Many air-travellers would have gone through the ordeal of reaching their destination,
only to learn that their checked-in baggage has either not reached or worse, gone to
some other destination. I always worry about this when I travel, but luckily I never
had this happen to me.
But as my colleague learnt a few days ago, things could be much worse. He had returned
to Chennai after a 1-month stint in the U.S., only to be told that his baggage hasn't turned
up in the same flight. They told him that he would be intimated as soon as it arrives.
A week later, he is asked to collect the baggage from the airport. Relieved that the ordeal
is finally over, he goes to collect the luggage. He notices that the locks are broken & a new
laptop that was in it is missing. He had bought the laptop for a friend & made the mistake
of packing it in the check-in baggage.
Since he is a seasoned traveller, I was surprised that he chose to put expensive stuff in
check-in baggage. I always pack fragile and expensive stuff in my hand-baggage, since
check-in baggage not only goes through rough handling, but there always is the risk of
pilferage. Hope this helps anyone reading this avoid such (costly) mistakes.
