Time?
 

What do you do with the time you save by bypassing luggage retrieval? By having a stack of Euros ready to spend? A long lunch? An afternoon theater performance? What?

Find an internet cafe and log on to Fodor's.

I don't really think of it as saving time so much as saving aggravation.

anything I darn well please! Who wants to spend 45 mins hanging around a luggage carousel? (but the money part doesn't apply - I either get cash at an airport ATM or after I get into town)

I beat all the luggage-seeking people to the Passport Control line.

I think that whatever can be done to alleviate the arrival process on jetlagged minds, is certainly worthwhile. If something, no matter how silly, is causing a significant amount of stress, why not do something about it? No harm done...

OTOH, I check in luggage. As long as I have a littly backup clothes on my carryon in case of lost luggage I dont get stressed over this process at all.

I maintain a basic stack of Euros at home so that one is not applicable either.

There are different ways to travel, and to each their own! :D

I get a better place in the line at the "Non-EU Passports" queue - it generaly saves me more time than waiting for my luggage!

well, I'm small and hate dealing with overhead bins, so I actually check my luggage and then spend the 10 or 15 minutes people watching. The luggage carousel is actually more interesting than many people think.

Don't you go through passport control before retrieving luggage?

Think it depends on the airport - I've seen both in some of the smaller European cities (and some that have no passport control at all!)

I enjoy waiting for my luggage. People watching, luggage watching. I stroll gently along, wait patiently for passport control and then wait for my luggage. So it takes a bit longer than rushing for the exit with hand baggage, but I have had some great conversations whilst watching the baggage carousel go round.
I've never been through passport control after collecting my bags.

It does not depend....

Every airport I've ever been to and I have been through MANY, the procedure is:

Passport control/luggage pick up/customs - no exceptions.




Reporting from Kabul.

&quot;<i>Don't you go through passport control before retrieving luggage? </i>&quot; Nope . . . .

Luggage retrieval is <i>after</i> passport control. If you didn't go through passport control, you flew in from another Schengen country in which case, no passport control applies.

I could swear that passport control at Heathrow (arriving from US) is before baggage claim.

OK, you passed the test - Passport Control comes first, then baggage, then Customs. Anyway, I like not having to wait for bags.

The time saved from waiting for the carousel may be minimal (though not trivial after a long haul), but time saved from waiting for a lost or even delayed bag is priceless.
I acknowledge in some cases bags must be checked--with faith placed and precautions taken, but if I can avoid it I do, and it greatly simplifies my life. Further time is saved by not having a large bag to transport and pack/unpack.

How do people know how long they have to wait when they don't check luggage?

I am definetely not a patient guy, but I can hardly remember having to wait more than 10-15 minutes. And I have to check luggage once a month usually.

Due to the huge size of many airports, it often takes longer to walk to the exit than my baggage needs. Or when my flight does not get a jetway, and I have to take the bus to the terminal. Or when there is passport control, and I have to wait in line.

I don't check luggage but I do travel w/ the occasional Luddite that does :) so I do know about how long/messy baggage retrieval can be at places like LHR or SFO. And in a past life I did check luggage, and have lost some, and also missed connections due to late luggage.

Waiting at a carousel has nothing to do with why we don't check luggage. We don't check luggage because we want to see our luggage again.

Yeah, LHR may be not so pleasant. That's why I try to get flights to LCY when possible.

But when you have to check luggage on a regular basis, the very short or no waiting times and long waiting times kind of average out.

Maybe it's more memorable for people who just fly 5-10 times a year when once of those flight some luggage gets lost, or when there is a huge line at passport control, or when luggage needs half an hour.

AAFF really ought to see a bit of the world before pontificating &quot;without exceptions&quot;

In my experience baggage collection comes BEFORE passport control in Australia and New Zealand.

I've done carry-on luggage for a bunch of trips, including my last two.

Bottom line is that I know it's helpful in some instances, to do carry-on only, which is why I did it.

But there's no question I prefer taking a few more things. I don't need them, obviously, but I enjoy having them. I also like taking &quot;lots&quot; of books (I read about four just on the flight over), even though I buy more as I go, and they tend to get heavy in carry-on luggage.

The only time I felt there was a significant luggage delay was at CDG once.

Well, I'm probably totally jinxing myself here, but in all my years of travel I've only ever had one lost bag. I filed a report (took about 10 minutes) and it was delivered that night to my hotel.

