Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Delta and a few other airlines were greatly impacted by last week's Crowdstrike global tech outage in subsequent days, causing them not only to cancel flights, but misplace passengers' luggage. That led to massive piles of unclaimed bags at airports all over the country.
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"Many airlines were affected at the end of last week, and people were trying to recover and find that lost baggage. And we saw baggage piling up, especially in airports like Atlanta and Tampa and some of the bigger airports," explained Elizabeth Carey with AAA of Western and Central New York.
"But with the Delta situation, because of their computer system, they lost track of some of their planes, some of their pilots, things were really mixed up as far as their system goes. So their delays extended several days, and they're still trying to get things sorted out. So that led to even more baggage disruptions."
Carey says some of their members have had luggage go end up at places where they didn't end up going to.
So how do you avoid a situation like this?
"There's a few different things you can do," Carey said with WBEN.
"One is you can pack lighter and just use your carry on and that way, you know, you have your belongings with you. Some people also choose to use an apple air tag on their luggage if they're checking it so they can keep track and know where it is. That doesn't help too much if your luggage is in another country or another state and you're back home, but at least you know its whereabouts. But if something like this does happen to you, and you have travel insurance, you should be reimbursed. At the same time the airline should be reimbursing you for costs incurred because of this, either delayed or lost luggage."
What are the first steps in tracking your luggage down?
"The first thing you need to do is file a claim with the airline. A lot of times, these things are going to take some time. You might not have your luggage right away. They consider something lost, it's gone for a few days. Other times, it might just be considered delayed. But you definitely are entitled to reimbursements for that," Carey said.
"For example, Delta says we'll give you $50 a day for up to five days, submit all of your receipts for any expenses. So you have to submit your baggage claim form, fill out a form, and then you'll get that money at a later date if you had to go and buy clothing, or personal items, toothbrushes, etc."
Luckily, Carey says there's been significantly less cancellations from Delta. As of Thursday afternoon on FlightAware, there was only five flight that were canceled between Delta and its regional carrier Endeavor Air.
"They've been starting to recover. Delta flights have been coming in and out of the Buffalo area. So it really just depends on where you're flying. And it's luck of the draw if you're going to be affected or not. But this is really just a good example of when you should have that travel insurance, because then if the flight is delayed or if your entire trip is canceled and your luggage is lost, there are reimbursements built-in for that," she said. "But at the same time, the U.S. Department of Transportation is taking a really close look at this. And they say they're going to hold Delta accountable to make sure passengers are righted, they're upheld here and everyone's reimbursed appropriately."