CHARLOTTE, N.C. — People who took to the skies for the holiday weekend may have made it to their destinations, but their bags did not.
At Charlotte Douglas International Airport some people were waiting at baggage claim Monday hoping their bags traveled safely under the plane.
"We want to have our bags with us because we don't trust that they'll get there to our flight and get us into Syracuse," one passenger named Jennifer said after having flights delayed on her over the holiday.
The frequent flight changes impacted her Christmas plans.
"I missed my daughter's Christmas for the first time ever," she said.
She along with thousands of others have missed flights and jumped from plane to plane.
It is causing some of their bags to be missing due to bags not being transferred to the new flights among other issues.
"I'd never been to the Charlotte airport before," Jillian Kachinsky, who waited for hours to get her bag at the airport said. "There are three different carousels and none of the screens are saying which flight is on which carousel. There are hundreds and hundreds of people just standing around. Nobody knows where their luggage is."
What to do when the airline loses your luggage
The first step to getting your things back is filing a claim with the airline's baggage claim department.
Kachinsky had to leave the airport without her things.
"Thank God, we found a target open at Charlotte on Christmas Eve," she said. "We ran there after the airport so I could get you know, like a toothbrush and that type of stuff."
If you find yourself in this situation keep your receipts.
Airlines are required, by federal law, to reimburse you for reasonable and necessary items you need immediately while away from home without your bags.
If your luggage is deemed lost the airlines are required to compensate passengers. There are restrictions on the payout. Once an airline determines that your bag is lost, the airline is responsible for compensating you for your bags’ contents, but the U.S. Department of Transportation says this is subject to depreciation and maximum liability limits of up to $3,800.
"I went online and updated the address to my home address, because I'm like, at this point, if you find it, just ship it back to Boston," Kachinsky said.
Airlines typically offer you to pick up your bags at your destination airport or mail the bag to the address you provide them in the claims department.
Airlines may have different policies to determine when a bag is officially lost.
Most airlines will declare a bag lost between five and fourteen days after the flight, but this can vary from one airline to another.
Here are the official luggage guidelines from some of the major U.S. airlines: