Ask Gadling: You left something on the airplane

by Laurel Miller on

It’s not a good feeling, walking toward baggage claim or a connecting flight, and realizing you forgot an item on the plane. Especially if it’s something valuable, like a brand-new digital camera (not that that happened to me). Okay, it did. I flew Varig into Sao Paulo, and deplaned to catch a connection to Rio. I was halfway to the gate when I realized the camera was missing. I’d removed it from my carry-on to review my pictures mid-flight, and, because I was cracked out on Xanax to quell my aviophobia, forgotten to tuck it back into my bag.

Since I don’t speak Portuguese, it was difficult to explain to airport personnel what had happened, and ask if I could retrieve said camera. I also had a flight to catch, so time was of the essence. I never imagined I would actually be allowed to re-board, due to security measures. Here’s the scary part: the Varig personnel just waved me back onto the empty plane, and let me rip my row apart. I found the camera, made my Rio flight, and vowed never to Xanax and unpack again.

My being allowed back on a plane-unattended, no less-was a freak occurrence. Says flight attendant/Gadling contributor Heather Poole, “Most gate agents/airline personnel can’t help, unless you’ve JUST walked off the flight.”

What to do if you’ve left an item on the plane after you’ve walked away from the gate

Immediately check with the airline’s “airport/terminal lost and found”; that’s where most stuff ends up. Poole says that a passenger’s lost fake tooth once made its way to lost and found.

View more Ask Gadling: Travel Advice from an Expert or send your question to ask [at] gadling [dot] com.

If the item doesn’t turn up at lost and found at your destination airport, call the airline and ask where the airplane flew to next. Explains Poole, “There’s a chance it won’t be discovered until the next leg. An airline employee might also have picked it up, and will return it personally, or leave it at your hotel.” Poole herself did this with a $500 check she found inside a book left onboard (can you say “good karma?”).

Realize that policies will vary depending upon the carrier, type of aircraft, and where you happen to be, destination-wise.

Try not to appear frantic or act demanding. You don’t want to arouse suspicions, or piss anyone off. Just calmly state the problem, while making it clear the item is of value.

If you don’t speak the language, hopefully you have a phrasebook handy. I keep a list of emergency phrases to cover my butt in situations like this, so I have them at my immediate disposal. I write them on the inside cover of my phrase book. Lonely Planet also has excellent phrasebooks that contain sentences like “Help, I’ve lost my….” Sign language, as I discovered in Brazil, also works well in a left-item scenario.

Leave your name and contact information, as well as where you’ll be during your visit (if this pertains) with lost and found personnel, or any gate agents/airline personnel you personally speak to. Also get the name and phone number of the person you speak to at lost and found, so you can follow-up, if necessary.

How can I minimize the chances of leaving an item on the plane, or losing it permanently?

  • Unpacking your carry-on, or fiddling with devices while under the influence is a recipe for lost valuables. If you’re flying solo, tape a Post-it note to the seat back in front of you, reminding yourself to to collect everything before deplaning. Sure, you’ll look like an anal-retentive freak. But who cares, as long as you leave with all of your belongings?
  • Don’t stuff valuables in the seat back pocket, especially if under the influence. I always try to keep everything contained to my carry-on, which I stow beneath the seat in front of me. If you normally stash in overhead, keep a compact, reusable shopping bag on you (some have small clips so you can attach to your belt loop). You can put whatever you might need in-flight inside it, thus minimizing the chances of items going astray or falling into the maw of the seat back pocket.
  • Always ID tag carry-on valuables like cell phones, iPod’s, cameras, etc.. I use stick-on address labels; if you don’t want the whole world to know where you live, just put a cell phone number and email.
  • Even if you didn’t unpack anything in-flight, do a sweep of your seat and floor before deplaning. I’ve had items fall out of not-fully zipped, or elasticized pockets on my carry-on.

Lost and found contact numbers for major U.S. carriers

While researching this piece, I quickly discovered that many airlines don’t have a general number for lost and found. Most require you to fill out an online form, or report missing items in person at the destination airport.

United: 1-800-221-6903.

American Airlines: If I may put my two cents in (and I will), AA has the most idiotic lost and found/customer service policy. There is no general number, so you must “call the Lost and Found office of the specific airport to or from which you were traveling.” Which is awesome, because none of these offices are open 24 hours. When I called the Delayed Baggage number to explain who I was and what I was writing about, and if they could provide me with a general number to assist readers, I was told, “You can send a written letter to customer relations.” Thanks, AA. You rock.

Delta: Click here to report your missing item.

Continental: Click here to report your missing item.

Southwest: Report missing item in person within four hours at your destination.

