Chris Truelove founder of globalbagtag is available for T.V., Radio and Press interviews. For interview requests please contact us.
Background information
The words of globalbagtag.com founder Chris Truelove.
The idea for globalbagtag.com came about when my wife and I were travelling to
Australia, via Bali. We checked in two suitcases at London Heathrow with one of
the worlds "leading airlines". On arrival in Bali, only one of our suitcases
came off the carousel. Luckily for me the missing case mostly contained my
wife's underwear, though for some reason she did not seem to relish the thought
of three weeks without knickers quite as much as I did!
To cut a long story short the airline had no idea where our bag was, we had
to give a description of the suitcase, (one of the millions of black Samsonites
circling the globe) and the contents. (Try translating 'Gossard Wonderbra' into
Balinese!). This was apparently telexed around all the various airports, but to
no avail. The best guess of the airline staff was that the destination barcode
had come off the case and it was in one of the regional lost luggage
warehouses, along with thousands of other black Samsonites. Not exactly lost,
just untraceable to the owner.
Though I can joke about it now the whole incident was most distressing at
the time, and even more so when we discovered that the airline was only
prepared to pay out £211 (US$330) compensation based on the weight of the lost
bag, not the actual value. They quote The Warsaw Convention,
which limits their liability to US$20 per Kg, not much when the average
suitcase itself costs around £100. (US$140) On the face of it things are set to improve with the newly ratified Montreal convention, which increases the Airlines liability but puts the onus on the passenger to prove the actual value of lost items by production of original receipts.
We were sat one evening (knickerless!) thinking how this could happen in
this day and age, if only there was a way a bag could have some identity number
fixed onto it which could identify that bag as belonging to the owner. I came
up with the globalbagtag.com idea. With the Internet being available worldwide 24
hours a day and no worries about different time zones, it provided the perfect
solution.
It was not until I started to look into the world of lost luggage that I
began to realise just how big the problem was. Of course, the airlines try not
to give too much publicity to luggage problems, but the US
Department of Transport produce some staggering figures.
Airline
Total reports
1
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
22,682
2
ALASKA AIRLINES
4,714
3
AIRTRAN AIRWAYS
3,698
4
CONTINENTAL AIRLINES
10,654
5
AMERICA WEST AIRLINES
6,637
6
JETBLUE AIRWAYS
3,402
7
US AIRWAYS
13,092
8
NORTHWEST AIRLINES
16,529
9
UNITED AIRLINES
22,584
10
DELTA AIR LINES
30,939
11
ATA AIRLINES
3,741
12
EXPRESSJET AIRLINES
5,044
13
AMERICAN AIRLINES
40,069
14
SKYWEST AIRLINES
8,044
15
AMERICAN EAGLE AIRLINES
10,359
16
ATLANTIC COAST AIRLINES
7,745
17
ATLANTIC SOUTHEAST AIRLINES
12,909
TOTALS
222,842
TOTAL BAGGAGE REPORTS-For the domestic system only.
More Details can be found at the US Department of Transportation web site, www.dot.gov/airconsumer
As for the UK, this government is not quite as keen to publishing
statistics. However the Air Transport Users Council latest annual report
states; "A dramatic increase (more than 50%) in the number of misshandled bags."
The Air Transport Users Council Web site has the full report www.auc.org.uk
As you can see, worldwide the problem is vast. On the lighter side, all this
lost luggage is good news for some people. The Unclaimed Baggage Center in
Alabama USA, sells millions of items of lost luggage. You can even buy online
at www.unclaimedbaggage.com
If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact us
directly via email press@globalbagtag.com
or by phone fax or post- details on our contacts page.
Coming soon to the UK after it's launch in February in Scandanavia, greenbagtag - carbon neutral travel tags
How much does a globalbagtag cost? What do I get for my money? Can I buy globalbagtags to give as a gift? Can I use my globalbagtags more than once?
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