Based on my experience, atomicbadgerrace and Shagnasty both hit the most important point: the more connections you have (and the more tightly scheduled those connections), the more opportunity there is for a problem. In all but one instance in which my baggage has been delayed (never lost), it has happened when the bag didn’t make it onto a connecting flight. The other time, I’m not sure what happened – it was a direct flight, and the bags were labeled for the right destination, but they went somewhere else (that reminds me – it’s also a good idea to confirm that the labels put on the bags when you check them have the right destination on them!).
I pretty much avoid flights with connections at all costs, not only for the luggage issue but also because it makes the whole trip longer and more stressful (will I miss my connection if my first flight is late? will I have to sit in the airport for 4 hours waiting?). I have a preferred airline, but I’ll fly on other airlines (and pay substantially more) to get a direct flight if necessary. For me, at least, it makes things a lot more pleasant. Of course, I’m lucky enough to live near a relatively major airport; I have lived in places in which it would be nearly impossible to get direct flights most of the time.
I asked my husband about this. He works for an airline as a customer service/ticket counter agent at one of it’s outstations (not a hub). He also confirmed that a major contributer to the chances of bags being lost or mishandled is the number of connections, and the time between connections. Less than an hour between connections seems to increase your chances of your bags being mishandled.
So… avoid multiple connections when you can, and give yourself plenty of time at each connection as well. The vast majority of screw ups that happen, happen at the hubs, and not at the outstation at which you arrive.
Another good rule to live by (as previously mentioned) is to never put any valuables in your checked bags. No cameras, jewelry, laptops, electronics, etc. In a large hub there’s just too much opportunity amid all the chaos, and I’ve heard stories from my husband about passengers reporting thefts. The opportunity for theft exists not only from baggage handlers, but also from the TSA, unfortunately.
Err… no, you can’t. You can’t expect an airline to easily schedule extra people on service desks any more than you can expect a retail store to easily call in folks on their days off to help if a day turns out to be quite busy. There are a certain number of employees working on a given day, and they have specific jobs to be doing. You may be able to call 1 or 2 extra folks over from the ticket counter if it’s slow, but you can’t make employees appear out of thin air.
