Nobody likes to think of it, but there are two types of travelers.  Those who’s luggage has been lost, and those who will have an airline loose their luggage in the future.  Here is what you should do to ensure that you never loose money when your an airline looses your bag. If you take the right steps ahead of time, you will probably make money from lost suitcases.

Before Traveling

Every time you luggage, keep a receipt. Every time you clothing, save the receipt.  Clothing is about the only thing that an airline will actually compensate you for, although there are exceptions such as furs.  When the time comes to fill out a claim form, you will then submit receipts for all of your missing clothing.

Packing Tips

Be familiar with airline’s rules regarding compensation for lost or damaged luggage.  The rules exclude all sorts of things from compensation including electronics and pretty much anything more valuable than clothing. For heaven’s sake, never pack anything valuable or unique.  Never pack medications, car keys, passports, or tickets.

Another tip is to plan for the possibility of the airline loosing your bag.  Pack in your carry on everything you need for a day or two at your destination. Pack under the assumption that you bag will be lost, and carry on not just your valuables, but any necessary items that will be difficult or time consuming to replace at your destination.  Feel free to check items that are easily obtained wherever you are going.

I have always been a proponent of carrying inexpensive bags. I find that generic bags purchased from discount stores such as Ross, TJ Maxx, and Tuesday Morning can last for years. Ultimately the airline will loose or damage the bags, resulting in your reimbursement for their cost.

When Your Bag Is Lost

We all know the feeling of seeing the last bag come off the carousel and watching it shut down. The most important thing to do is to make sure you file a claim in writing at the airport. Most airlines require that a claim be submitted for any loss or damage within 24 hours, but in reality, once you leave the airport, all bets are off.

The worst case scenario is when you arrive on the last flight of the night.  If that flight is delayed, it is possible that the baggage office will be closed. In that case, you must call the airline and try to file a claim over the phone.  At the very least, you should ask the airline representative to make a notation in your record.  You should also record the name of the person you spoke with.  The next day, you will then have to return to the airport.  At best, you will retrieve your bag, but at worst you will have to fill out the claim form to comply with the 24 hour rule.

Conclusions

While it might seem more likely that an airline will loose your bags when you have a complicated itinerary, I have not found that to be the case.  In fact, it has been my experience that may bags have been lost or delayed more often on non-stop flights.  By planning ahead, packing smart, and making a timely claim, you can ensure that lost bags are an inconvenience, not a major catastrophe.

By now, you have probably heard that one of the Boeing 737-300 aircraft suffered a rupture of it’s skin in flight, opening up a 5 foot gash in the ceiling and prompting an emergency landing. The cause of the failure has been attributed to metal fatigue. Allow me to try to break this down in layman’s terms.

What Is Metal Fatigue?

Have you ever bent a paper clip or a coat hanger back and forth until it breaks? This is metal fatigue, the use of stress to break down of the molecular bonds that give metal its strength. At the same time, people wonder why a jet liner would fail, as it certainly isn’t being bent back and forth like the paper clip.

Or is it?

Have you ever sat in the back of the plane and noticed the whole cabin bending upon touchdown?  Have you ever looked at the wing and seen it flex up and down in turbulence?  Those are merely the visible indications that the body of an airplane is not a static structure. It is a malleable creation designed to flex rather than be brittle. What you can’t see is the effect of pressurization on the metal structure of the aircraft. Pressurization is what makes it possible for the cabin of an airplane to hold an atmosphere that is breathable when the airplane is flying at altitudes that people cannot survive. People in the business occasionally refer to pressurized planes as ‘inflatable’. Every time the aircraft climbs to high altitude, the cabin is inflated to higher pressures. Like a balloon being inflated, this causes the skin to expand slightly. Do it over and over again, like an airplane that repeatedly makes short flights, and the skin is being flexed just like the paper clip.

What To Do About Metal Fatigue?

Up  until 1988, airlines weren’t particularly concerned about metal fatigue. And then, Aloha Airlines flight 243 suffered an incredible failure of entire sections of the fuselage.  This resulted in the death of a flight attendant and the injury of 65 people.  The cause was traced to corrosion and metal fatigue. The contributing factors were the frequent take-offs and landings made by high frequency, inter-island flights. Corrosion by salt air was also a factor.

Since that landmark incident, airlines and regulators have been scrutinizing airplanes to a much higher extent. Airplanes are regularly stripped of their interiors and examined for cracks at a microscopic level. Cracked portions are either patched or replaced. With proper maintenance, an aircraft should last decades. For example, Delta is still flying 35 year old DC-9 aircraft that they inherited from Northwest.

What About Southwest?

Southwest has suffered a similar incident like this in 1988 when a football sized hole opened up in one f it’s aircraft.  Like the recent incident, there were no fatalities or serious injuries. The aircraft involved in the latest Southwest incident was merely 15 years old. That is a little older than the average age of their fleet, but it is certainly not their oldest plane. Considering that the 737-300 was produced from 1981 until 1999, this plane was one of the newer 737-300s out there.

These facts strongly suggest that there is some sort of maintenance issues that are failing to catch developing cracks in the fuselage of their aircraft.

Should You Fly Southwest?

Despite these troubling maintenance failures, I still remain a fan of Southwest. Air travel in the United States is still posting incredible safety numbers in recent years. The only fatality ever attributed to Southwest airlines in its 38 year history was a person on the ground in this incident.

I have plans to travel with my family on Southwest, and I have not considered changing them. Air travel will never be risk free, but it is by far the safest way to travel. You are several orders of magnitude more likely to die in a traffic accident than you are on a schedule passenger aircraft. This is still a troubling incident, but I expect regulators to take serious measures to ensure that it never happens again.

Spurred by a renewed interest in aviation and their desire to promote the features of their latest aircraft, Southwest Airlines is now offering their customers the chance of a lifetime; to be a professional pilot for the day. According to their spokesman, they have been telling people that their new aircraft are so easy to fly, that even a child could do it. To put their money where their mouth is, they are now going to give customers ages 12 and up the opportunity to fly one of their aircraft on an actual revenue flight.

How This Will Work

For the price of a regular ticket, Southwest customers can select an additional flight training option that will include a half hour orientation on the fundamentals of aviation and the operation of their aircraft. Essentially, they will learn how to enter the destination into the flight computer and turn the engines on. Next, all they have to do is steer the plane towards the runway, and shove the throttles forward when given clearance for takeoff. According to the company pilot in charge of the program, it is really that simple.  They will also receive their own copy of “The Dummies Guide To The Boeing 737.”

Security Concerns

Obviously the issue of security needed to be addressed before the FAA and the TSA would permit this unique program to begin. The TSA’s main concern was that “pilot for a day” customers be given a thorough body cavity search before being allowed to operate the commercial aircraft. The FAA wanted Boeing to adapt the cockpit information system to receive programing from the in-flight entertainment system in order to alleviate the inevitable fatigue that results from operating such highly automated aircraft.

What’s In It For Southwest

By substituting a passenger for the co-pilot, Southwest is planning on realizing substantial labor savings. In the past, co-pilots were selected from a pool of experienced regional airline captains. The downside was that these people actually expected to be paid for work that others would gladly do for free. Also, by moving a passenger from the cabin to the cockpit, an additional seat is opened up for sale.

How To Participate

Interest has been overwhelming since the announcement of this program on April 1st. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, I urge you to contact Southwest immediately in order to secure the co-pilot seat on a flight of your choice.