to have separate suitcases; rather, we are going to split things up.

Had a surprising experience with luggage on BA in May. Our CPT-LHR-LAX flight turned around over Ireland due to a sick crew member and we rebooked for LHR-SAN the next day. BA told us not to worry about retrieving our luggage unless we needed anything as they would re-route. Right. Arrived in SAN and our bags were one of the first ones out! Pretty amazing.

Jet Blue delayed our bags by a day and a half on a recent trip to Central America. As mentioned in the article the rules are vague, however, we did ent up getting reimbursed approximately $1100 for the two of us.

Initially on the phone the agent said that its usually $50-$100 per night. I believe thats the guidance they are asked to convey since that usually wont require alot of approvals. In our case...

Initially on the phone the agent said that its usually $50-$100 per night. I believe thats the guidance they are asked to convey since that usually wont require alot of approvals. In our case we had an event to attend and needed the clothes. That being said, we didnt have to do anything extra to get reimbursed other than just filling out the form and submitting it.

Sometimes bags are intentionally left off of flight. We we’re booked on Iberia Express flight from Madrid to Malaga. We arrived at MAD 2.5 hour, and check in our three suitcases. The flight was on a small, regional jet (2x2 seating, and no jet bridge). The plane was full, and a number of people had to gate check their carry-ones. Well - at some point, Iberia decided to remove all of the check large size suitcases from the aircraft (or never loaded them to begin with). When we arrived in Malaga, the only bags that arrived were carry-on size. There were at least 30 people who checked suitcases, like us, whose bags were intentionally left off of the plane. Still waiting for them to be delivered.

The losses might be covered but good luck trying to submit it to the airline. My bag got lost by Vueling and they make it next to impossible to submit a claim online. Ridiculous.

We just experienced delayed baggae on our route ZRH-MUC-YVR-SEA. Our baggage didn`t make it in Munich what really wasn`t a surprise because we had to run from one get to the other... We was already told at the US border in YVR that our Luggage will be on the next flight. It took a day before they found our Luggage after I claimed it was lost in the App. When they found our luggage,...

It is ENTIRELY Lufthansa management’s fault. They MUST FINE, PUNISH and FIRR Lufthansa management. Lufthansa management unprofessionally and ruthlessly cut off workforce because they care more about short term financial performance (which in the end translate to their compensation). If they didn’t cut so much workforce during Covid times, things like this won’t happen. Such large scale of chaos didn’t happen before only this summer. Lufthansa management MUST take full responsibility! They deserve...

The baggage situation presently is dire as there aren’t sufficient staff to load or offload them. At some airports there are literally 1000s of bags. Some flights are going out without bags. Seen images of flight crew assisting otherwise it impacts on the flight departure.

Bag losses are covered by the Montreal Convention, which is universal.

After 21 days it’s a loss and I believe the maximum is around $1700 per person. Well...

Bag losses are covered by the Montreal Convention, which is universal.

After 21 days it’s a loss and I believe the maximum is around $1700 per person. Well one bag / 2 passengers $1700. 2 bags : 2 people $3400 etc

Just never ever put valuables in checked bags. Imagine your laptop being inside and the retail value is more than the liability.

Our cases went missing, also flying with Lufthansa and connecting through Frankfurt. No announcement at baggage reclaim, we just had to wait until all the cases had been claimed from the carousel before making a report at the desk. My husband’s case arrived one week later, mine 15 days later. Less than an hour to connect at Frankfurt, with a mile to walk to the departure gate. No food available on any flights, just a...

My bag was delayed on an Icelandair flight. I was in KEF for an overnight layover and luckily they got my bag to me the next day. I wasnt eligible for any credit card protection but Icelandair reimbursed me for purchases of some necessities.

Our bags were delayed on a vueling flight from gatwick to Florence last week. They didn’t unload the previous flight (in the reverse direction). It took five days for 3/4 of my bags to arrive. There were probably around 2000 bags in the hangar at flr and you had to manually search for them (I have videos lol). FLR was completely overwhelmed. Vueling still shows that they are searching for my luggage. Did not receive...

Our family of five ended up buying some clothes and living out of one small bag. Were actually far happier. We’re thinking of ditching two bags even though we are travelling for quite a while.

Someone set up a “vueling FLR” wattsap group which was super helpful. People shared tips etc. and videos of bags so people could identify if theirs has arrived.

