That's a phrase I hear every day in the Baggage Service office. Oh, how I wish it was that simple! What you may not realize is that your bag gets handled by 15 to 20 different people between the time it's checked in and the time you get it back. Anywhere along the way your bags can get separated.
In a perfect world, flights would always be on time, you would always get an 'A' boarding pass, and your luggage would never be missing. Unfortunately, flight delays happen, someone has to get 'B' and 'C' boarding passes, and luggage misses flights. Here's a look at what happens when you check your bags, how things can go awry, and what we at Southwest do to try to minimize mistakes. I'll also offer a few ideas about what you can do to reduce your odds of having a delayed bag.
The process starts when you first arrive at the airport to check your bag. 
In most of our cities we need to receive your bag more than 30 minutes (7 cities: BWI, DEN, IAD, LAS, LAX, MCO, MDW, & PHX are 45 minutes) of your scheduled departure to guarantee your bag will make your flight. (Check southwest.com for current information.) That 30 (or 45) minutes does not include any wait time you might encounter prior to us tagging your bag, so plan accordingly. We can't promise your late-checked bag will arrive with you, and you'll have to come pick it up.
So, here are my first two suggestions: 1) Arrive early! Suggested airport arrival times can be found on southwest.com. I'd add even more time during holidays or spring break. 2) Take a look at your claim checks. Make sure they have your final destination on them. I've accidentally sent a bag to Tampa when you were going to Los Angeles. (Sorry, I'm human! I promise I didn't mean to!)
In some of our cities, like Nashville (BNA) where I work, after your bag is tagged, you take it to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) drop point for screening. Other cities place your bag on the belt and the screening is performed behind the scenes. Additionally, some airports mix the bags from all airlines together prior to screening and then use automation to sort them back out.
At this point, Southwest loses control of your bag. Those big x-ray machines (that you may or may not see) have a computer that tells a TSA agent when to give a bag a visual, more thorough inspection. Most often, it sees nothing, and your bag is sent on its way. Other times, it sees a possible threat (like maybe your new iPod), and your bag must be opened for inspection. Sometimes an
item is just too big (like golf clubs) or too fragile (like car seats) to go in the x-ray and must be manually screened. Whatever the case, until the TSA determines a bag is safe to travel, we don't get it back!
Here's my next two suggestions: 3) Go to southwest.com and/or the TSA's website for a list of items that can and cannot be checked or carried on. 4) Use TSA approved locks so they don't have to cut yours off if your bag needs inspecting.
Now that Southwest has your bag back, it continues down the belt system to what we call "T-point." 
That stands for "transfer point" and is where you bag is transferred from the belt to a cart, then transported to the gate and loaded onto your aircraft. Sometimes the bag belt gets hungry and things get eaten: name tags, destination tags, etc. Occasionally bags get turned sideways and cause a jam. When that happens, lots of bags can get delayed and miss flights. I'm glad none of those things happens too often, but try as we might, sometimes 'stuff happens'.
Time for more suggestions: 5) Put a completely filled out name tag on and in your bag. We have free ones available at the ticket counter. If our destination tag comes off, I need to know who the bag belongs to. 6) Place a copy of your itinerary inside you bag. If your destination tag and name tag are missing, I'm going to have to open your bag to try and find you. You'll help me a lot if your itinerary is inside. It might even allow me to get your bag on the flight with you and you'll never know there was a problem!
Comments
I've been very lucky, I've only had luggage go astray three times (once SWA, twice Delta) - in all three instances, it was on my return flight, so I have never had the misfortune of arriving at my destination without my luggage. But I've known a few fellow travelers who arrived at their destination sans luggage, and it isn't pretty.
A few more tips from the passenger side of the counter:
In addition to making sure your baggage is checked to the correct destination, watch them put your tag on your luggage. It often gets confusing at check in, just this past March I watched as the tag for another person started to get applied to my bag. The other person had already turned around and was starting to walk away.
Make sure your cell phone number is on your name tag - it won't do much good if someone has your bag and is trying to call you at home while you are vacationing.
I love Bert's idea of putting your itinerary inside the luggage, I had never thought of that. With my reservation number, anybody in the system can find out where I am supposed to be. I'm going to modify this by putting my hotel info on there too.
I also drop 2 or 3 business cards into every suitcase, and if I am business traveling and have collected cards from other people, I make sure they are not loose in my suitcase.
If you are traveling overseas and connecting, and if you have time, ask for your luggage to be checked to the interim stop, then claim it and recheck it - I'm guessing any transfer point has the greatest potential for luggage going astray.
