Can my family claim my baggage at the airport if I miss my transit flight?
Whenever I fly I always have my baggage sent to my final destination so I don't have to pick it up again and check-in at a transit airport.
My next flight layover time is very tight and if I might miss it for some reason, can my family at the destination airport claim my baggage on my behalf?
Best Answer
I believe that the airline will not carry normal checked bags unless the passenger is on board. I have been on several flights where the captain has indicated that a check-in passenger has not boarded the plane and therefore the flight is delayed until they unload that passenger's bags.
I assume that if you miss your connection the airline will rebook you to another flight and your bags will accompany you on the new flight.
An exception to "passengers and bags on same plane" is when my bags were not put on my plan and instead were delivered on the next flight. But I guess the security risks in this case are not the same, I could not choose to fly on a different plane to my bags.
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What happens with my luggage if I miss my connecting flight?
What happens to your luggage if you miss your flight? In the event that you missed a connection, or got held up in security and your checked luggage has gone ahead without you, immediately find an airline representative. The airline may be able to track your bags and hold them for you until your arrival.Do I need to pick up my luggage if I have a layover?
When you purchase a layover flight, you will need to claim your bags when you land at your layover destination, and recheck them the next day when you continue your flight(s).Can you check in luggage for someone else?
They won't let anyone check your bag in except you. There are a various security reasons for that. You have to show ID to check baggage so your friend cannot check baggage in under a reservation in your name.Lost luggage: What happens to your baggage after check-in
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Answer 2
Technically NO. This is because it is not their baggage.
But, there is a lot going on here so there is no way to definitely answer this question.
If you miss the connection, it is possible/probable, though not always required, that your luggage be unloaded from the flight.*
Alternatively, depending on the airline and attentiveness of baggage service at the destination, if your bags do go ahead of you, they may be send directly to storage instead of the carousel.
In that case, it may depend on the discretion of whoever is staffing the luggage desk. Maybe your spouse can collect them, maybe not.
*For the nitpickers, there are different rules for irregular situations though today, airlines do a much better job of keeping baggage with the passenger and will prefer to offload. This is because it's much easier to locate bags now and baggage going ahead is a different scenario than lost/delayed baggage.
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