Checking in Backpack as hold baggage

[Al the optimist]

Any suggestions on how to avoid baggage handling damage to a checked backpack?
I'm flying Heathrow to A Coruna and Santiago to Stanstead
Buen Camino
Allan

 

[vagabondette]

Personally I'd never check my pack on the way to a trip. BUt, if you must, you can wrap it in heavy plastic wrap, put it inside a cheap duffel bag, put it inside a heavy plastic bag, etc. Some airlines will have plastic bags at the counter but you have to ask and not always. If I have to check my pack without being able to wrap it, I fasten the shoulder straps together with the sternum strap and wrap the hip straps around them both then tuck any pull-tabs inside my pack so nothing is dangling loose.

 

[Kitsambler]

Another alternative is: take the shoulder straps and run them around the other (rear-facing) side. Do likewise with the hip belt. Snug down all the loose ends and dangly bits. At this point all the strapping and loose bits are on the rear-facing side of the pack. Take your rain cover and cover the pack from the rear-facing side, in the normal fashion. Snug it down and perhaps secure with an extra belt, luggage belt, or plastic wrap. Voila! You now have a tight, not-floppy, not-dangly package that stands a reasonable chance of surviving in the hold. Bon Chemin!

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Al, your name suggests you are an optimist, and that's a good thing. But airlines do not deserve your optimism that the bag will arrive if you check it. Even though the number of bags lost is a miniscule fraction of all bags checked, the number of delayed bags is much higher. Think of the hassle it would cause if yours arrives a day late.

Thankfully, the only time the airline lost some of my checked luggage was on my arrival in Madrid when my hiking poles in a tube never showed up. I was able to rush to a sports store and buy replacements before getting on the train to Sevilla, but it was a pain. But I have had my luggage delayed going in and out of the Iberian peninsula a fair number of times over the last 10 years.

So I will second vagabondette's thought that I would never check my backpack. Some would say that if your pack for the camino is too big to carry on the plane, it's too big for you to carry on the camino.

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Alan Pearce]

Hi Al

I too must be an optimist as I always check my back-pack, enclosed in a purpose bought duffel bag.

Buen camino

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[peregrina2000]

Well, I would like to rephrase that, since I consider myself an optimist as well. Maybe risk-averse is the adjective that explains why I never check my pack. You can all do your own google-searching, but what I see is that about 1 in 150 bags is lost or delayed, but that's the US rate, and it's a higher percentage in Europe.

So that's at least two bags in your average plane.

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Between 5 and 10 bags are reported lost per 1,000 enplanements in the U.S. The statistics are skewed because one late flight missing one connection can cause hundreds of bags to be counted as lost or delayed. That is, bags are lost in clumps -- if your bag is missing, so will a lot of others on that flight. For dozens, if not hundreds of flights, no bag is lost or delayed. The more connections, the greater the possibility of a bag going missing. The longer the time between connecting flights, the fewer bags that get delayed. The closer to departure time that the flyer checks in, the greater the chance that a bag will never be loaded.

So arrive two hours before a flight to check your bag.

Minimize connections, and try for 1 1/2 hours for the connection.

Avoid Heathrow, where three hours is recommended between a connecting flights, but the airlines will sell you flights with as little as 30 minutes of connection time.

Know your compensation rights if your checked bag is delayed.

 

[vagabondette]

After working in the legal department at United Airlines for a couple years and receiving hundreds of calls about lost/delayed bags, I never check unless I really have zero choice (which has only happened 4-5 times in the last decade and generally only when I'm relocating to a new city/country). The odds are low but why chance it? Plus, I don't like to carry that much stuff - which causes it's own problems when the immigration guy grills you for 30 minutes because you "don't have enough baggage for a 3-month trip". :roll:

 

[camino07]

Five Caminos now and always check my pack in. Only once in Lisbon due to delayed flight from Dubai did it not arrive and it was delivered to my hotel next day,thank goodness! Once on the way back to Perth it was stuck in Dubai due to short transfer time. Now I always make sure I have plenty of time between transfers. I have never used the plastic wrap and just tuck in the straps and fasten with waist belt. I strap with brown masking tape on the way out but don't bother on the return home.
I can't seem to take less than 10kgs and use everything. My pack is 50l . It amazes me how people can take such small packs for a 5 week journey.
I am in the post Camino doldrums at present and thinking about next year.
Heather :?

 

[vagabondette]

That wouldn't be a hassle for me. I have plenty of time, and I'd love having Ryanair pay for a night in Carcassonne - then I'd have good time to explore the city and the castle :wink:

If they lost it ... Well, I'm sure that there are sports shops in Spain as well as in France, and I'm sure that the airline would love to pick up the bill - they are legally required to just that, so they might as well smile :twisted:

Good luck with all that. Maybe it's different in Europe, but in the US, the airline is required to transport the luggage to where you are, they're not required to pay for your lodging. Hell, I missed an international connection last time I was returning home to Mexico and it was the airlines fault and even THEN they didn't pay for my room (no other flight was leaving until 9 am the next day). As far as replacement goes, there is a maximum that they'll pay and it very likely WON'T cover expensive sports gear. That's what travel insurance is for. When people lose their luggage they constantly claim that it was full of expensive designer clothes, etc. Doesn't work. You get an "average" reimbursement amount that is pre-set unless you can *PROVE* that you had something more expensive in there - which is almost impossible. I once had a woman call and tell me her lost bag contained a $10k diamond necklace. I told her she was stupid to put something like that in her luggage and she'd be getting the standard amount back.

 

[stratophile]

I travel on business constantly. I usually avoid checking bags, but not so much because of fears of loss -- simply because I hate the interminable wait for them at the carousels upon arrival.

FYI, any time I've missed a connection or had similar problems that were the airline's fault (am talking about Canada / US airlines), they've always paid for my overnight. Never had a hassle in that regard. Don't know if I've just been lucky, or if it's my famous persuasive skills, or just my Clooney-esque good lucks (see photo on right...), but its always just worked out.

Heck, I've always been sort of lucky in that regard. Things just kind of always work out. Even when they don't! :wink:

Strato.

 

[Al the optimist]

OK, so thanks for all the thoughts. I was going to take my poles, so that would mean something into hold (and extra costs). After practising walking with poles, I think I prefer going without. As I am only walking the Ingles for 6 days I am going to try without them. So I can go for cabin baggage only. This is what I normally do when going on a non walking holiday anyway.
Buen Camino
Allan