Disaster trip to Singapore - Baggage Saga

[stripakis]

On Monday the 3rd August while flying from Corfu (Greece) to Singapore via Istanbul all my luggage was lost. Details below edited for privacy. I have already called Singapore PPS club and have reported the baggage missing at Changi when we arrived, the baggage is listed on https://wtrweb.worldtracer.aero/ but is showing nothing. We know the luggage got as far as the Turkish Airlines check in desk in Athens. Does anyone have any clever ideas as to how else we might trace this luggage?


Passenger Name:
Mad Wombat

To: Singapore


Airline: Turkish Airlines
Flight: TK 1846

Airline: Singapore
Flight: SQ 391

Has Singapore Krisflyer gold tag on the handle in the name of my partner with his Singapore frequent flyer number. Suitcase contains items belonging to both me and my partne, including medical equipment that we were unable to take on board as Aegean are enforcing one piece of cabin baggage, as well as medication needed for our stay in Singapore.

Aegean booking reference 69Uxx_ from Corfu to Istanbul via Athens, followed by Singapore Airlines booking reference 69Txx_, Istanbul to Singapore.

Flight originated in Corfu to Istanbul via Athens. Suitcase was checked to Athens only as the agent in Corfu was convinced that Aegean and Turkish didn't cooperate even though the ticket was booked via Aegean and the flight was code-share with Turkish. The bag was collected from the arrivals hall at Athens airport and checked into the Istanbul flight on Turkish Airlines (TK 1846) possibly with the baggage tag TK4618091. Again the agent at the Turkish Airlines desk was unable to check the bag through to the final destination, Singapore, but assured us that there was plenty of time to collect the bag and recheck it at Istanbul. On arrival in Istanbul due to flight delays there was no time to collect the bag and recheck it to Singapore so we went to the Singapore transfer desk where the agent at the priority/business class desk took the baggage claim tag and sent someone to collect the bag and put it on the Singapore flight, with a new baggage tag numbered 0235 TK 063459 and issued us both with boarding passes for flight SQ391. The bag hasn't been seen since, possibly it is in the arrivals hall in Istanbul and maybe never left Athens.

After checking in the suitcase in Athens, I have contacted the PPS phone line in Istanbul to advise them of the inability to check the baggage through to Singapore. The agent I spoke to assured me that the bag ought to have been checked through. However, as I was passed security and passport control at Athens it was not possible to go back to the check-in desk of Turkish airlines.

 

[Boca68]

I suspect it is still in Istanbul. I think it would have left in the arrivals hall. Now, I'd contact Istanbul airport directly. There is always the chance it's sitting there, but also a chance it has been purloined. Could have lost its luggage tags also? Hope this info below helps a little to get started. PPS may not be highly active on the case.

These are for the Lost Property Offices at Ataturk International (IST)

There email is [email protected] or [email protected]

phone: +90 212 465 44 14

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I would ask SQ baggage services to file a lost baggage report using both of the bag tags ie the ATH/IST and the IST/SIN one as you don't know for sure if the new tag made it on to the suitcase.

It's likely that when the staff in IST supposedly retagged your bag they would have deleted the old tag when they re-issued the new one. If in fact the previous bag tag was still attached to your suitcase it would make the search more of a challenge due to the fact that that tag is no longer "live" in an airline system. The airline may however be able to add it back in to facilitate the bag search.

Even if you did have sufficient time in IST to claim and recheck your bag, if you were travelling on an Australian passport you would have needed an electronic visa to enter Turkey in order to go landside.

 

[stripakis]

I suspect it is still in Istanbul. I think it would have left in the arrivals hall. Now, I'd contact Istanbul airport directly. There is always the chance it's sitting there, but also a chance it has been purloined. Could have lost its luggage tags also? Hope this info below helps a little to get started. PPS may not be highly active on the case.

These are for the Lost Property Offices at Ataturk International (IST)

There email is [email protected] or [email protected]

phone: +90 212 465 44 14

Indeed. The bag was in Istanbul. Have e-mailed the lost and found office directly with details and within 30 minutes I had a response that they were sending the bag on the next TK flight to SIN. It arrived with the IST - SIN tag attached. The aero tracer website was still showing that it had not been found, until later on in the day.

 

[stripakis]

I would ask SQ baggage services to file a lost baggage report using both of the bag tags ie the ATH/IST and the IST/SIN one as you don't know for sure if the new tag made it on to the suitcase.

It's likely that when the staff in IST supposedly retagged your bag they would have deleted the old tag when they re-issued the new one. If in fact the previous bag tag was still attached to your suitcase it would make the search more of a challenge due to the fact that that tag is no longer "live" in an airline system. The airline may however be able to add it back in to facilitate the bag search.

Even if you did have sufficient time in IST to claim and recheck your bag, if you were travelling on an Australian passport you would have needed an electronic visa to enter Turkey in order to go landside.

The new tag was attached but there appears that the number entered by the SQ baggage services missed some of the numbers, as the TK tag was not standard. Anyway, bag arrived well at SIN, 3 days late.

Yes, I do have an e-visa for Turkey, and these can be issued on the spot (travelling on UK passport).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the update. Good to know that - eventually - bags have a good chance of being reunited.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Great result. Im sure your relieved. I've lost several bags before. Only around 50% of them were ever recovered.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Great result. Im sure your relieved. I've lost several bags before. Only around 50% of them were ever recovered.

