Luggage @ MindSay 
I had everything packed and ready. Everything was set to go. The planed pulled away from the gate and began it's safety check, when something failed. Something was wrong with one of the tail rudders so they wouldn't let us takeoff. The pilot brought the plane back to the gate and they had maintenance try to fix the problem, but after 45 minutes they decided to kick us off the plane so they could work on it. By this time I was already going to miss my connecting flights, so I had to go to special services to see if they could manage to get me another flight. UNFORTUNATELY nothing else was available, so they sent me all the way back to Ticketing, to try and book me another flight. I basically spent another 2 hours with the ticket agent trying to find me a flight and trying to book that flight. Some sort of complication came up where Lufthansa wasn't letting my ticket cancel. After that was figured out, they notified me that my luggage was sent to another plane heading for Charlotte, N. Carolina. So now my luggage is in N. Carolina without me and it's going to stay there until my flight on thursday. They managed to book me another flight on thursday with the same connecting flights. So there's nothing I really have to worry about, since my luggage will be waiting for me.
However, I'm still pretty upset about this whole ordeal...I've waited so long for this day and it ended up being cancelled.....I guess it's a good thing though, since the plane was having technical problems, but still....
I'm not exactly in a good mood right now...:(
TSA: Missing Luggage Totals $31 Million Over Three Years
26 Feb 2008
Federal records obtained by FOX 4 News show that in the past three years travelers have reported tens of millions of dollars in goods missing from their luggage. It was there when they checked the bag at the airport, but gone when they reached their destination.
Luggage comes tumbling out of the carousel every time a flight arrives at Kansas City International Airport, but is your luggage among them? That's something Mike Hawley worries about.
"I always have that little voice in the back of my head that goes 'Is it going to make it with me?,'" Hawley said.
Hawley said he has worried about that ever since a flight from Nashville to Baltimore. He arrived, but his luggage didn't.
"My wife and I had all of our belongings for a three-day session there and our luggage never did show up," Hawley said.
His story was one of several we heard just hanging out by the luggage carousel at KCI. That's where we met Annette Willard. She told us about her son's luggage.
"It never arrived," she said.
Until nine months later when an airline employee found it in Portland, Oregon. When she finally got it back, she said much of what had been packed inside was missing, including Doc Martin shoes, Oakley sunglasses and some other high-end clothing.
It's a story we heard multiple times and for good reason. A rarely released Transportation Security Administration database reveals that in a three-year period nearly 42,000
travelers have reported items as lost from their luggage at an estimated value of more than $31 million. We are not talking lost for a couple of days. We are talking lost for good. Listed as MIA are medicine, clothing, fine jewelry, laptops, perfume and even cell phones.
Since you can't find this TSA database on TSA's website, FOX 4 had to make a special request for it.
(Click here to see lost luggage reports from Missouri and Kansas airports and the raw data from airports all over the country.)
According to the database, the airports with the worst record for ripping people off include LAX, where more than 2,300 people complained they'd had items stolen from their luggage. Also at the top were Newark, Miami, JFK and Seattle.
Some of those airports are also among the busiest. But even when you break down the loss rate per passenger, they still rank at the top. Near the bottom of the list is Kansas City International Airport, which reported 160 claims during that same three-year period. So it's unlikely your luggage will get ripped off in Kansas City, but it's where your luggage is heading that could be the problem.
The TSA said it treats theft very seriously, but just because an item is reported as lost, doesn't mean it was stolen. TSA said some claims are dropped after the item has been found at home or in another piece of luggage. But many items are never found. So who's taking the luggage?
It used to be that thieves hung out at airport carousels but with increased airport security that rarely happens anymore. Now experts believe stolen luggage is often an inside job. While some thefts have been tracked to TSA workers, others have been linked to baggage handlers employed by individual airlines.
A former KCI baggage handler, who asked us not to identify her, said she knows theft happens even in Kansas City.
"There was never anybody who said I did that," said the baggage handler. "But there was always talk. So and so found something in a bag. Shoes were one. Another one was perfumes, really expensive brands."
She said the best time for luggage to be tampered with is when it's in the baggage hold area. That's where it is stored before it's loaded onto the plane.
"You will have one person down there and all they are doing is transferring bags to different carts," said the former baggage handler. "It only takes one person. So you would just be in a room by yourself."
She said one way to get away with the crime was to rifle through a bag and then put it on the wrong plane headed to the wrong city. When the luggage is finally located, it would be unclear where the crime took place.