Jet Blue: “Articles found onboard an aircraft will be placed in the JetBlue lost and found area of the destination city. You may call the JetBlue Baggage Service office at the airport to inquire about your lost item.”

Alaska: 1-800-25-7522, say “More options,” then “Baggage information.”

Frontier: Click here to report your missing item.

Virgin America: Contact one of these lost and found offices.

If you leave any item at any TSA security check, call 1-866-289-9673.

[Photo credits: electronics, Flickr user Burnt Pixel; cat, Flickr user dulcenea]

Ask Gadling: International power and how to use appliances and gadgets abroad

by Scott Carmichael on

Just fifteen years ago, the worries of international power outlets would really only concern you if you needed to charge your shaver, or plug in a curling iron. Nowadays, power is what keeps our phones, laptops, MP3 players and portable gaming consoles working. When you travel within North America, things are simple – all the outlets are the same, and no matter where you are, you’ll get the same 120V AC from every outlet you run into.

Taking a foreign trip is trickier – not only will you encounter different power systems, you’ll find a variety of different outlets and plugs. Someone clearly put some effort into making this as complicated as they could. Even within bastions of conformity, like Europe, there are a variety of different power systems in use.

So – how do you power your gadgets, and make sure you won’t blow anything up, or plunge an entire floor of your hotel into the dark ages? We have the tips you need to stay powered, and more importantly – stay safe.
Step 1. Determine the power system and plugs in your destination

When it comes to global power, there is no better resource than Kropla’s global electric and phone directory. Every nation in the world is listed, along with its power system and outlets. For each country, you get a convenient link to a photo of the kind of plug you’ll need. Find your destination, and make a note of what to expect from its power grid.

Step 2. Determine the power requirements of your products

This one is trickier, because you’ll need to check out the label on each and every product you plan to take abroad with you. Thankfully, by law, all gadgets and appliances need a safety label. When you check the label, you are going to see one of two things – it’ll either be designed to only work on 120V (the power system in North America) or it’ll be designed to work on various international power standards.

Lets take a look at what you’ll see on these labels:

These photos are from 2 very simple chargers you’ll find in any gadget arsenal. The top one is rated for 110V-240V, the bottom one is for 120V only.

Put simply – if you plug the top one into a European outlet, it’ll work perfectly. Plug the bottom one into the same outlet and it will blow up. And I’m not kidding here – the protection systems in many cheap power bricks are not sufficient to tackle being fed twice the voltage it is designed for. In the worst case, you won’t only blow up the charger, you’ll also blow up what it is plugged into.

Bottom line – check every single adapter before you leave, and compare with the power system at your destination. You’ll find that most of your more modern gadgets will come with a universal power supply capable of being used on 110V-240V, but in every collection, you will find a few cheap adapters that will not.

Step 3. The right physical plug


(Image from Kropla.com)

Now you know the power requirements, the next step is to determine the physical plug you’ll need in order to use your device. This is the “fun” part – there are about 15 different plugs in use around the world. Thankfully, some continents (like Western Europe) stick to the same plug, but other places (like Bangladesh) have as many as five different systems in use.

Once again, go back to Kropla.com and determine the plug in use at your destination(s).

The easiest way to find a suitable plug is to invest in a universal worldwide plug adapter. I travel with a Kensington plug adapter, which features sliding prongs for North America, Asia, Western Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia.

With this single adapter, I can use my gadgets almost anywhere I go. Obviously, if my travels take me beyond the supported countries, I’ll need to invest in a different version. The best part of this specific adapter is that it is fused – which means I’ll blow the fuse in the adapter before I blow up anything else.

If you need to power more than one device abroad, consider investing in the Monster Power Outlet To Go Laptop. This three-in-one power brick turns one outlet into three, and adds two powered USB ports. The outlet is rated for 100V-240V, which means you’ll only need one plug adapter to power up to three of your devices. As always – make sure the device you plug in is indeed rated for the voltage you are using it on.

Step 5. What to do with non-international power adapters?

When checking the power ratings of your power adapter, you’ll run into some that will not work abroad (see the example above). The easy solution to this is to find an alternative charger – in some cases, the plug and output power may be the same as one of your other power adapters that is rated for worldwide usage. Sadly, this won’t always be possible – which is why someone invented the step-down transformer. Step down transformers turn higher power systems into the 120V you need for your gadget or appliance.

These step down transformers are usually only designed for low power gadgets up to 150 watts. You can forget finding a travel friendly step down transformer capable of powering a hair dryer or water heater.

A good power kit comes from Travelon. Their 3-in-1 adapter features a variety of power plugs, a step-down adapter and a USB port. You’ll find this adapter at Magellan’s.

