Keep calm and carry on: How to pack smart when travelling amid global lost luggage crisis

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SINGAPORE - When fashion magazine editor Kenneth Goh jetted to London in June for work, little did he expect to be stranded without clothes for five days.

 

It was deja vu for the editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar Singapore, who also had his luggage lost the month before, during a work trip to Monaco.

 

As part of a month-long, multi-city work trip, he had travelled from France to London on a British Airways flight at the start of Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee weekend, which lasted from June 2 to 5.

 

"I had all my lovely bags, shoes, toiletries, supplements and clothes, as well as all my documents, in my luggage. I was in dire straits as I needed to work through three major events, which included red-carpet dinners and interviews with prominent designers and CEOs. No one bothered to even look for it," recounts Goh, who is in his 40s, of the "traumatic" experience.

 

"When I'm on work trips, it's very important I represent the brand and be respectful of the international CEOs or creative directors I'm meeting. I have to dress the part and living in only a pair of sneakers was a nightmare," he adds.

 

He managed to loan samples from some brands, while fellow editors travelling through London offered to pass him clothes or supplements.

 

"I was very fortunate to have such a caring network of friends and colleagues. I'm also very lucky my key meetings happened the day after my bag arrived."

 

The need to pack light has never been more crucial, as airports around the world, particularly in Western cities, grapple with a lost luggage crisis.

 

At its peak in June, several major airports, including London's Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle in Paris, struggled with lost or delayed baggage, as the rush of revenge travel coincided with a global manpower crunch in the travel sector.

 

Videos and pictures showing a graveyard of unclaimed luggage - abandoned on carousels and piled up at arrival halls - have been circulating on the Internet.

 

Marketing executive Joan Chieng recently found herself without her bags for 10 days in Ireland. In late June, after a holiday in Amsterdam, the 30-year-old flew with two friends to Dublin to compete in an international flying disc competition in Limerick, which is a train ride away from the Irish capital.

 

Six of their suitcases did not get loaded onto the aircraft due to a scanner fault at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Ms Chieng says. Two bags were delivered to their hotel in Dublin on the second day, while another two were collected by another teammate who arrived a day later.

 

"She claimed that it was crazy - it was a sea of unclaimed luggage at Dublin Airport," says Ms Chieng, who had to buy new jerseys, cleats, sports gloves, cold gear, sports socks, running shoes and boots for the competition.

 

She later received an e-mail from a crew member of New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport to collect her two bags at Terminal 5. "I thought it was a scam until he sent me photo proof of my luggage. My bags had been mistagged and flown to JFK Airport," she says.

 

"After the eighth day, one was delivered to me, but my main suitcase was delayed in the transit area. On my last day in town, I went to Shannon Airport (a 40-minute bus ride from Limerick) to look for and collect it."

 

Do you have an upcoming long-haul flight and are worried about being caught in the lost luggage chaos? Here are some tips to help you keep calm and carry on.

 

1. Always pack backup clothes and toiletries in your carry-on luggage

 

Goh says: "Take on board a small set of toiletries, all your supplements, medicine or vitamins, a change of clothes and anything expensive."

 

As for Ms Chieng, the low-cost airline she flew, Aer Lingus, did not allow complimentary carry-on baggage for the fare she paid. She boarded with just a drawstring bag of personal belongings and an extra HeatTech top and bottom from Uniqlo.

 

"We should have paid for the extra carry-on baggage," she says. "Make sure you have at least one carry-on bag with all your necessities, such as medicine and warm clothing, and be mentally prepared that you might not receive whatever you checked in immediately on the belt."

 

Ideally, this is what you should have in your carry-on luggage:

 

• A set of formal clothing and shoes for important dinners or events - at least to tide you over until you can make a trip to a clothing store. For women, a little black dress that can be dressed up or down is your best bet. It also hides signs of wear or dirt more easily if you have to don it multiple times.
• At least one set of clean clothing and undergarments, plus warm clothing.
• A basic skincare and make-up kit. For make-up essentials, pack foundation, concealer, blush and/or bronzer (these can double as eyeshadow), mascara, eyeliner and lipstick. For skincare, make-up wipes, cleanser, moisturiser and sunscreen are the bare minimum.

