A Swiss International Air Lines plane arrived at its destination without a single checked bag onboard.
The plane arrived in Bilbao, Spain, on Saturday without any of the passengers’ checked bags. The bags were left behind in Zurich, Switzerland, Kavin Ampalam, a spokesperson for Swiss, told the news agency AFP.
Passengers waited in vain for more than two hours at a conveyor belt for their suitcases, according to the Swiss-German newspaper The Blick.
“There was a shortage of ground staff,” Ampalam told AFP. Ampalam said the flight departed without its 111 passengers’ suitcases “for operational reasons,” as the plane had to fly another set of passengers from Bilbao to Zurich Airport before it closed. Swiss was operating the flight on behalf of Edelweiss Air, Ampalam said.
Ampalam said the flight crew waited for “one hour and 16 minutes” for the ground staff to load the bags onto the plane before deciding to fly to Bilbao without them.
“We understand the situation is not favourable for the people involved, and of course we regret the inconvenience,” Ampalam told AFP.
Several passengers said the pilot in charge of the flight was apologetic over the delayed departure, but never mentioned leaving their bags in Zurich, according to Blick’s report.
I almost never checked bags prior to having a child but there’s been plenty of times where the airline checked my bags at the gate because the overheads were full so I quickly learned it’s something you can’t count on.
My wife and I just flew with 2 kids and no checked bags. Yes, it was a pain to manage 4 carry-ons and 4 personal bags, but it was manageable, and it beat the hell out of paying another $200 to have those 4 bags checked.
Edit: They’re 6 and 8 years old. It’s impossible for me to say whether it would have been possible when they were younger, as my 8-year-old is only recently past her medical issues that necessitated considerable additional luggage – so we just didn’t fly.
I went to Disney for a week with my 1 year old and wife. We used 2 carry one and a personal bag.
I refuse to take checked bags because I travel off and on for work and I’ve been burned too many times with checked bags.
It’s pretty easy to pull off if you just do things like sleep in the clothes you plan on wearing the next day or only bringing enough diapers and wipes for the plane and buying a weeks supply at your destination.
Your didn’t have a car seat with you? I can see getting away without a stroller if you use a carrier but no car seat isn’t an option.
Car seats and strollers are gate checked (different imo) at most airlines
The chance of a gate checked item getting lost or forgotten is near zero in my experience
Those get checked at the gate as you board the plane and are the first thing off the plane and waiting for you in the tunnel as you deboard.
Too risky depending on your destination. What if there is a plane delay, what if there is no food for your baby, what if they don’t sell the food your baby is used to etc etc. usually just the baby stuff takes a while checkin luggage, not to mention the stroller.
