The Empty Carousel a Cunsumer's Guide to Checked and Carry-on Luggage [Paperback]

Scott T. Mueller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 12, 2008

In this no nonsense book, I have used my personal background as a system manager of baggage services to create a tight and easy to follow guide on both the mysteries of how luggage is lost and, more important, how we as travelers can take the assertive stance to prevent mush of the world wide frustrating problem. The Empty Carousel explains how mistakes are made - whether internally or at the baggage carousel - and how to cope with these mistakes. The Empty Carousel wisely informs the air traveler how to label and mark their luggage, pitfalls to avoid in check-in and pickup of luggage, and even the complex rules and regulations binding the airlines in baggage recovery or reimbursement, giving timelines and inside information on how to take care of things ourselves. To understand the significance and educational benefits of The Empty Carousel, you should also know the significance of this alarming problem that continues to escalate today. The statistics below are the latest released by the media regarding this escalating problem. The New York Times reported in November 2007 that by the end of 2007, close to five million travelers will have been stuck scratching their heads at an empty luggage carousel. One carrier alone and the regional airline it owns mishandled approximately 639,146 bags through the end of September 2007. There are currently 112 domestic carriers in service today. A special report just released in 2008 from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reveals that in a three-year period nearly 42,000 travelers have reported items as lost from their luggage at an estimated value of more than $31 Million. We are not talking lost for a couple of days. We are talking lost for good!! Listed as MIA are medicine, clothing, fine jewelry, laptops, perfume and even cell phones. (Keep in mind that these numbers do not necessarily reflect reports of missing items directly reported to the Air Carriers) The U.S. Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics in March of 2008 released the 2007 airline statistics on baggage. U.S. carriers reporting flight delays and mishandled baggage data posted a mishandled baggage rate of 9.01 reports per 1,000 passengers in December, up from both December 2006 s rate of 8.93 and November 2007 s 4.89 rate.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Scott Mueller is passionate about making a difference for air travelers and their luggage as he has successfully demonstrated for almost 20 years as a veteran of the airline industry. Scott helped thousands of air travelers in his former career as the system manager for baggage services for more than 50 cities. Scott realized his customers all had one thing in common; they did not know the baggage process, their rights or what to do when their luggage was lost, damaged, delayed or pilfered. Scott realized that the information the air travelers needed was both vague at best, and difficult to find. Scott decided the only way to make a difference in the continual spiraling world of baggage handling for the air traveler was to write The Empty Carousel so travelers could make an informed decision and take back some control of their personal property when they travel. Scott served as a member of the Air Transportation Association s baggage services management council and attended yearly meetings in Washington D.C. Scott has appeared on local and national radio and has had multiple interviews with the media.

Product Details

• Paperback: 90 pages
• Publisher: Millkot Publishing & Marketing (February 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 097912090X
• ISBN-13: 978-0979120909
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,386,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It IS my bag, baby!, September 10, 2007

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Empty Carousel a Cunsumer's Guide to Checked and Carry-on Luggage (Paperback)

If you are unsure of the rules of the road, so to speak, for your luggage on an airplane trip, this is a helpful little manual. It's written from an insider view of an airline baggage handling department, so this is from the source.

Some very helpful hints crop up immediately; put a laminated or plastic-bagged sheet on top of your packed stuffed inside your suitcase. (Frequent travelers might as well laminate that sheet or use a page protector.) Use flat, sewn-on luggage tags if possible and make sure your locks, if you use them, are TSA-approved.

Prominent people and anyone who looks like high-net-worth should be judicious in how they label their bags to avoid theft; and most theft occurs, no surprise, by people yanking YOUR bag off the carousel and making off with it. In short; if you can live with out it going along, unless the "something valuable" is vital to your trip, leave it home.

Another point was stressed; most bags go astray as the destination tags are placed on them. I can confirm this--I always check my tags for the destination code and not a few times, I've seen the wrong code put on the bag. If the bag is gone astray, the luggage trace system often finds it and most bags are recovered in about 48 hours.

All in all, a good manual for any frequent traveler. The advice in the book will probably save you many times its cost in contents and inconvenience when you lose a piece of luggage.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Information for Infrequent Airline Travelers, September 8, 2007

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 110,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Empty Carousel a Cunsumer's Guide to Checked and Carry-on Luggage (Paperback)

If you are a road warrior, this book won't add much to your knowledge about how to get your checked luggage from here to there. Why? Lots of bad things have happened to you already, and you've learned the hard way how to protect yourself.

But if you are someone who flies occasionally for weddings and vacations, you can save yourself a lot of agony and worry by reading and following this advice. The book is written by an authoritative source, someone who has managed baggage services for a U.S. airline.

Almost all lost luggage is merely delayed, so you'll probably get it eventually. The book advises good ways to add identification to speed a more rapid recovery. That's good. You'll also get tips on how to handle your claim.

I didn't see any advice in the book that I disagreed with.

However, the book is quite lean on advice for carry-on luggage. Here's my advice: The key lesson is to have your critical items in containers that can fit beneath the seat in front of you and to avoid sitting in bulkhead facing rows so you have some guaranteed storage space. In addition, get to the gate early so your chances to getting some overhead space are increased if you need it. Never put anything you cannot afford to lose into a carry-on bag that might have to be checked because the overhead storage is full. Otherwise, your bag may get checked at the last minute and mishandled.

I also thought the book missed three important points about checked luggage:

1. Take as little with you as possible so you can check as little luggage as possible. To his credit, Mr. Mueller points out that you can send critical items on ahead by ground and air freight carriers (like copies of reports).

2. Book nonstop flights. The chances of being mishandled are much reduced when you do.

3. Don't check in too early even though many airlines will takes bags four hours before flight time. There may be no cart assigned yet and the bags may be misplaced before the cart is assigned. Almost all of my delayed baggage occurred due to this problem before I wised up.

Enjoy your flight!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Topical, Insightful Aid For All Who Travel, September 10, 2007

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Empty Carousel a Cunsumer's Guide to Checked and Carry-on Luggage (Paperback)

Daily we read of the increasing lines at the airports across the US and around the world, the late departures, altered plane assignments at the last minute, and the stringent check-in rules accompanied by long lines. All of that is daunting to the planning traveler, but add to that the frustration and at times disastrous loss of checked in luggage and travel begins to lose its allure.

In this very spare, no nonsense little book Scott T. Mueller has used his personal background as a system manager of baggage services to create a tight and easy to follow guide on both the mysteries of how luggage is lost and, more important, how we as travelers can take the assertive stance to prevent mush of the world wide frustrating problem. Mueller explains how mistakes are made - whether internally or at the baggage carousel - and how to cope with these mistakes. He wisely informs us how to label and mark our luggage, pitfalls to avoid in check-in and pickup of luggage, and even the complex rules and regulations binding the airlines in baggage recovery or reimbursement, giving timelines and inside information on how to take care of things ourselves!

This little book is now an invaluable aid to those who travel either for business or for pleasure, teaching the reader methods to avoid loss and how to manage the process of recouping lost goods - or the reimbursement for same. It is a smart, quick read, full of pertinent information. Grady Harp, September 07