Delayed Baggage at Carousel Virgin Domestic (MEL to BNE), No Communication

LChris2027 on 02/07/2022 - 20:17
Last edited 03/07/2022 - 17:27

Hi all,

I am looking for some advice about my lost suitcase from a recent trip and if anyone else has experienced anything similar.

I travelled back from England and our 4 bags were checked through all the way to Brisbane.

Our flight path was London >> Abu Dhabi >> Melbourne >> Brisbane. The flight was through Etihad, but the last leg was a domestic flight through Virgin.

We had to collect our 4 checked-in bags in Melbourne and check them back in to a domestic flight. It was a very tight connection that we only just made.

Landing in Brisbane on early Thursday morning, I collected 3 of the bags from the carousel and waiting with concern before the belt stopped and no other bags remaining.

I went to baggage services who took some details and explained that the luggage possibly missed the flight / no space on the plane and will arrive on a later flight. I was told to expect a phone call and it will get delivered to us.

They sent us a text message with a link and reference to a 'world tracer' and I have been keeping an eye on it but nothing changes with the status.

Each day I have attempted to call Baggage Services Virgin and Baggage Services Brisbane Domestic without any luck getting through to anyone. I have left messages each time and no one has contacted me. I have emailed the Baggage Services Brisbane with my full boarding pass with the receipt tag (barcode) from London.

I'm at a loss, stuck in the dark not being able to talk to anyone and unable to sleep properly because of this.

I do have travel insurance but I haven't looked in to the process yet (I still have some hope to receive my luggage).

I'm not sure if I should try to contact anywhere else, the barcode on the luggage should reveal where it was last scanned?

Anyone have suggestions or a similar experence - did you get your stuff back?

Thanks for any advice

UPDATE: I visited the airport baggage services, they allowed me to look in the storage room to identify my bag and I have now returned home with it

As recommended in the replies: Get an AirTag for all your luggage!

Thanks all!

Travel

Comments

  • Hybroid on 02/07/2022 - 20:23
    +6

    You should get it eventually. Baggage services will have taken down your address details and they should deliver it to your house once found. It's actually not entirely uncommon.

    You could always pop back into Brisbane airport and have a look around to see if it arrived on a later flight and been put aside. Hopefully you have name tags etc to identify it.

    I would recommend you pop an AirTag inside each luggage piece in future, they might just help you locate where they are when ping nearby iPhones. At least you can narrow down whether it's still in Melbourne or made it to Brisbane etc.

    • vodamerc on 02/07/2022 - 20:25
      +1

      +1 for the AirTag

    • JimmyF on 03/07/2022 - 11:25
      +1

      I would recommend you pop an AirTag inside each luggage piece in future

      Or a Tile if you're not in the Apple world. They have pretty good 'coverage' too at least at airports etc with all the people around.

      • Hybroid on 03/07/2022 - 11:47

        I believe Tile is reliant on people actually using their Tile app, while AirTag is built-into iPhones natively so there's a clear advantage there. There's also no annual subscription with AirTag but I suppose it's an alternative and better than nothing.

        • JimmyF on 03/07/2022 - 11:58

          No annual subscription with Tile either. But as I said, Tile is the best one if you don't live in the Apple world.

          Excluding the AirTag system, there are way more Tile users around than any other 'tracker' app, especially at airports.

          But yes if you are an Apple user then the AirTag is the way to go.

      • ngengerous on 04/07/2022 - 12:44
        +1

        Would recommend one of the Samsung tags instead of Tile if you're not an iPhone user - their network is probably the second-biggest after Apple's.

        • Blablabla on 23/07/2022 - 22:49

          Wondering this too but seeing comments to that the SmartThings app isn't useful for non Samsung phones

  • Chris2027 on 02/07/2022 - 20:27

    I really hope so, and I wish I thought of the airtag before travelling. Excellent suggestion.

    Unfortunately I don't think I had applied a name tag and I'm really kicking myself for that.

    My only hope is the printed barcode, but I may go back to the airport to see if they will let me look at any bags put aside.

    Thank you for taking the time to respond to me!

  • thatonethere on 02/07/2022 - 21:03
    +3

    Usually it turns up. Typically like 5am from some tired fellow at your door.

  • Mechz on 02/07/2022 - 21:32
    +1

    My wife had the same issue, lots of useless phone calls going nowhere.

    I bet your bag is at the airport, just turn up and they'll let you look through and identify your bag.

  • Hugh G Rection on 03/07/2022 - 08:10
    +1

    you will get it within a week, no worries.

  • werdnanostaw on 03/07/2022 - 10:58
    +3

    The Best AirTag Alternative for Android

    https://www.howtogeek.com/724198/the-best-airtag-alternative…

    Using Apple AirTags with Android

    https://www.lifewire.com/using-airtags-with-android-5188775

  • Chris2027 on 03/07/2022 - 17:23
    +2

    Thank you all, I'm so glad of the suggestions to try going back to the airport.

    I have just got back from the airport, they allowed me in the storage room to identify my bag, thankfully it was there all along and I have now returned home with it! Thank you all for taking the time to respond to my post - I do believe now that had I waited longer my bag would have been returned to me in the end.. but not knowing if they had it was killing me.

    It is really difficult to get hold of anyone over the phone, I am never going to travel without AirTags in the future - what a fantastic suggestion this is!

    To anyone else reading this post I would highly recommend buying AirTags for your luggage!

    Thank you and safe travels!

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