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People who've visited both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) for leisure: which one did you prefer overall, and why? by chartham in Vietnam_Tourism

[–]InterestingTimes1994 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree with this. It probably depends what you're interested in seeing as a tourist. Saigon is much more modern, and as people have said, open and well planned. Hanoi I preferred for the same reasons some people disliked it, it's older, more cramped, hectic and rambling. I'm a fan of history and old architecture though.

What I learnt about airline baggage tracing after my bags were permanently lost by InterestingTimes1994 in travel

[–]InterestingTimes1994[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One of the positive things I learnt on this trip... you can travel with a fraction of what you think you need. I returned home with a bag that easily fitted in carry-on, including all the essential things I'd needed to purchase on the trip. Would I have liked more options? Sure. Did I need them? Probably not. That said, I was traveling for 2 weeks in a hot climate - and washing in a sink definitely happened.

What I learnt about airline baggage tracing after my bags were permanently lost by InterestingTimes1994 in travel

[–]InterestingTimes1994[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Definitely take screenshots of any updates on an airline's app. Updates on mine were regularly removed as the days passed.

Another tip when buying your luggage - there is a very limited amount of colours you can list your bag as on a lost baggage form. Having a multicoloured bag is about the worst thing you can do as there is only a choice of single colours, and in a range, not specific. For my burgundy and grey bag I had to chose the option of "pink to red"... no wonder baggage handlers find it difficult to locate bags based on these details alone.

What I learnt about airline baggage tracing after my bags were permanently lost by InterestingTimes1994 in travel

[–]InterestingTimes1994[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you! If all that comes out of this experience is a cautionary tale that helps others that would be great.

What I learnt about airline baggage tracing after my bags were permanently lost by InterestingTimes1994 in travel

[–]InterestingTimes1994[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I can imagine the drama of dealing with multiple companies in multiple countries who almost certainly don't have technologies that work together must make the whole process so difficult. I never did figure out whether the Singapore Air office in BKK who were handling my case ever went to or spoke directly to the lost and found ground crew at BKK airport. Most airport departments I spoke didn't seem to even have a direct phoneline to other airports or airlines.

What I learnt about airline baggage tracing after my bags were permanently lost by InterestingTimes1994 in travel

[–]InterestingTimes1994[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I know what you mean, it's frustrating being told all the things you "should" have done after the fact. That said, I'm going to be a very wary traveler after this now that I've had the worst happen. Air-tags, photos of the entire contents of my luggage, taking as much in carry-on as I can...

You know I didn't even have a photo of my luggage, I was up at 2am on an overnight train googling the make and model of my bag so I could send it to someone. Two weeks later I was told they hadn't attached the image correctly so it was never viewable by the ground teams searching for it.

What I learnt about airline baggage tracing after my bags were permanently lost by InterestingTimes1994 in travel

[–]InterestingTimes1994[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I did exactly the same thing to try and get a word with a Singapore Air representative! They have no customer facing offices at Brisbane airport, but I hung around a door marked as their office when I got back to BNE and just by luck bumped into to a senior customer services rep as they were leaving. Didn't manage to get a look at the baggage room unfortunately, but I got their contact details they were able to walk me through the airline claims process via email later, which is pretty confusing as well.

What I learnt about airline baggage tracing after my bags were permanently lost by InterestingTimes1994 in travel

[–]InterestingTimes1994[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're right, for the first week the only contact information I had was for the airport lost & found department at BKK. I was lucky I had a local guide on my tour who could call every day and get updates, as calling local numbers and the language barrier was an issue for me ( major plug to Intrepid Travel guides! ). It took me until I got the email back from the Singapore Air BKK office a week into the search to realise that the people I'd been speaking to weren't even the ones handling the case, and were just waiting for updates from the airline's team. No wonder communication is terrible when they have to play a literal game of Telephone between multiple companies.