Travel Agent Carol Rone has had first-hand experience with luggage theft. She lost a camera.
"It was a really nice 450 millimeter," recalled Rone. "It was worth about $450."
Rone said it was obvious it was stolen from her suitcase because the camera bag she had stored it in was still inside.
"It was left unzipped," said Rone of the camera bag. "It was surely done in a rush."
But good luck getting any money back if its your luggage that's missing. The back of every airline ticket says you will get no compensation for valuable items, which include laptops, jewelry and cameras. Even when a stolen item is covered by the airline, getting reimbursed can be a hassle.
"You have to list everything and mark the value," said Rone. "It's quite an ordeal to make a claim. That's why so many clients have told me they don't even bother with it because of all the paperwork you do."
So what can you do to protect yourself? Rone suggested something as simple as putting luggage straps around your bag. Just having to remove them can be a deterrent to a thief.
Our former baggage handler warned people not to travel with nice luggage.
"You do notice when its newer and nice and the name brand and when you have matching luggage," she said.
The good news is that despite the thousands of complaints TSA has received, the vast majority of travelers never have a problem. Carl Bauer flies every other week and has never had anything stolen from his luggage. However, the day we met Bauer at KCI he had just flown in from Chicago and couldn't find his luggage on the carousel.
"I'm sure someone just picked up my bag and headed home and their bag is still here," said Bauer.
Bauer said he's not sweating it. He said he rarely packs anything that can't be replaced.
Linda Wagar, FOX 4 News
I researched luggage allowances, etc, to see how much I could take with me, and it seems my hands are tied. All I'm taking with me are 4 pairs of jeans, some long-sleeved shirts, a few t-shirts, a few pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of shoes, a couple sleeveless shirts for pajamas and working out and stuff, maybe 2 or 3 books (I'm sure I won't be able to find them easily over there), all the friken lotion and body soap I have that I've never used (maybe 5ish pounds worth), a few files I should take with me in case I need proof of education, employment, US citizenship, etc, a crayon box with pens and pencils, a few cds and burned movies stuck in 2 cd cases, a jacket or two, personal items (underwear, bras, socks, toothbrush and toothpaste, wallet, bathing suit, etc), and the stuffed animal my fiance gave me for Christmas last year.
I'm really not taking any more than I need, because luggage has its limits. But things are expensive there (for example, a basic cheap bra is $50, and jeans are around $80+), so it's be nice to not have to buy stuff I already have.. ya know?
44 pounds... that's my suit case and jeans.. what about everything else? I'm really only taking what I need, except the books, crayon box, and body soap/lotions. If I have to, I can cut those, but that'd suck to have them but never use them. I only have a little brother, so he's never going to use them. I'm really only worried about the body soap, so I wouldn't have to buy bar soap (because it's a little pricey there).
Any ideas?
How much would it cost to have a few boxes shipped overseas? I'd only need 2 small boxes at the most. I really only need to take 3-4 suitcases (because jeans and shoes take up so much space and weight so much). It'd suck to have to pay for the services of a few boxes of jeans and shirts.. right?
An unattended "vibrating bag" at O'Hare International Airport this morning caused a brief scare but was determined harmless.
The package was reported to police around 8 a.m., which prompted a response from the Chicago Police Department's Bomb and Arson Unit, a unit sergeant said.
"It was someone's property," Chicago police Officer Marcel Bright said. "There was nothing dangerous in it. Someone walked away and forgot it."
Authorities wouldn't say what was in the bag, but police did not have to destroy it, Bright said. The area was declared safe at 9 a.m.
I'm just going to say it...if they won't come out and say what was in the bag, I have a pretty good feeling that it was a vibrator. :)
.After opening presents this morning, I actually got upset with my mother for not getting me what I wanted. It's a little more complicated than that, but it's still that ridiculous.
.I don't have a coat. I lost my faithful coat sometime last year and have been only moderately protected from the cold in various jackets ever since. This year, a coat was all I asked for. A very specific coat. Well, instead of the coat, I got a luggage set (what I wanted from my dad's parents, except not the same luggage set) and a check for less than the coat costs. This means that I didn't get exactly what I wanted from anyone this Christmas (My mom's dad was supposed to buy me a new bottle of my cologne, but my mom forgot to tell him... so I got a gift certificate for less than the cologne costs).
.I know, I'm being silly. I can probably buy the coat with the combined checks of my parents and however much my dad's parents will give me, but it just makes things so difficult.
.The good news is, I can play with my luggage set like they were Russian dolls.
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