"Breakfast in Beijing, Lunch in London, Luggage in Bogota"

Well, that's supposed to be an airline joke relating to lost/misdirected or delayed luggages. While this is not exactly what happened to me recently, the anger, the depression and over-all stress is nonetheless the same. And the stress level could even be more considering the circumstances, i.e. most cases of lost/misdirected/mishandled luggages occur in long international and complex route plans (several transfers), and when passengers have very short transfer intervals. But my problem with my luggage involves a local under-an-hour flight from one airport to another. How complicated can that be! But that's exactly what happened to one of my luggages (my check-in luggage) in a recent Cebu Pacific flight from Busuanga airport to Manila. I checked-in earlier than most to avoid the usual queue and not to rush with the check-in procedures (I've been warned that checking-in near closing time may give problems with seating arrangements, luggages, etc.). After checking in, I waited patiently at the warm but relatively comfortable Busuanga airport, which I noted was built under a Korea aid agency funding, alternating between short naps and observing other passengers. I slept almost throughout the flight which was quite uneventful. In no time, I was waiting for my luggage at baggage carousel # 7 in NAIA Terminal 3 where all Cebu Pacific flight are managed. I observed that most of my co-passengers (plane has a capacity of about 80 people) were already making V-line to the exit. But there were a number of us who remained near the baggage carousel. In another five or ten minutes, more luggages appeared but they seem to be from a newly arrived flight. As each of the newly arrived passenger left with their luggages, the same co-passengers of my flight were still waiting for their luggages. Then one Cebu Pacific personnel approached one of my co-passengers, and they were accompanied to the Cebu Pacific desk. It did not take long for me and the rest of us to figure out what was happening. But we only formally found out when we approached desk. Had we not done that, we would have probably waited longer waiting for our luggages which was not going to arrive! It turned out that some 26 pieces of luggage were intentionally left behind in Busuanga airport by Cebu Pacific ground crew there because of payload (weight) limitations. Naturally, we were all surprised and angry - because none of us were told or informed of that decision. So here we are in Manila but our baggages were in Busuanga. After a long and heated (actually loud argumentation), we were all asked to fill up a long form and told that CebuPac will deliver our luggages the following day. Most of the affected passengers including myself, resigned to our fate and accepted the deal, otherwise it would just add mental aggravation to our already tired bodies. But a few stayed behind, confronting the desk personnel. One personnel said, "Huwag naman ho kayo mag-mura. Hindi naman ho kami yung nag-decide na iwanan yung mga baggages." And the passenger said, "O, eh di tawagan mo sila at murahin mo din. Sabihin mo na dahil sa kapalpakan nila ikaw ang namumura!" The passengers said they will not leave until someone can give them a satisfactory explanation why they were not informed of the decision to leave the baggages behind. They also pointed out to the personnel that in other airlines, passengers are informed beforehand and are even offered incentives just to postpone their trip. "Hindi katulad nitong kung nasa destination na kami, saka lang kami sasabihan, na sorry ho, iniwan ho namin yung mga damit nyo, panty nyo, etc., etc. Pu--- In--!" One passenger affected was a foreigner who was leaving for another trip the following day, so obviously he won't be able to wait for the his luggage to be delivered the following day. After taking a few photos of the scene, I decided to go ahead and leave and see if Fate will be kind enough to me to be able to get my luggage on the day they promised (hoping that it would be the right luggage). And as I leave the airport, I was thinking that today, maybe no less ten blogs will be written about this incident in Facebook, Multiply, etc. And some may not be kind in their words about it and about Cebu Pacific Airlines.

In my case, should I tell everyone not to fly Cebu Pacific anymore? Well, I really think it is an individual decision. To be fair, the other airlines have the same problem. And it happens also in other countries. But as to how frequent it happens here in country and in this airline, I have no idea. In fact, lost/mishandled baggage is a fact of air-travel life, both local and international. But should we just shrug it off and say, "ganyan talaga ang buhay?" Shouldn't there be some kind of monitoring done both by the airline companies and the regulators to improve airline services to passengers?

Some related sites you might want to visit that explains lost luggages, dangers it poses, how to prevent loss of luggage and a host of other info and tips about this topic are listed below.
1. http://money.uk.msn.com/your-cash/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=156318688
2. http://studenttravel.about.com/od/practicaltravelgear/p/lose_lugggae.htm
3. http://bestphilippineattractions.com/2010/12/05/lost-baggage-what-do-you-do-if-your-bags-get-lost/
4. http://www.cheapoair.com/travel/travel_resources/lost-luggage.asp
5. http://www.independenttraveler.com/resources/article.cfm?AID=18&category=12
6. http://www.theemptycarousel.com/the-causes-and-the-truth-behind-luggage-statistics.html
7. http://edition.cnn.com/TRAVEL/ADVISOR/lost.luggage/index.html