Step 6. Enjoy your trip!

With these basic tips, you’ll know all you need to know about international power. The basics are pretty simple, and with a minimal investment, you’ll be able to power all your gadgetry abroad.

As with anything electric – please do try to be safe. Power in countries like Europe is twice as potent as what the U.S. uses, and messing with poor quality chargers or adapters could result in serious injury or death.

Ask Gadling: What do you do when you get food poisoning while traveling?

by Melanie Nayer on

No one wants to get sick while traveling. Unfortunately, sick happens – and it’s usually in the form of bad food caused by bad bacteria from things you just don’t want to know about. Food poisoning is no laughing matter, especially when you’re traveling, and while it usually when you least expect it the good news is you can prevent it (and usually cure it) with a few simple steps.

Most of the time, food poisoning is mild and goes away after a few days, but anyone who has suffered through it will tell you it’s miserable – and we agree. All you can do is wait for your body to rid itself of the germs causing the illness. However, food poisoning creeps up when you least expect it – would you know what to do if you suddenly get ill in a foreign country, or on a flight? While we can’t guarantee you won’t get sick while traveling, we can help you ease the pain with a few preventive measures, and some tips to quick healing if the worst should happen.

Disclaimer: We’re not doctors at Gadling; we’re seasoned travelers who have seen our way through some of the best – and worst – travel situations. The information in this article can offer tips on what to do if you get food poisoning (or something similar) while traveling, but should in no way replace the care you would receive from a medical professional. Call your doctor immediately if you get sick on the road.

[Photo from Flickr/ChicagoGeek]

What to do if you get food poisoning while traveling

View more Ask Gadling: Travel Advice from an Expert or send your question to ask [at] gadling [dot] com.
If you’ve had food poisoning you’re pretty well aware of how bad it can be – and we don’t need to go into details. The bottom line: hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Your body loses a lot of water and fluid when you’re sick with food poisoning and the best thing you can do is replenish with water and/or sports drinks. Stay away from sodas and fruit juices – there are too many sugars in those drinks and it will have the reverse effect on your body.

Antibiotics are often used to treat food poisoning but can only be used if directed from your doctor. Some travelers do carry an antibiotic with them for this exact reason, but it’s best to check with your doctor before taking anything.

If you become seriously ill while traveling, your country’s embassy or consulate can help you find medical care. The CDC offers the following rules of advice for travelers who become sick on the road:
  • Travelers’ diarrhea is the most common illness when traveling. It typically starts abruptly but it runs it course. Most doctors recommend trying to keep to your normal diet as much as possible. Try drinking clear liquids and watch for signs of dehydration, such as a dry mouth and dark-colored urine. If possible, drink rehydration drinks to replace lost fluids and electrolytes.
  • The over-the-counter remedies like Pepto-Bismol and Imodium can sometimes prevent traveler’s diarrhea and ease the food poisoning pains. Follow the directions exactly.
  • Most cases of travelers’ diarrhea resolve within 1 to 3 days without medical treatment. See a doctor if diarrhea or vomiting doesn’t subside or you have a high fever.
  • For a complete list of embassies and consulates, see the U.S. Department of State Web site at www.usembassy.gov. You can also get the contacts for local doctors and medical clinics.
What to do if you get food poisoning in flight

Getting sick at 35,000-feet is one of the worst feelings; getting food poisoning at 35,000-feet is even worse. I was on an 8-hour flight to Rome when two hours into the flight it hit me – whatever I ate was bad, very, very bad. It might have been something I ate prior to the flight, or it might have been the airplane food (which looked to have been left over from the very first commercial airline flight) – either way, this was not going to be a fun a flight. Then the turbulence happened, and it got worse. On the flip side, I learned first-hand what to do when you get sick in flight:

Immediately alert a flight attendant. No one wants to be sick in the 2×2 lavatory at the back of the plane, but when you’re sick – you’re sick. The FAA allows passengers to be in the bathroom for 15 minutes before the flight attendants are allowed to come knocking. Mention your sick to a flight attendant and they’ll take care of you, including monitoring you in the bathroom to make sure you’re OK, and bend the 15-minute rule, if needed.

Water. Water. Water. NO Soda or fruit juice – too much sugar counteracts the rehydration.

Doctors recommend trying to eat normally as soon as possible, so ask the flight attendant for some crackers or pretzels.

If you’re stuck in your seat due to turbulence, there’s not much you can do but grab your air sickness bag and hope it doesn’t last long.

The bad news is that food poisoning takes a toll on your body, as does being up in the air. The good news is that once it makes its way through your system, it’s gone for good.

