Strange But True Stories - Lost Baggage

Will and Guy's True Funny Stories of Lost Baggage

• Lost Baggage
• Will's Experience at Gatwick
• Guy's Experience at Heathrow
• Funny Lost Baggage Stories

1) Lost Baggage

This article about lost baggage really isn't funny.  It's more a cautionary tale.  Perhaps these statistics will act as a warning to split your clothes between two suitcases, especially if travelling with a family group.

I expect you know of someone who has lost baggage on a flight.  The reason that we guess you know of a friend or relative who has lost a suitcase is that 1 in 100 people lose baggage.  Here is a report by Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques', better known as SITA.

30 million pieces of airline luggage, approximately 1%, will go astray this year. 

SITA who monitor baggage in over 200 countries, said virtually all missing bags would be returned to their owners within an average of 31 hours.  However about 200,000  pieces (less than 1%) would never be found because they are lost or even stolen.

Francesco Violante, managing director of SITA said the air transport industry spent about $2.5 billion a year tracking and returning luggage.  Part of this figure went on compensating passengers for lost items.  More bags are going missing due to airport congestion, short transition times, and switches from one airline to another.  

What are needed is better systems which can link bags to their owners.

SITA concluded that the number one cause of late-arriving bags was mishandling when luggage is transferred between flights. This accounted for 60% of hold-ups in 2005.

Secondly was failure to load bags at the departure point, this made up 15% of delays. Attaching the incorrect destination tags at check-in accounted for just 3 percent.

Strange but true...

2) Will's Experience at Gatwick

After his return from Rome, Will couldn't find his luggage in the London Gatwick airport baggage area.  So he went to the lost luggage office and told the woman there that his bags hadn't shown up on the carousel.  She smiled and told him not to worry because they were trained professionals and he was in good hands.

'Now', she asked Will, 'has your plane arrived yet?'

3) Guy's Experience at Heathrow

At the airline check in at London Heathrow, Guy has three bags. He puts them down and says to the young lady, 'I'd like you to send this one to Los Angeles, that one to Hong Kong and the last one to Durban.'  Her face shows signs of confusion before her training takes over and she says, 'I'm afraid we can't do that, sir.'

'Why not?' demands Guy, 'you did the last time I flew with you.'  I have the picture!

See more Engrish

Hilarious and Funny Items In London Transport "Lost Property Office"

Ten Unusual Baggage Left Behind On London's Public Transport System

1. Samurai sword
2. Prosthetic arm
3. A coffin
4. A stuffed fox
5. A puffer fish
6. A lawnmower
7. A park bench
8. WW2 gas masks
9. A home vasectomy kit
10. A pair of breast implants

Funny Lost Baggage

However, the toothless man who came in one day asking for his dentures was less fortunate. He brought back what he had identified as his own set a few hours later, complaining of "rubbing".

Will and Guy have learned that in the 1960s, the most popular thing found was umbrellas. Over 90,000 were lost in a typical year, we were informed. The number handed in today is nearer 7,000. However, there are shelves full of clothing, bags and books which dominate among the near-200,000 items recovered each year.

See funny things left in books

Footnote:
Please send us your funny stories of lost baggage.

See another funny short story:

• Short stories   • Funny short story    • Assorted stories   • Wheelbarrow   • Bells   • Old age is a gift

• Stories about people   • Funny true story   • Very short stories   • Amazing exhibit   • Lost baggage

• 6 Chicken curries   • Administratium   • Passport   • Hell   • Doreen   • Red Riding Hood   • Home