Remember, four out of a thousand passengers have luggage get lost or delayed. This doesn't sound like much, but if your outbound flight and your inbound flight each have 125 people traveling, then statistically one person on one of those two flights will have to talk to somebody in the lost luggage department. If you fly once a month, there is a one in ten chance this year of that person being you!
Last but not least, when it is your turn to talk to the lost luggage department, be nice - be very, very nice. I watched a passenger just rip the head off some poor lady behind the counter in Atlanta. When it was my turn, the first words out of my mouth were, "I would like to apologize on behalf of the entire human race for the gentleman in front of me." She gave me a smile and said, "Well, I hope somebody finds his luggage, because I'm sure not going to look for it."
TSA bag locks are a waste of money. There is no guarantee that the TSA will reapply the lock, and the lock might end up being ripped off by the belt system.
I prefer plastic zip ties as I want to know only whether my bag has been opened by *anyone*.
Lose vs Loose again!
"At this point, Southwest looses control of your bag."
I'd be glad to work as a producer on the blog. I need another gig. :-)
Okay, Jordan
I guess I lose because I was a little too loose in my proofing. Maybe lose/loose is one of those proofing blindspots. Hopefully, there won't be an opening here on the blog.
Brian
Bert, that is a good idea to put a copy of your itinerary inside your bags. I've never thought about that, but I will start doing that; I can do it when I go to MCO next month! I always have a luggage tag on the outside of my bags, but haven't put one inside. I'll do that, too. I always completely fill the tags out. My cell phone is my only phone. Another thing I do is write a list of what to pack; I put down what goes in my carry on & what goes in my checked bag. I actually keep that in my purse, but maybe I can also put one in my bags, just in case.
I certainly agree with you, too, Jim, on being nice to them in baggage services (of course, it's good to be nice to everyone, though there might be times when one needs to be firm-not mean)! I'm obviously never rude or violent to a CSA, FA, etc. I see people who are rude occassionally, & it hurts me to see it.
Jim - Thanks for your kind words. And, for the advice to be nice to the Baggage Service Agent. I can't tell you how often I've been yelled at for a lost bag, and I wasn't even there! BTW Jim, no fair stealing my thunder. I was saving the 4 in 1000 statistic for Part 3.
Drew - I forgot about zip ties. Thanks for mentioning it.
Jordan - Sorry, spell check doesn't catch that type mistake. Besides, I was always better in Math and Science than English.
Thanks for giving us an insight into your job. The last time i flew home my bag didn't arrive with me. No sweat!! I went down and spoke to the customer service agent. She was very helpful and i recieved my bag the next day. I felt sorry for the customer agent . she was being yelled at for no good reason... "YOU LOST MY BAG", "YOU SCREWED UP" "YOU OWE ME A HOTEL ROOM AND A MILLION DOLLAR VOUCHER" "YOU OWE ME A FREE RENTAL CAR." "YOU OWE ME A NEW CAMERA.". RELAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TO ERROR IS HUMAN TO FORGIVE DIVINE.........
Hey guys, no problem at all, just friendly teasing.
Didn't mean to be obnoxious. I can never get it's/its right.
I'll loosen up if you don't lose my bag, :-)
Jordan - it's vs. its is simple. There are actually only two instances where this comes up:
1 - When you are contracting "it is" or "it has". Always use the apostrophe.
2 - Describing ownership (possession). Never use the apostrophe.
1A - "It's (it has) been three hours since Jordan's plane (Jordan 'possesses' the plane) landed and Jordan's luggage (possession) still isn't here."
1B - "Jordan's (Jordan is) on his way to the airport, it's (it is) going to be tough to find his luggage" or "Jordan's (Jordan has) already been to the airport, it's (it has) been three hours since the plane's arrival".
"It's (it is) going to be three more hours before Jason's (possession) luggage arrives - Jason's (Jason has) already talked to Eric about it."
Do not use the apostrophe to represent possessiveness:
2 - "Jordan's luggage (possession) didn't make its (no apostrophe, 'it' represents the luggage) flight, so he's (he is) in need of loosening up."
The easiest way to determine "its" or "it's" is to try using the word in a sentence. If you can say the sentence using "it is" or "it has"; then use the apostrophe.
Now if it was (no contraction possible) only as easy to figure out when to use "who" and when to use "whom".
West Texas Blog Boy
Hi,
Pretty much unrealted, but I'd like to share two positive stories about Southwest Airlines, posted on my blog here:
http://mr-t-in-dc.livejournal.com/152863.html
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