As soon as you land, stock up on sports drinks (Gatorade, Pedialyte, etc.) to try and regulate your body back to normal.

How can you prevent food poisoning?

While you can’t prevent what other people do, you can take steps to decrease your chances of getting food poisoning:
  • Wash your hands often and always before you touch food.
  • Don’t eat raw meat, poultry or fish if it’s not from a clean area. While raw food is a delicacy, in some parts of the world it’s not prepared according to standards. The basic rules apply here: if it doesn’t look right, don’t eat it.
  • Make sure that meat, chicken, fish, and eggs are fully cooked.
  • When in doubt, throw it out. If you are not sure if a food is safe, don’t eat it. This goes for our beloved “street meat” and off-the-cart food.
We hope you never get sick when traveling, but if you do, just remember to take it slow, give yourself time to rebound and drink plenty of water.

Gadling readers, we want to hear from you: Have you ever gotten food poisoning while traveling? What advice do you have for other travelers?

[Photo from Flickr/mr_t_77]

Ask Gadling: What to do when the airline loses your luggage?

by Scott Carmichael on

Just like death and taxes, another fact of life is that when you travel with checked bags, the airline will lose them sooner or later. Now, before you panic and picture yourself stranded in the middle of nowhere without your bags, you’ll be happy to know that the airlines manage to return almost all lost bags – but it does pay to know what to do when disaster strikes.

So, you are at the airport, watching bags come down the carousel, and an hour later, you come to realization that no more bags are coming, and that your bags may be missing. Don’t panic just yet – the first thing you’ll want to do is check the oversized or overflow luggage location. This is where larger bags are delivered, along with bags that may have shown up early (it does happen). Also, if a bag arrived damaged, they’ll place them here.

If they are not here, the next step is to trace your bag. This is where the baggage tag receipt on your ticket matters – this receipt contains the tracking number required to locate the bag. Don’t worry too much if you lost it, the number is also attached to your ticket number in the computer systems, but the tag is required to actually prove you handed the airline your bag.

At most airports, you’ll need to locate the luggage desk and patiently wait in line. At some major airports, you can also check your baggage location on self service terminals. As soon as you land, the clock starts ticking – almost every airline gives you a mere four hours to file a missing bag claim and get a search started.

Self service baggage kiosks work very much like the check-in terminals at the departure lounge. Once you feed the terminal the baggage locator number or itinerary number, it’ll tell you where your bags are.

Where could your bag be?

Once you start tracking your luggage, the results could be:

  • Bags delayed – on next flight to the destination
  • Bags misrouted – will need to be sent back to the correct destination
  • Bags not found

Getting your bags back

View more Ask Gadling: Travel Advice from an Expert or send your question to ask [at] gadling [dot] com.

In most cases, your bags will be found in the system, and you’ll know where they are. Usually by the time you land at the airport, the airline already knows they screwed up, and they may even have them on their next flight.

In the case of a misrouted bag, your airport baggage desk will put in a request for the bag to be sent to the right airport – but like with delayed bags, once your tag is scanned, the airline may already know they messed things up. If the bags were sent to an international destination with limited flights, it could take a couple of days to get them back on a plane.

If your bags are not found during a trace, it usually means the bag lost its paper tag. In most cases, the baggage handlers will simply find one of the smaller tags (now you know why the agents stick those all over your bag) and send it on its way.

In the worst case, the bag will end up in a stack of other bags with no identifiers. This is where it becomes very important for you to accurately describe your bag because someone is going to have to manually search for it based on looks.

More importantly, this is where luggage tags with your name will help. Simply telling the airline that your bag was black with wheels won’t help them at all. Always attach name tags on the outside and labels with your name on the inside.

If you want to make life easier, consider these tips:

  • Avoid boring black bags, or get black bags and make them stand out using tape or markers
  • Always tag your bags with sturdy baggage name tags
  • Place name stickers inside your bags
  • Photograph your bags using your phone – this will make it easier to describe them to the baggage agent

Actually getting reunited with your bags



This is where things become tough – because in many cases, you’ll now need to leave the airport without your bags. Unless you know that your bags are already on a plane heading towards you, there is nothing else you can do but wait.

If you are on a trip away from home, ask the baggage clerk for a lost baggage kit – just don’t expect any luxuries here. You’ll usually get some very basic amenities and a t-shirt.

When you fill in the lost baggage form, be sure to tell the airline where to deliver your bag when it has been retrieved. Do not settle for them telling you to come and get it yourself. Make it clear you are on vacation and don’t want the extra expense of having to come back to the airport. Almost all airlines have regular courier services that will deliver lost bags.

