I'm trying to figure out the odds of the airlines losing my luggage if there is only one flight involved. What is your opinion?

Yes, it can happen but is less likey than if you are making connections. One thing you can do is when checking your bag inspect the tag to be sure it lists the correct destination. With computer generated tags errors are less likely than when it was done manually, but they can still occur.

It's perfectly possible : United Airlines managed to do this twice with my luggage; they said it wasn't the airline but the luggage handlers.....

Yes, of course, it can happen. However, the chances are not so high. Luggage don't get lost. They are just tagged wrong or are stolen. In general, the baggage handlers getluggage for all airlines in a pool then have to sort them according to destination. Everything needs to be done swiftly and that's when the luggage may go astray if the wrong destination is read and tagged accordingly.

Yep, UAL gave norween the honest answer.

At this point I am almost convinced that the airlines could lose my luggage while it's still at home. Bad experiences lately . . .

Make a list of what you pack and email it to yourself in case your bag doesn't make it. Print it out if you need it for the airline, just remember that their limit of liability is $1200, and I don't even know if that's per passenger or per bag. Anyone know?

Twice I have caught mistakes as check-in agents have put incorrect tags on my luggage! Sending them off to who knows where! Yes, be sure and peek over the counter at your bags as they are being sent down the tube! And learn the abbreviations of the airports you will be using, they are not always obvious.

Yes. It can happen. My favorite what flying Olympic airlines direct from Athens to Chania, Crete and the airline "forgot" to load ALL the luggage. When we arrived they made an announcement that there was no luggage and it would be brought on the next flight -- about 8 hours later. Does that count as lost or just delayed?

I was just trying to figure out how to handle the contact lense situation. Thanks for all your help.

I guess I will make double check to make sure the correct tags are on my luggage...in multiple locations....

I don't peek SeaUrchin, I actually ask to see the tag, nicely of course.

One of the biggest oddly named airports is Chicago's O'Hare as ORD. It's short for "Orchard Field" what it used to be called before WWII.

It happened to me once, even when labeled correctly. Luggage isn't lost in the air, but on the ground in either location, so of course it can happen. All they have to do when unloading it put it in the wrong area, such as the area to be transferred rather than the area to go out to the luggage belt. That is what happened to mine, although it wasn't truly lost but delayed, as they found it within about two hours -- sitting in the wrong area.

First of all, direct and non-stop are not the same, as a direct flight does not involve just one flight segment. Direct means the plane stops somewhere then you continue your flight on that same aircraft. I bring this up because the last part of my story below involves a direct flight from Houston to Seattle, although I got off the plane in Tulsa.

I am the Queen of Lost Luggage, as my count is up to 7. All but one of those times my luggage was because of a layover where my bag didn't make it.

On the other occasion, I had taken a non-stop flight from Houston to Tulsa, but then the flight continued on to Seattle with my suitcase still on board. So yes it can happen, but I would agree it's not as likely.

Traveling solo, I would consider taking two smaller suitcases to check in, rather than having all my eggs in one basket.

Good idea, suze, since carry-ons aren't a good alternative any more.

You betcha. One of the two times our luggage didn't arrive with us was on a direct flight. That last time was a National/Chicago/Sacramento flight, when a broken conveyer belt at O'Hare caused all the luggage to miss connecting flights. It's not so bad on return trips, of course...

Hmmm ! I notice O'Hare mentionned twice - One of my 2 "errant luggage" episodes started in O'Hare too.

Hi, Indytravel, good, be aggressive!

One time I caught a mislabeled bag at the airport in Budapest, I told the clerk who then must have taken a out a vendetta against me in his own mind. If looks could kill! and he went on and on at me in Hungarian! Somehow one of my bags went to Asia and I didn't get it back for a few weeks, I bet he chuckled over that for a long time.

Yes, bags on direct flights do not make it. We had a bag stay over at LAX instead of going on to SFO. The reason given was the plane was over-weight, so all the luggage was not loaded. Three people in our group experienced the same thing, but we were not all on the same planes. One delayed bag was sent through FedEx which doesn't sound cost effective to me.

When my bags didn't make it from Chicago I was offered the option of a $50 coupon for future travel if I would return to the airport the following day to collect the luggage. I said thanks, but no thanks, and it came by some kind of courier service the next morning.

It can happen...and, in fact, did happen to me many years ago in the days of Eastern Airlines shuttle. I actually saw my bag going onto the conveyor belt and into the plane. Yet, when the plane landed, my luggage wasn't there.
PS: I was fully reimbursed for the cost of the lost clothing.