Tips for flying with checked bags over the 2024 holidays

Millions of Americans will soon gear up to fly to their holiday destination. That means many will be traveling with gifts and other essentials packed into checked luggage.

But with millions of bags crisscrossing the skies, ensuring one arrives safely can be a challenge. A little preparation now, can save travelers from a big headache later.

“The most common scenario where a bag doesn’t make it on that next flight is a connecting flight, especially if you have a really tight connection. It’s not giving the baggage handlers enough time to transit from one plane to the other and have your luggage make it,” said Katy Nastro, a travel expert at Going.com.

She recommends getting Apple AirTags to help track the location of your luggage. The device can easily be placed inside the bag and alerts users if the bag has been left behind. Several airlines will soon use that technology to help prevent lost luggage.

“Starting in 2025, Apple will introduce the ‘share item location’ function of their latest update across various airlines as a test pilot, and then eventually roll out to more and more airlines to be able to recover bags faster using that coveted little GPS tracker,” Nastro said.

She recommends going to the airport early. Airlines have strict check in times for checked bags and not all airlines have the same cut-off time.

“You want to make sure that you’re giving yourself at least enough time and beyond to be able to check that bag in to make it on the plane. Because if you show up under that that threshold, you can actually get denied being able to check that bag in,” Nastro explained.

It’s also important to keep an eye on the weight of the luggage.

“A lot of areas are getting more and more strict with how much weight is actually taken on the aircraft itself due to the fact that the plane is so packed,” said Nastro. “You want to make sure that your bag is underweight, so you don’t run into any scrambling on the airport floor as you’re going about to go through security, trying to get that bag underweight.”

Always keep valuables like jewelry, electronics and medication in a carry-on bag. And Nastro recommends taking a photo of the bag — if it does get lost, that picture can help airline staff identify the missing luggage and speed up any claim.

“A lot of people don’t know this, but low-cost carriers actually have some of the lowest rates of mishandled bags across all U.S. airlines,” said Nastro. “According to the latest air travel consumer report, Southwest, Frontier, Allegiant are all in the top five when it comes to the least amount of mishandled bags.”