 

2. Use packing cubes or vacuum packs

 

Why not travel with just a carry-on? This reporter did it for a three-week pre-pandemic summer vacation to Europe, survived and returned with some shopping as well.

 

A couple of space-saving hacks are all you need. Packing cubes, for instance, help maximise space. Tightly roll your clothes by category or size into various-sized cubes and arrange them neatly like Tetris blocks in your luggage.

 

To make even more room, use vacuum packs or compression bags for your clothes. These vary in how they are sealed - from using a pump or vacuum to suck out the air to simply rolling and pressing down on the bag - and are widely available online.

 

Unpack with Downy Wrinkle Releaser. This spray-on product works as a quick fix to get wrinkles out of creased clothing. Take along a few empty compression bags if you plan to shop for clothes.

 

As the weather begins to cool down in other parts of the world and you have to pack bulkier clothing, you can still work around this by wearing your jackets and boots on the plane.

 

3. Stuff shoes with socks

 

Try not to take along more than three pairs of shoes. Go with something comfortable like sneakers, a formal or dressier option, and slippers or casual sandals.

 

Cut out extra bulk from shoe bags and use the shoes - after wrapping them in disposable shower caps - to fill the odd gaps between other packed items. Store socks and other malleable, less delicate items, such as tote bags, inside the shoes.

 

I have also stuffed boots with fiddly-shaped objects such as souvenir magnets and travel adaptors.

 

4. Downsize with nifty travel essentials

 

No smart traveller packs full-sized toiletries and skincare products. If you do not have compact sizes, decant your products into smaller containers.

 

You can buy a portable atomiser perfume bottle cheaply online - these little 5ml sprays allow you to conveniently pump and carry around your favourite scents.

 

If the dinky travel-size containers sold at convenience stores are not your style, check out American brand Cadence (keepyourcadence.com). The travel and beauty start-up offers stylish leak-proof, magnetic containers designed to help you maintain routines on the go.

 

Its modular 15g containers (US$84, or S$116, for six) made from recycled plastic can be filled with creams, liquids and even medication or jewellery, which you can customise with labels to stay organised.

 

5. Check in your dirty clothes

 

In June, Ms J.D. Cheong returned from a holiday in New York, but her two bags were not on the Singapore Airlines flight that she took. One arrived two weeks later, but the other bag, which had all her clothing and shopping, has been declared lost.

 

The 30-year-old marketing analyst says: "It wasn't the most inconvenient since I was back home, but the bags had about 60 per cent of my fitness clothing. It was impossible to get in contact with (the ground handling company) Sats because its hotlines were consistently overloaded. In late July, its staff updated me to say they were still tracing my second bag, but declared it lost in mid-August."

 

To save yourself the mental torment of potentially losing your valuable items, check in your dirty clothes or items you do not mind losing instead.

 

Take along an extra foldable duffle bag and padlock to pack items of value. It also lowers the risk of having items stolen from your mishandled luggage.

 

Goh advises against putting anything expensive, including bags and shoes, in your check-in luggage. "Whatever you check in must be easily replaceable and of little or no value to you emotionally or monetarily."

 

6. Get an Apple AirTag

 

Apple users can place this tracking device in their check-in luggage. It is designed to act as a key finder that shows up on your radar in the Find My app.

 

Goh, who was sent some by Apple Singapore after the firm heard about his luggage crisis in London, swears by them and used them for the next leg of his trip.

 

"I was so 'kiasu', I even threw two into one bag. At least you can track your bags. I heard a story of an editor who bought a budget airline ticket so he could go into the baggage area to reclaim his bags that were lost in Madrid, Spain. He did not take the flight, of course, but got his precious bags."

 

 

Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission.

 

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