 1 lost baggage
 2 weight
 3 bikes

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 Fill out lost claim form, Domestic liability $1250/person Intl liability $640 per bag.
 Get photostat lost luggage baggage claim# with flt/date, agnt, etc.
 How to Store Your Luggage for Free
 If the lockers are all full, there may be a few other places you could leave your bags for a charge. For instance, almost all European and a few US airports have special "Left Luggage" windows where for a small fee you can check your luggage in and retrieve it whenever you want. Many US airports also have business centers which do the same thing.  If none of these are available to you or you don't want to pay to store your luggage, then you have three alternatives:  Bring along a padlock, so you can lock your luggage briefly to a chair in the general waiting area. Always tell someone what you are doing, however, and even then never leave your luggage for more than half an hour. You may return to find your bag has been removed by a bomb-disposal unit. If you are a member of an airline club, you can leave your luggage in their cloakroom. If you want to store it for several days, the staff will often put your luggage away in a special place or at the very least keep an eye on it for you. After notifying the staff of your intent to leave it there for several days, fix it to the luggage rack in the cloakroom with your padlock.
 How to Survive Baggage Claim
 The easiest way to survive baggage claim, of course, is not to check your luggage. Even then you're not home free. Some airports require all passengers, including those with carry-on, to exit through baggage claim. Occasionally, airport security staff will mistake your carry-on for checked luggage and ask you to show your claim check. Be sure to have identification on a permanent-looking tag and on the inside of the bag as well. If you do check your luggage, then some of the following hints may help you avoid the major pitfalls:  Don't stand around waiting in baggage claim. Unless you've been delayed in passport control, your bags will not arrive until twenty or thirty minutes after you arrive in baggage claim. Use this time to do other errands, such as arranging for a rent-a-car or locating a luggage trolley. Don't waste your time trying to figure out which of the potential carousels your luggage will be on. Not that it's impossible to do. A given airline or arrival gate might normally use a given carousel; or you can sometimes tell which by looking at the airline tags on unclaimed luggage on a carousel. It's just that there's no advantage in knowing ahead of time. When your flight number is posted, don't rush over to the carousel, trying to get a front row position. You won't get your bags any quicker. Five minutes later you'll still be standing around in a crowd, being stepped on and jostled, as you wait for the carousel to begin rotating. You may even look up to discover that in the interim your flight has been switched to another carousel. When the bags starting coming, stand about five feet back from the start of the carousel. Here you will have the space to move around and to park your trolley yet still be in a position to get your bag as soon as it comes onto the track. Although there will be people between you and the carousel, you will be able to see the bags coming onto the track--either because the end of the loading belt is elevated at that point or because the ground-level strip-curtained entrance door is set back a few feet from the passengers. As soon as you glimpse your bag coming onto the carousel, you need only thread your way through the crowd, saying, "Excuse me, I need to get my bag," grab it and return to your trolley. Don't panic when your bag has not yet appeared but no new bags are appearing on the carousel. As long as there are still a lot of passengers standing around waiting for their bags, the chances are your bags are still in the plane waiting to be loaded onto the carts. If you have odd-shaped or odd-sized luggage, look for a special odd-shaped luggage section. Baby strollers, cardboard boxes and even unfolded garment bags are often placed on the ground near the carousel. If you don't see it, ask the baggage handlers or porters.
 The US domestic baggage liability limit is a maximum of $1,250.00 per passenger. (The DOT is proposing to raise this limit to $1,850, possibly $2,000, and maybe indexing it to the inflation rate.) Some airlines may provide greater limits for checked/unchecked baggage. For intl flights, the baggage liability limit is approximately $9.07 per pound ($20 per kilogram) for checked baggage and $400 per passenger for unchecked baggage.

A minimum waiting period of one week is required before baggage can be declared lost. About 98% of bags reported missing are returned to the owners. When a bag is declared loss, you will have to submit paperwork to the airline documenting the value of the bags and their contents. You may not necessarily get full value for all the lost items. Reimbursement will come 2-6 weeks later. 

Airlines will not reimburse for currency, photographic or electronic equipment (e.g., cameras, stereos, VCRs, camcorders, CD players, telephones, etc.), rare and expensive jewelry or artistic works, or medication, unless prior arrangements were made (eg, excess valuation insurance was purchased). 