My LH delayed bag experience from a few years ago: -Incoming flight to FRA was delayed, and LH put us on the next flight to Bologna a few hours later. -No bags showed up in Bologna. The agent said they'd be on the next flight and would be delivered the next morning. -We took the train to Florence as planned, and the next morning, the bags didn't show up -The bags had arrived in Bologna, but the courier LH used simply refused to bring us the bags for several days. I kept calling LH and they kept telling me the bags are on their way. Because of those statements, I didn't just take the train back to Bologna to pick up the bags myself. -I finally got the courier's number from LH and called. It was 3 days after we arrived at that point and the courier said "But it's Sunday, I can't bring them today." Of course, LH's stated commitment was to deliver delayed bags within 24 hr after the passenger arrives. There is no mention of Sunday in that commitment. -On Monday, the bags were finally delivered to the remote cottage in Tuscany where we were staying at that point. -I complained to LH and was offered a bland corporatespeak apology.

Very, very unimpressive for a 5-star (oops, I mean 4-star) airline. I realize that the courier's specific actions are somewhat out of their control, but they do have a choice of companies and they clearly chose based on cost and not performance.

I don’t think there is any delivery of bags atm. Honestly there are so many delayed bags in Italy atm that they have given up on delivery. We all had to go pick ours up.

Most airlines use the same courier. There are 1000s of bags and they are overwhelmed. Once the airline passes the bag to the courier it can even be weeks before they manage to deliver it.

What I don’t understand is the breakdown of electronic monitoring of these bags. Why do you have to physically go to the airport and search through 5 different hangars to find your bags. Which may not even be there?! Bags are scanned. How is that information not accessible

Also. Why can’t you fill out a PIR online. That takes up sooooo much time at the lost and found line.

I don't understand this either, Mick. I'm in the midst of a lost-luggage debacle in Europe right now and nobody can tell me when or where my bag was last scanned. Coming from the US, where the airline app gives you regular information, this was a surprise.

For readers of this blog coming to Europe over the next six weeks - change your plans if you can. It's complete pandemonium at the airports. What...

For readers of this blog coming to Europe over the next six weeks - change your plans if you can. It's complete pandemonium at the airports. What you are reading here and seeing on the news is NOT exaggeration. It's absolute misery. If your plans are at all flexible, change them and do not come until this insanity has passed.

It’s bizarre. We are going to catch trains from here on in.

Your biggest takeaway is how hopeless the delayed baggage situation is because of automation, trust me, before the days of automation, it wasn’t any better and probably worse in your situation. I’ve had bags never show up, bags missing for weeks and huge hassles getting compensation out of the airlines. I rarely check a bag but still use an AirTag on my carryon in the event that I’m forced into a gate check or need...

I got a similar message from Swiss but the baggage folks in Amsterdam told me to wait for the bags from my flight and indeed the bags were on the original flight. This was in March so it seems maybe it’s an LH group issue.

Quite a few commented about air tag. My question is if I’m on an airplane and noticed my luggage isn’t on the same airplane, do I go tell flight attendant that my luggage didn’t make it? Can they do anything? If not, what good does an air tag do? Also do I put air tag inside my luggage or put it hanging out like a luggage tag? Enquiring mind wants to know! :)

I put mine inside my bag and it works just fine. I think i'd alert the FA and see if they can do anything if you see that your bag isnt near you. However, what happened to me was that my bag was left on the cart right next to my plane so i didnt think anything of it until I landed and it showed my bag nowhere near me. Luckily, the airline loaded it on a later flight and I got my bag the next day.

I told Lufthansa flight attendants. They tried to tell gate agent. And gate agent told her it is impossible to reload my bag because they don’t have enough workers to reload bag. So in the end, it didn’t make it. Air tag is more for yourself than Lufthansa given their customer service can’t do anything now due to labor shortage

I have mine outside the bag (in a metal locking combination holder) attached to one of the handles). I like the fact that Delta keeps me up to date on bag location, and find that I can actually track when it makes it on the airplane before the doors close. Also, once I arrive at the airport, it starts tracking again. Hopefully somewhere close to my location, and hopefully I will never have to find it in an unexpected location, but at least the capability is now available to personally track your bag. And even in the event your bag did not make it, you can go to file a complaint early, instead of waiting at the carousel for the last bag to come out...

I would NEVER decide to check a bag just because of sunscreen. Too easy to buy even if it costs a few bucks more. A friend has a 20/20 rule: if costs $20 or less, and takes less than 20 minutes to buy, don't sweat packing it.

