Luggage Tag

It was 12.30 at Changi Airport. I was waiting in front of the conveyor belt delivering checked luggage and baggage, SQ 873 from Hong Kong. One, two, three, and chain of baggage were circulating slowly. My eyes were focused to the belt, following the movement of the conveyor. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. 15 minutes. I did not see any sight of my greenish-Grey (or grayish-green?) 23 kg-luggage.

20 minutes. 25 minutes.

A security officer was approaching and he asked me, “Excuse me ma’am, are you still waiting for your luggage?”

And, of course, I said yes. So finally, 10 minutes after that I was asked to report to the lost and found counter, where they prepared a report for missing luggage and a request of worldwide luggage tracing.

“we’re so sorry ma’am, but we will try the best that we could do to locate your luggage and deliver it to your place, can you sign here please? Meanwhile, we shall provide you a compensation of 120 $ and amenities kit for you”.

Ooooopssss.

To date, checked baggage and luggage are identified by the paper tag with bar code which allows for automated sorting of the bags to reduce the number of misrouted, misplaced or delayed bags. The transfer of bags from one airline to another is possible and we just need to inform at the first check-in counter, to which destination our bags shall be delivered according to our itinerary.

Quoted from Wikipedia, Bag Tag :

The first "separable coupon ticket" was patented by John Michael Lyons of Moncton, New Brunswick on June 5, 1882. The ticket showed the issuing station, the destination and a consecutive number for reference. The lower half of the ticket was given to the passenger, while the upper half, with a hole at the top, was inserted into a brass sleeve and then attached to the baggage by a strap.

The criteria for issuing a baggage check or luggage ticket with liability limit was established in Warsaw convention, article 4.

How on earth people traveled with bags those days??

I woke up the following day, full of anxiety. Switched computer, connected to internet and virtually went to www.worldtracer.aero, keyed-in file reference and name and clicked “Enter”:

Status: Item located. Pending confirmation. The phone rang.

“Is this Ms. Priambodo? Ma’am, we would like to inform you that your luggage has arrived in Singapore and we will deliver it to your address within the next two hours”.

HURA!!!!!!!!!