Top 10 tips to ensure baggage safety
16. May, 2008
1 Comment
Johannesburg – Theft out of baggage and lost luggage make up some of the perils frequent flyers have to put up with and the OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg is especially notorious for it. Perhaps these tips might help to relieve some of the worry over your baggage while your in one part of the plane and your baggage in another.Travel with only carry-on luggage. By using only carry-on luggage, you do not risk having checked luggage lost or stolen.
Do not put heavy items in the overhead storage bins. While the weight limit for carry-on items is generally about 18.2 kg, even a much lighter bag may cause severe injury if it falls out of the bin.
Put your contact information inside and outside every bag. Put your name and contact address on the outside of every bag. Also, put the same information plus a copy of your itinerary inside every bag. This will make it easier for the airline to reunite you if you are separated from your luggage. You should also do this with your carry-on luggage in case you are forced to check that bag at the last minute. For personal security reasons, it would be a very good idea to use an address other than your home address.
Customise the look of your bag to make it easy to identify. Because there may be many bags with a similar design on a flight, customize the bag to make it easy to spot on a baggage carousel. This will also help prevent another passenger from taking your bag by mistake.
Keep valuable items with you. Do not back valuable items in checked luggage. Money, laptop computers, electronic files, and other items of high importance should be kept in a carry-on bag, preferably one that is small enough to stow under a seat. The airline may insist on checking larger carry-on bags if the overhead bins become filled.
Ensure that the airline tag on your checked luggage is correct. Every piece of checked luggage should have a three-letter airport identifier that should match your destination airport. If you are unsure of the three-letter code, ask the ticket agent or airport steward.
Make sure hat you keep the stub from your checked luggage. This stub is a critical document that will be needed if your luggage is lost by the airline or if you are trying to prove that you own a piece of luggage.
Immediately report the loss of checked luggage. If your checked bag does not arrive at your destination, immediately report this problem to the baggage agent on duty or to any other available representative from your airline.
Prepare to deal with a lost bag. Pack so that you can continue your trip with the loss on one of your bags. Distribute key items like business suits or underwear so that you can carry on with your business until you either get the bag back or replace the lost articles. If you are carrying essential items or information for a business meeting, either carry a backup set of information or have that backup information sent ahead of time.
Don’t pack hazardous goods. check the list furnished by your travel agent, airline or airport official to ensure that you don’t include a number of items or materials, some of them not so obvious, that may be prohibited from being taken into an aircraft.
My name is Muzi Mohale a full-time travel blogger, your host at Travelwires.com responsible for all editorial on this blog. I blog about the travel and tourism industry in Africa. Apart from blogging about tourism, I also run 
Beware of OR Tambo. The service is atrocious.
when checking in your bag, it gives authority to anybody on the airside to scratch in it. Don’t expect snacks etc to arrive with you at your destination. Your nicely packed cloths will be disturbed and in bad shape after the experts at OR Tambo did their supposed job of relieving you bag of anything remotely dangerous.
In April I had to wait for more than an hour for the luggage to appear – after arriving from Dubai.
Flights don’t leave on time because the ground companies can’t load the luggage on time or refuel the plane fast enough.