Sunscreen in Europe can be surprisingly expensive compared to the US. If you need a lot, I understand checking luggage. I also generally won’t check luggage.

Agreed. I was in Doha last month and was surprised given the intense sunlight and the heat how limited the selection of sunscreen was and how expensive. Then I realized, everyone spends all day indoors and it is a conservative culture, so no tank tops, going shirtless, etc - much less need to use sunscreen as extensively as in the US-Oz-Southern Europe.

If you can afford to fly to Europe you can afford to pay $20 for sunscreen instead of $10. Plenty of reasons to check a bag, sunscreen isnt one of them haha. That 20/20 rule is genius and cant wait to apply that to my next trip.

If you are concerned about price, just buy Store-Brand sun tan lotion. In German discount or pharmacy stores, it's €3-5/bottle, probably won't blow an international trip budget...

Repack it in smaller containers. Problem solved. Been doing this for years

What amazes me more is that you took a connecting flight from Frankfurt to Dusseldorf. It's just over 1h on the direct train from the airport to Dusseldorf centre.

Agreed! And given the total cluster that Euro airports are this summer, the time savings from taking the train could be quite significant. My only caveat is that DB aren't running very well this summer either and have had a ton of maintenance and manpower issues that have caused delays and cancellations. My two ICE train rides with them last month were pretty meh.

Arrived at LHR yesterday, walked through Terminal 3 baggage claim with my carryon on the way to the exit. It looked like the evacuation beach at Dunkirk.

Why anyone ever checks bags is beyond me.

Here are some reasons I have checked bags:

* I have my full-size CPAP machine with me and don't want to unpack it at security. * I have hiking boots which are too large to fit in carry-on. * I have hiking poles which are not allowed in carry-on. * I have enough stuff, for whatever reason, that I need to use a larger-than-carry-on bag. * I have cooking supplies on the outbound that might include liquids or other items I don't want to have to explain or negotiate at security. * I have liquids on the return, generally wine, beer, or cider that was a gift or an unusual liquor that is difficult or expensive to find at home and not available at the airport. * I have interesting plans for a long layover and it's not clear that the airport has left luggage.

The problem is the CPAP if the bag is significantly delayed.

That's true. On my recent flights to and around Europe, I kept it with me (I had the smaller, travel version).

I'm a card carrying member of Team Check. Even though I pack light and usually have a single wheeled carry-on, I'd much rather not have to fool with it if I can help it. Usually I'm the bag-less guy smiling at all of you mucking around with your bags.

That said, I've joined you on Team Carry-On this summer, yikes.

1. Capacity (I've tried packing into carry-on on a 4-day trip and it was so-so; most of my trips are even longer). 2. Comfort. 3. Liquids.

I ALWAYS check bag, except for day trips. Never had a major problem - I had total of two cases of delayed bags in my life, both related to late inbound aircraft and consequently very short connection. In both cases the bags arrived the next morning, so the delay was essentially a benefit, since I didn't have to take care of bags on my way from the airport and got them delivered straight to my door instead.

Our baggage was delayed twice, once in EK 16' summer on Y, once in WY 18" summer on J. On the EK trip, we are flying direct DXB-CAN, and almost everyone also can't get their baggage, and the EK airport representative was so rude, asking everyone to come to the airport and claim their baggage once they arrived, without any compensation, my parents went to the airport three times to get the baggage back, keep in mind CAN is 35km from the city... While the WY case, the Lufthansa staff just seems much more experienced, having a pile of LH Branded T-Shirts, giving to those that don't have clothes because of the luggage delays, toke our hotel addresses, and names, and delivering them the next day at their expense. We managed to file an insurance claim and got 100USD back for the WY one lol.

Travelled to BCN yesterday and the baggage claim area was a mess. Hundreds of unclaimed bags just laying around everywhere presumably misconnected. On our belt there were probably close to 50 bags tagged with FRA and BCN that misconnected in Frankfurt. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to check a bag on a connecting flight right now.

Lufthansa recently lost two out of three of our bags between Frankfurt and Rome. Even after they were located the delivery was further delayed because they had too many babes to deliver. We had left Rome so returning to the airport was not an option. Italian customs then held one of the bags for inspection. A further delay. They reappeared the last two days of a two week trip. Still waiting for reimbursement for purchased clothing.

