This month alone, around 600,000 bags will be transferred from one member’s flight to another at SkyTeam’s busiest hubs.
With a SkyTeam flight taking off every five seconds around the world, seamless travel is central to our values. While the alliance is working hard to make traveling smoother, there are some simple tips that customers can follow to make their travels even more seamless by minimizing the risk of delayed bags on their journeys.
Check your bags for tags - Check-in agents will always remove an old bag tag, but those easily-missed, smaller stickers featuring barcodes or a series of numbers can mean the difference between arriving at your destination with or without your luggage, particularly if there is a shorter connection time. Stickers from previous trips can confuse the scanners used by airport baggage machines and handling agents, resulting in the inconvenience of a misdirected bag.
Name it - Include flight details, destination and a contact telephone number on all your checked luggage. It makes it much easier for airlines to reunite you with your bags in the unfortunate event you arrive without them.
Stand out from the crowd - With hundreds of similar bags on the carousel, it’s very hard to tell your suitcase apart from the next person’s – particularly after a long flight. A bright ribbon, luggage tag or coloured strap is a simple way to make a bag more easily identifiable.
Know what to take - Depending on routing, SkyTeam Elite and Elite Plus frequent flyers are offered an extra baggage allowance of 10kg for Elite members and 20kg for Elite Plus, or one additional bag where the piece concept applies. If you’re flying with outsized bags such as sports equipment or musical instruments, it’s best to check with your airline for any special requirements in advance.
Take your time - Sometimes delays are simply unavoidable. Factoring in a longer connection time not only increases your chances of catching the next flight - your bags are more likely to make it too.
So before your next trip, remember: check your bags for tags and follow our simple steps to help make sure you and your bags arrive on the same flight as you do.
SkyTeam Airport Services Team
