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C10 - Sunday, February 19, 1984 -.North Shore News

DID YOU hear the story about the businessman
who walked up to the airline check-in and
presented his ticket to Toronto? The ticket was in
order and when asked for his baggage, he said,
“Pve got three bags. That one is to go to New
York, that one to Montreal and that one to Los

Angeles.”’

The ticket agent checked
his ticket again, and said,
“I’m sorry, Sir, but we just
ean’t do that. Your ticket is
to Foronto.””

““Why?’’ he replied. ‘‘You
did it to me last time.”’

There are many reasons
why baggage ends up in
Bankok when you're heading
for Bangor: Some of the fault
is yours. The rest we can
blame on the airline, the air-
port, your mother-in-law and
the zediac.

First: Let’s talk about what
you can do to minimize the
problem of lost bags.

Il. When you check in, be
sure that your bag has the
proper I.D. on it. That means
your name, address, home
phone and destination. In-
clude the name of your hotel
on the tag. Put another tag
mside the bag - have you any
idea how many outside tags

same time, it’s only human to
make the odd error. it’s not
stupid for you to ask, ‘‘Is
LAX the code for Las
Vegas?”’ It isn’t. And if your
bag gets LAX’ed it will, in all
likelihood take a vacation to
Los Angeles.

3. Mark your bags with
identifying tape, bows, paint
or whatever stirs your artistic

travel-

get ripped off the bags during ~_

processing? I know that some
travel experts don’t agree

with full labelling, reasoning .

that any jerk at the airport
can read your tag and race
over to your place to rob at
leisure. TAG! And don’t
leave your bags where anyone
can snoop. The only place
where this should be a con-
cerm is at your home airport.
1 doubt if there’s an interna-
tional conspiracy afoot to
read tags in New York and
telegraph the information to
fellow crooks in Vancouver.

2. Check the destination
tag that the airline ties on the
bags before they are placed
on the conveyor. If several
flights are checking-in at the

WAIKIKI $359
. Air only

WAIKIKI $462

8 Days. 7 Nights Au & Hotel

LAS VEGAS $305

5 Days. 4 Nights Au & Hotel

RENO $275

5 Days. 4 Nights Au & Hotel

TORONTO $249

MAPLE LEAF
TRAVEL

736-3555

Reg, Aguet 157.3

by Barbara
McCreadie

imagination. Have you any
idea how many brown two-
suiters Samsonite has sold
in the last five years? A
friend of mine claimed his
bag in Honolulu. A few
seconds later a man came up
to him and screeched,
““YOU’VE GOT MY BAG!”
My friend said something

civilized like ‘‘in your ear,
jerk.”’ The stranger persisted
so my friend used his key to
open the suitcase. The key fit
perfectly and the case opened
- full of strange garments and
a coffee pot. My friend, who
had probably had more than
his share of the bubbly, yell-
ed: “‘Who in hell put a
%$&#* COFFEE POT in my
bag?”’ Eventually the pro-
blem was sorted out with ap-
propniate apologies.

Mind you, that wasn’t as
bad as the business man who
arrived home from New
York. When his wife opened
his case, the first thing that
greeted her was a_ lacy
nightgown. Things went
downhill from there.

There are some things that
we are powerless to avoid.
The airlines use conveyor
belts to get your bags from
the check-in counter to the
departure point. The rubber
belts pass over wheels. If a
bag tips, the tag can catch in
the mechanism, stay there
and your bag gets handled
onto the wrong plane. Big
deal. If you’ve got the thing
properly identified, you’ ll get
it back real soon. If you can’t
even describe the bag it wiil
take a bit longer. ‘‘Sort-of-
blue”’ isn’t a helluva a lot to
go on, is it?

If you can say, ‘‘It’s a
Skyway, three clasps, burnt
orange, Travelwise model’’

Careers in Travel
We can open the door to
the exciting wortd of travel
for YOU!
DAY & EVENING COURSES
m

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TOUR ESCORTING
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you’ve got a much better
chance.

I don’t like the airlines’
(that’s all of them) policy on
repairing damaged bags. I’ve
seen perfectly serviceable
bags twisted, dropped and
gouged beyond further use.
Just because the bag is elder-
ly, you get only a fraction of
it’s value as a ‘‘considera-
tion’’. Worse, you must app-
ly that amount of money to
purchase a new bag wherever
the airline deems ap-
propriate. Or take a cash set-
tlement. Have you priced
bags lately?

The real disaster comes
when your bag is jumped-on

CORRECTION

Uniglobe
Gateway/Quayside
Travel.

An efror was made in the
price of our London tour
package which appeared in
the Travel Feature, February
15, 1984. The tour leaving
June 8th should have been
$809. We regret any in-
convenience that may have

by five trained gorillas. Not
only is the bag a wreck but
the contents are damaged
beyond repair. The airlines
liability is limited so you
must settle for the amount
unless you have additional in-
surance. That’s small com-
fort when your entire war-
drobe for your cruise is scat-
tered over the airport in
Puerto Rico.

Assuming that you’ve
bought insurance - OR - had
nothing in the bag that would
be more expensive than the
airline limit, take a shopping
spree.

Most of all, don’t let a
small thing like a lost bag
spoil a holiday that you’ve
paid a fortune for. The
clothes may not be there - but
you are.

AN INVITATION

Prime Travel cordially invites you to a
“very Special Journey to China’. Garnet
Jenkins, our expert on China, will show
slides taken from his various China trips.

Please join us Feb 27th at the West
Vancouver Recreation Centre in the
Dogwood Room at 8:00 p.m.

For your complimentary tickets,
just phone our office at

925-1212

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