Good luck. It took LH eight months to reimburse us for a two day delay for bags to the USA. And it was after five escalations by the Swedish country director to the claims department.

Time for EU regulations about baggage…

Had family flight July 2 Barcelona-Frankfurt-Newark- San Juan. Lufthansa left 8 pieces, yes all 8 pieces of luggage in Frankfurt. My wife's other half of her Cancer Medication there (fortunately she packed half). I let United and Lufthansa know this. Adding insult to jury, LH actually made me check in carryon to then leave behind (1 of 8 pieces). Called call center for Lufthansa and it hangs up. United had my final leg and sold me the ticket. Called United Call Center 6 times in 2 days, and everytime they gave me different locations and delivery. 3 of 6 calls were with reps that have less than 50% English speaking competency. Asked for supervisor in United baggage Call Center who could speak-communicate English well and give me one source of truth. She said Lufthansa not answering United texts on my luggage and that the last scan was Frankfurt. They agreed to pay some of our expenses due to Cancer meds and I asked this in writing. They are not ae to send me text or email with pre approved amounts. Now, when I drive to San Juan airport to speak with human beings, the United luggage reps tell me everyday that luggage will arrive that day drom Newark. The level of incompetence is incredible. Not only automation not working, but the quality of many of the employees bad. Aside from meds that we are running out, my daughter had all her Sweet 16 bday gifts in the bags.

Given the routing, it might well be that you had no alternative but your experience puts re-bar into an already cemented opinion about Lufthansa.

Baggage handling at FRA right now is horrendous. Flew SQ J from JFK to FRA in May and waited 1hr 50mins to claim a priority tagged bag. Even some crew were still waiting for bags at that point. It was the same story for every flight arriving at early belt. Then flew out FRA-LHR on BA and the handling agent only had 1 agent to check in 120 pax with bags. Arrived 2 hours before departure and didn’t reach the front of the check-in line until after scheduled departure. The flight had to be delayed as it was the same agent boarding at the gate. Arrived in LHR to discover almost no bags were loaded at FRA. I was staying in London for 2 days so waiting 24 hours for my bag wasn’t awful; others were connecting and waited who knows how long for bags to get to their final destination

My bag was delayed 3 1/2 days in October. Couldn't file insurance claim for my $412 in purchases until I had a denial from LH. Sent claim in right away. No answer. Sent USPS return receipt requested back in February. No answer. Filed complaint with US DOT in May. No answer to DOT. Now I am beyond the days for filing a claim with insurance. BTW, I am also a Senator. Not that is matters, everyone should have received a response by now. Next step is to file small claims suit which will cost me more time than the $412. Insane how these airlines can get away with everything while taking taxpayer money.

bbb.org LH always replies after a complaint to them. Of course, doesnt mean its positive response, but u ll get ur denial..

Well if you are a senator do something about it.

Flew from Lax to Frankfurt and my connection to Berlin was cancelled so I took the train. Lufthansa did not have my bag of trekking gear for my trip to Greenland so I had to replace all of it. They have not found my bag after 6 days. I am dur to fly to Iceland tomorrow for the trip which lasts till Aug 14. I asked them to send my bag to Berlin. From your...

Use Airtags (or equivalent) and track your own bags if you are checking them. It's the way to go.

One word: AirTag. It's really a gamechanger for tracking your bags, even of they are not lost

Can the apple air tags locate the bag even if they are no where near you? For instance, we are flying out of CLT-ATL to JoBerg. Would the tags be able to tell us where the bags are throughout our journey?

Ben, I am still waiting on your experience claiming your EU261

Oh I see you are still waiting as well

I had a friend connect via FRA on LH from India to a non-German European city several months ago and their bag was delayed 3 days. They bought the better part of a new wardrobe and LH reimbursed them for it.

I find the apple air tags have been extremely useful in tracking my bags through the system, worth investing in getting a few for future trips.

Agreed. When our bag was delayed, I watched the bag drive down from Orlando to Vero Beach. Was supposed to be delivered before noon. Normally a two hour drive. The driver left at 1100am and I watched as he made each stop… finally showed up at 1730. :(

Apple told me the air tag is only trackable for 100 meters. What good is that if your bags are miles away?

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Use Airtags (or equivalent) and track your own bags if you are checking them. It's the way to go.

One word: AirTag. It's really a gamechanger for tracking your bags, even of they are not lost

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