You will need a physical address for this, and you will need to allow the airline at least 72 hours for the delivery. If you are on a trip that involves lots of different destinations, consider sending your bags to your next destination instead of risking sending them to a hotel you left two days ago.

The practical side of arriving with no luggage

You probably spent a day carefully packing your bag, and making sure you’d arrive with everything you could possibly need. And now you don’t have any of those things. Thankfully you are a smart traveler, so you did not pack any medication, important chargers or a laptop in your luggage. And since you are smart, you also have one spare set of clothes in your carry-on luggage. Sure, the thought of wearing the same underwear for two days may seem gross, but you’ll survive.

Thankfully, if you are without bags, the airline will reimburse you for expenses. This does not mean you can walk into the local department store and spend $1000 on a new suit – it merely means you can get some basics, and get out of your flying clothes. The airline will also cover basic toiletries and medical expenses.

The airline will not pay anything up front, and it could take several months to receive a check covering the costs, so always be sure you travel with enough money in the event something goes wrong. The last thing you want is to burn through all your vacation cash replacing lost clothes.

The most important thing to do is just relax – there is no denying that arriving without your bags is a major inconvenience, but do not let it spoil your vacation. The bags will probably turn up within a day and all will be well.

One word you must never forget when dealing with compensation: receipts. Keep every single receipt for every purchase you want to claim. Without a receipt, the airline will not compensate you.

Baggage gone for good – now what?

This is the nightmare scenario – the airline could lose your bags for good. In some cases this could be related to theft, in others it could be a lost luggage tag and no way to actually locate your bag. This is where it becomes OK to panic a little, just remember that panic won’t bring your bags back. If the airline has not returned your bags within 72 hours and has not been able to locate them, you can consider them gone.

Airlines are great at limiting their liability. This means they limit how much money they’ll pay you, and they’ll also limit the contents of your bag eligible for compensation. Excluded items include:

Money, jewelry, cameras, negotiable papers/securities, electronic/video/ photographic equipment, heirlooms, antiques, artifacts, works of art, silverware, irreplaceable books/publications/manuscripts/business documents, precious metals and other similar valuable and commercial effects.

Bottom line? Any of those items should be carried on board the plane.

As soon as you get back home, you should file a claim with the airline. Like any claim, the airline will do its best to make life tough, and will require large amounts of proof, so hang on to your ticket receipt, boarding passes, luggage claim tags and print our credit card receipts for ticket purchases.

If the airline does refuse to pay up, contact your credit card company and find out which of your items were possibly covered with credit card insurance. You’d be surprised how easy this process can be.

Travel insurance could be another way to claim the full value of your loss – but be sure to read all the fine print before you sign up for a policy, in many cases, insurance will exclude luggage and many items in your bags.

And if you’d like one final depressing piece of news – airlines will almost never refund your baggage fee. This means you pay them to do something, they fail, and they keep your money anyway. In those cases, you’ll also want to consider a credit card chargeback. Just be sure to document everything, as your credit card company will want proof that the bag was indeed delayed or lost.

Who to contact when your bags go missing?

American Airlines
AirTran
Continental Airlines
Delta Airlines
JetBlue
Southwest Airlines
Spirit Airlines (Spirit does not offer a dedicated lost luggage help page)
United Airlines
U.S. Airways
Virgin America

Ask Gadling: Does it really cost $25,000 to repack an airplane evacuation slide?

by Scott Carmichael on

This question is obviously triggered after the JetBlue incident last week – when Steven Slater deployed the emergency slide, the media claimed the damage was around $25,000 just to repack the slide.

So, I did a bit of research, and contacted a friend who actually manages a large international airline. The answer was quite surprising – $25,000 is on the very, very cheap side.

To get the deployed slide back to its usable condition, they don’t just roll it up, they actually have to deflate it and remove the entire slide assembly from the door of the plane, load it into a truck and bring it to a certified maintenance facility.

Most large airlines will have a couple of spare slides, so they can replace the deployed slide relatively quickly, but they can’t use the plane until it has operational slides. The deployed slide has to be inflated again and checked for any leaks – then it is professionally repacked, and its inflation canister is re-pressurized or replaced. Only after it has been fully inspected can it be put aside while the airline waits for the next incident that requires a new slide.

The total damage on a commercial jet can be as much as $50,000. This includes the cost of replacing the slide, and the time lost when the jet is out of service. If the airline is lucky, the plane will be close to a facility that can replace it, in the worst case, they need to load a replacement slide onto another plane and ferry it in, along with a maintenance crew.

So there you have it – an evacuation slide is quite a bit more complex than the moon bounce at the local Chuck E. Cheese.

[Photo from: Flickr / Joel Franusic]