Some credit cards will cover these items if the tickets were purchased with the card. Most lost baggage doesn't disappear to the same black hole that eats socks from your laundry, but eventually makes its way to regional warehouses owned by the airlines. If the airline can't identify the owner, they sell it at auction, just like the post office's lost letter department does. 

Airlines keep all unclaimed baggage for three months before selling it at auction. There are even stores that specialize in buying the lost baggage, sorting the contents, and selling the merchandise and clothing that's in good condition. The Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama, is one such store, and a fun place to visit. If your bags are damaged, the airline will either fix them, reimburse you for the cost of repairs, give you new bags, or pay for the cost of replacing them, depending on the amount of damage. 

You must report any damage within 7 days. If your bags are damaged before you check them, the airlines will ask you to sign a damage waiver at check in, which states the nature of the damage and exempts the airline for that damage. Otherwise, if the bags arrive damaged and the airline didn't have you sign a waiver, the airline is fully liable for the condition of the bags. Normal wear and tear, of course, is not subject to a damage claim. Carry-on bags are not subject to damage claims, except in clear cases of airline negligence (e.g., flight attendant moves your bags, damaging them).

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Baggage Limits Checked baggage weight/size/number limits vary depending on the airline, the class of fare, and the country of origin. For US domestic flights, one is typically limited to 2 pieces of checked baggage (excluding luggage carriers), each of which has a total length + width + height less than 62" (or 72") and weighs less than 70 pounds (32 kg). For domestic travel within a foreign country, however, the limit is by weight, not piece count, usually 20kg. For international travel the weight limits for couch, business class, and first class are 20kg, 30kg, and 40kg, respectively. But if the fare is for travel to or from North America, the baggage limit is that of the entire journey, even if one leg would normally have a lower limit. So for international travel from the USA, for example, coach passengers would be limited to 2 bags (piece rule) and not just 20kg (weight rule). The key here is that the fare is a 'through fare'. If you switch airlines instead of taking a direct flight, you may be subject to a lower baggage limit for that portion of your journey. If this matters to you, make sure either that you are ticketed as a through fare, or that the tickets are endorsed to permit the higher piece rule baggage limits (e.g., "2 pieces allowed with trans-Atlantic connection"). Unchecked carry-on baggage is usually limited to 2 bags, which must fit under the seat in front of you or in the overhead compartment. Purses, cameras, coats, and similar items are usually excluded from the limit. Garment bags are also often excluded, especially for first class customers. Sometimes the limit will be reduced to 1 bag, especially on very full flights. Oversize articles (e.g., skis, bicycles, moose heads) must be checked. For US domestic flights, the official size for carry-on bags is 21" x 14" x 9", and 2 bags is the usual limit. If the flight isn't full, you can usually get away with slightly bigger bags. If they see you struggling with your bags, or you're carrying far too many bags, or you ask if your bag is ok, they'll probably ask you to check the bag at the gate. Purses usually don't count towards the number of bags limit (depends on the purse of course -- there are some mammoth purses out there). If you're carrying non-checkable items (e.g., computers or electronics), they'll probably let you carry them on. If your bag is extremely heavy, DO NOT put it in the overhead bin -- the latches aren't very strong, and having a 40 pound bag fall on your head during a flight isn't pleasant. If you do have excess baggage, it is cheaper to pay the excess baggage charges than to ship it by air freight. (This is why courier travel exists -- it is often cheaper for a company to pay for an airline ticket than it is for them to pay freight charges.) Rates airlines charge for excess baggage vary considerably, so it pays to call around before purchasing a ticket. For international travel the charge is typically 1% of the first class fare per kilogram. Baggage limit rules are enforced very unevenly, particularly on flights which aren't very full. Most aircraft have room for onboard storage of one folding wheelchair. If the wheelchair is checked, the airline is responsible for reassembling it if necessary

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Bicycles Most airlines charge about $45 one way to ship a bike. If you belong to the League of American Bicyclists ($25 annual membership fee for individuals, $30 for families, call 1-800-288-BIKE (1-800-288-2453) for info), you can get free bike passes on America West, Northwest, TWA, and USAir if you book your tickets through the Sports National Reservation Center, the LAB's travel agency. [LAB formerly known as League of American Wheelmen.] Some folks report that you don't have to use the LAB's travel agency; call your airline to check. Bikes fly free on Northwest if you're a member of an Adventure Cycling affiliated club.