Lost luggage at Airport.
Travelling with a lot of luggage? Especially if you are traveling by air? Losing your luggage during such journeys can prove to be a time-consuming hassle if the airline or airport misplaces it.
Lost baggage is a common problem, and how airlines deal with the problem goes a long way in making them popular or unpopular.
Recently, the national carrier Pakistan International Airlines rolled out its newest service for lost luggage. Here’s how PIA deals with this problem:
Adnan Rahim Kazi, Manager (Lost and Found), said that at first they message the airport you traveled from, asking whether they have your baggage. If they do have your stuff, they are asked to send it back on the first available flight.
In case they don’t find your luggage at the origin airport, they send back a report and the folks at Lost and Found department will give you the staff’s phone numbers and report back to you after tracing your luggage.
They will then send messages to every airport through their system which includes the origin airport of your flight and other airports as it is possible that your baggage could have made it to another airport by mistake.
The lost baggage service, therefore, prioritizes ease of mind for travelers who choose PIA and want to be assured that their baggage claims are resolved seamlessly in case of any mix ups.
Most common reason behind lost luggage seems to be this – sometimes the tag of your luggage gets removed while it is being handled by the airport staff, which results in your stuff being sent to the wrong destination.
Mr Adnan said that they try to ensure that the luggage gets to the passenger in “safe and sound condition” when they arrive at their destination.
If you lose your baggage, you can:
Mr Adnan added that
We will try to locate your luggage as soon as possible. Our SOP (standard operating procedure) is 21 days long. We try to find your things for 21 days, message every station (airport). If we can’t find it in 21 days we do a claim settlement.
The claim settlement forms are sent to the passenger within a week, if they can’t find your stuff. You can also collect the form physically from the airport. PIA would then try to settle your claim.