Wow! Them's not good odds!

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

Great result. Im sure your relieved. I've lost several bags before. Only around 50% of them were ever recovered.

I really hope that when BA lost our luggage it is a "one off" and never happens again !! Our luggage missed the BA plane at Newark, and then it took 7 days to be reunited with us again. And that only happened because of the excellent concierge at the Marriott Amsterdam !

 

[Himeno]

The only time I've had a bag "misplaced" was when I was flying BCN-xMAD-xLHR-DXB. No matter what they did when attempting to check in the bag at BCN, the system refused to check it past MAD. I didn't have time in MAD to go land side, collect the bag and recheck as I had done the year before on the same routing, so they did a manual tag.
It got as far as LHR.
When I got to DXB and didn't see my bag, baggage services was going to forward it to my hotel, but I was only in Dubai for the day. Then they planned to forward it to my next stopover in SIN. I was fine with that as I didn't need it until then anyway, so I left their office with the paperwork.
Then I realised that the bag was coming into DXB on the same aircraft I was flying back to LHR on. So I contacted baggage services and we arranged to collect it in DXB that night and put it back on the same plane.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Wow! Them's not good odds!

Nope. 4 bags lost in the last 5 years. All AA's fault. I've learned not to put anything I ever hope to see again in my luggage.

Compensation - when it was finally paid - was fair, rather than generous. But the experiences wasted an enormous amount of time and caused huge inconvenience and stress.

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

............
But the experiences wasted an enormous amount of time and caused huge inconvenience and stress.

You can say that again !!!!

 

[Boca68]

Indeed. The bag was in Istanbul. Have e-mailed the lost and found office directly with details and within 30 minutes I had a response that they were sending the bag on the next TK flight to SIN. It arrived with the IST - SIN tag attached. The aero tracer website was still showing that it had not been found, until later on in the day.

Happy to hear the luggage was found!

 

[JohnK]

Transfer desks are wonderful inventions but if you man them with people who come to work to socialise the service is going to be poor.

Have lost count of the number of times luggage has been delayed going via transfer desk.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Have lost count of the number of times luggage has been delayed going via transfer desk.

I'm not sure it's always really the job of the transfer desk to through-check bags?

While some transfer desks will do it (like Singapore) - IMO I think it's a big ask to get someone to go find bags and re-tag them when on separate tickets which pax know in advance are not eligible for through-check of bags. (If it's all on the same airline the bags probably should have been through checked anyways.)

A transfer desk is really somewhere where you go to get a boarding pass because your embarkation point can't issue one for you. If you need to onward-check bags in transit for separate tickets, always safest to clear immigration, collect bags, and re-check.

 

[JohnK]

I'm not sure it's always really the job of the transfer desk to through-check bags?

In my experience quite a few transfer offer the service of transferring your luggage when you ask for boarding pass for onward flight. HKG, KUL and SIN are just a few that come to mind.

I do agree that it's safer to go landside and recheck bags but sometimes delays eat into transit time.

 

[PineappleSkip]

In my experience quite a few transfer offer the service of transferring your luggage when you ask for boarding pass for onward flight. HKG, KUL and SIN are just a few that come to mind.

Have regularly paid $80 or so for the Marhaba transfer service at DXB. Still managed a mishandled bag once, left behind in DXB, despite the $80, and several hours between flights...

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Have regularly paid $80 or so for the Marhaba transfer service at DXB. Still managed a mishandled bag once, left behind in DXB, despite the $80, and several hours between flights...

What airlines was this between Skip? Is the service only if the bag is tagged as far as DXB when you have an onward connection with another airline ie when first airline has no baggage interline agreement with the second one.

 

[PineappleSkip]

What airlines was this between Skip? Is the service only if the bag is tagged as far as DXB when you have an onward connection with another airline ie when first airline has no baggage interline agreement with the second one.

This is the service - Our Services - Airport Meet & Greet Services - marhaba - see transfer.

When the bag was mishandled the transfer was 4Q to BA. 4Q doesn't have many friends:
[KVS Tool 7.8.4 - Reference: Interline Agreements [IET]: 4Q]

ELECTRONIC INTERLINE CARRIER AGREEMENTS-4Q                      
 INTERLINE CARRIER CODES                                        
   AI - DL - EK - EY - GF - HR - HU - LH - QF - QR              
   SV - UA - YO - 9U

No need to pay $80 if your bag is tagged through, although it is nice to be whisked through by someone in a uniform, especially in a golf buggy . it's the next best transit to what we quality travellers deserve; an escort of legionaries, a personal chariot and rose petals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lvmeCHYyZI

Cheers skip ...

 

[chelzmalee]

... although it is nice to be whisked through by someone in a uniform, especially in a golf buggy . it's the next best transit to what we quality travellers deserve; an escort of legionaries, a personal chariot and rose petals
...

Gosh it's fun to be picked up in a buggy and hooned through an airport... only experienced it in SIN but... memories.

That said I've only had 1 bag left behind, long story and entirely DL's fault. Luckily it as flown to me in country NSW the next day. THAT was when I realised luggage really can get left behind, and never pack anything you care about in checked (hence my makeup gets cabin space )