My husband travels all the time (literally) and he has never had his luggage lost. He is 50.

Okay, now I've just jinxed him too...

Anyway, pack your 5 books and that extra pair of underpants if you want. Chances are darn good your bag will find you on the other side.

gruezi

The official numbers for US carriers is one bag lost/delayed for every checked 138 bags - not a huge % -- but that does mean that on the average jumbo, between 5 and 6 suitcases are lost. Do you feel lucky?

And we won't EVEN talk about BA at LHR :)

We have had missed connections due to weather, and been rerouted all over the place.

There was a colleague of my husband, and her elderly father, on a flight that landed in Amsterdam instead of Rome. We were on the same flight with our luggage. We were headed to Florence.

In Amsterdam, we were given tickets to Florence, and told it was ok because we had no checked luggage. DH's work friend and her father were in Italy for 9 days and never saw their luggage.

along the same lines as tuscanlifeedit -- I was flying from London to SFO via Logan one Thanksgiving weekend a few years ago when the whole east coast was socked in w/ massive snow storms. Cancellations and delays covered the departures screen.

AA's flight into San Jose was going and I figured at least that would get me to w/i 50 miles of my car at a hotel near SFO. It was only because I did not have checked luggage that they could re-route me on the SJC flight. I got in about 30 min after my original arr time -- and AA even paid for a taxi to get me up to Burlingame.

If you want to stand by for an earlier flight, or you think there's a good chance of a rerouting, it's much more likely to happen if you don't have checked luggage. That's been one main reason I did not check luggage on some trips.

I shall continue to check luggage. I carry my camera gear on board with me - and that takes up my carry-on allowance, so checked luggage it is. And if it gets lost I'll claim it on the travel insurance.
The camera gear is worth far more than anything I would check.

We never &quot;rush&quot; to the baggage carousel. We go thru passport control, make bathrooms stops, hit the ATM, maybe even get DH a Starbucks if we see one, grab a Diet Coke for me and a something for the kids.......THEN we head to the baggage area.

We seldom wait more than just a few minutes.

Of course, there are some airports that offer few options other than going straight to passport control, then baggage area. In those cases, we just sit a wait - patiently!

I've never NOT had my suitcase waiting for me when I arrive at LHR after going through passport control.

Should add that I'm always on AA &amp; fast-tracked through passport control at LHR but when flying in the States or back home, I usually have to wait a bit but nothing too bad.

Every time of the many times I have returned to Australia, I go through Immigration (Passport Control), then collect my bags from the carousel, then go through Customs. Same as anywhere else that I have been in the world really.

What's going on here? Flanneruk made a post (still existing) that criticised a post by AAFrequentFlyer.
The information in AAFrequentFlyer's original post was correct, and he replied in detail and effectively to the criticism. That reply seems to have been removed. Why? And why does Flanneruk's inaccurate statement remain?

as posted by <b>flanneruk</b>,

<i>AAFF really ought to see a bit of the world before pontificating &quot;without exceptions&quot;

In my experience baggage collection comes BEFORE passport control in Australia and New Zealand.</i>,

experience? or was it a dream?

Stick to your expertise - the London underground. Once you actually travel anywhere in the world, you can join the discussion.


Thanks <b>adeben</b> :-)

I too would like to know why???


Reporting from Kabul. The Brits won the Kabul Open. That is one &quot;special&quot; course. I don't see Tiger playing here anytime soon. OTOH, It's a character builder....

Getting ready for a wild night out.

ttt

Still waiting.....

I thought <b>flanneruk</b> could be a man and admit his error. I guess not. It's easier to run to Fodors editors with a whiny complaint.

(btw, can the editors explain why my second post was deleted, although it contained accurate information about Australia/NZ international arrivals procedures, yet <b>flanner's</b> totally inaccurate and personal attack on me post is still up?)

I really would not care so much if this was a one time deal, but he has done this before, calling me out, providing inaccurate info and then pretending that nothing happened.

Come on <b>flanner</b>....I'm still waiting. Are you a man enough to admit you were wrong?

AA: Give it up already! Not another living soul cares about your feud w/ flanner. He may or may not have made an error (one that really has nothing to do w/ the question at hand - this being the Europe forum) - but to keep dragging your fight back to the top just makes you look petty.

Both you and flanneruk give tons of useful info/help on here - but I'm sure you have mis-spoke a time or two yourself.