According to ABC there's a 99% chance your bags will arrive at your destination, but what a pain for that 1%, and believe me it's a pain.
Looking out my airplane window I have witnessed baggage handlers roughly throwing bags onto the conveyor belt. William Henry, a baggage handler himself, who wrote "The American-Made Baggage Handler" told 20/20:
"If you ask a guy not to sit on the bag, he looks at you like you're the enemy."
"Bags can fall ... out of the cart onto the ground" [snip] "Some of these passengers might not get their bag because the bag is lying ... on the tarmac."
According to Tim Cigelske, another former baggage handler:
"You can have, you know, priority on there or fragile on there, but that's, again, really hard to see. And pretty much, a bag is a bag is a bag."
And forget special priority and handling of first class passengers. They are more likely to be targeted for theft. Henry said:
"They lift it up and may feel that there's something in there of value>" "As long as they got that bag in [an] area that's undisclosed, unmonitored, unsupervised, they can do what they want with that bag."
There are ways to circumvent the potential for loss, damage and delay, and unfortunately I've experience the latter two. The obvious one is don't check any bags, as both Henry and Cigelske suggest. But that's not always possible. The other 8 suggestions are worth a try.
1. Buy a four-wheeled bag.
With a four-wheeled bag, the only time your luggage will be airborne is after takeoff.
"When we load a plane, we have to slide that bag along ... the cargo floor," Henry said.
"With four wheels, they can just roll that bag," he continued. "Now if it doesn't have the wheels, they'll throw it, kick it, toss it."
2. Pack your items in a sturdy bag.
Make sure your bag won't crumble under pressure.
When shopping for luggage, look for bags made out of strong material. There are even bags available for purchase made out of the same material that the NFL uses for its shoulder pads.
"You should assume that this bag is going to be handled in the worst way," Henry said.
3. Don't check in for your flight too early.
Ironically, to ensure your bag's on-time arrival, don't check in too early.
"If you do it more than two hours early, they don't even have things set up for your flight yet," Cigelske said.
Your bag could get lost in the shuffle if it's set aside.
4. Skip the curbside check-in.
Even if you're rushing to catch your flight, avoid checking in at the curb.
"It does add one more layer to the process, more people to the equation," Cigelske said. "More hands, more things, means more things could go wrong."
Instead, head to the ticket counter, especially if you're past the cutoff time to check your bag in.
"You can ask the ticket-taker to have the baggage handlers come and make one more run," Cigelske said.
Read the rest of the suggestions on ABC News.
