European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 8, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                7 along without the rest. My Bate minimum includes one dark Blue drip dry suit or bluer and Slacks and a Necktie Lor crashing embassy receptions and interviewing prime ministers. This alternates with a safari jacket and jeans for daily slogging. To his i add a couple or dress shirts and a knit sports shirt for footwear. I take a pair of Black Penny balers and a pair of running shoes. The amount of underwear and socks taken varies with the number of hotels with last laundry services but is usually enough Tor four of five Days it the weather promises to be Chilly i include a sweater and sometimes a Down Vest that we stuff Tig fitly Inola Small Nylon bag. For hot weather 1 take a pair of Light jogging shorts that can double As bathing trunks. Some or this is worn White he rest gets pecked. On Shorter flights i Wear the suit or Blazer and pack the safari jacket and jeans. On Tonge ones i do the opposite. If you Wear the running shoes pack the leather ones. The Knack of travelling Well Ullh Little is to dress up while dressing Down. The casual look of Stone washed jeans can be offset with a Blazer running shoes with a freshly pressed shirt and foulard. Whenever possible clothing should have Mote than one use like coloured t shirts thai can double As undershirts. The fewer the clothes the More expensive they should look. Whenever t land at hotel the suit goes straight to he Vale for cleaning and pressing and dirty clothes go to the laundry. Everything else is arranged in the Bureau drawers to give at Leas the illusion of adequacy. It is useful to leave lha hands unencumbered for. Airline tickets passport and currency transactions which Means using a carry in bag with a strap. I have found the Rrt Ost durable ones for hard travelling at ski or mountaineering shops because he manufacturers use Tough material and Strong zippers meant to hold up in Tough conditions. For years 1 have carried such a bag with plenty of zippers and a leather reinforced shoulder strap made by a san Francisco firm thai caters to climbers and backpackers. Though i sometimes include a Small Nylon bag to bring Home any purchases i Learned a decade Back that souvenirs can Lead he Best Laid plans drastically astray. In Tunis Tunisia while covering an Arab league Summit meeting i went to the Bazaar and alter lengthy bargaining  a Large White Al agreed Bird Cable. I was booked to Fly Home to Cairo Egypt the next morning and reasoned that i would be Only briefly bogged Down. That same night my editors told me to change plans and proceed instead to Damascus Syria which i did rather clumsily typewriter in one hand Bird Cage in the other and my Small bag checked in the hold. Once in Damascus i was sent to Israel As fast As possible to arrive in Jerusalem before he historic visit of president Anwar Sadat of Egypt from Damascus to Jerusalem is a scant 140 Miles but the route has Long been closed by barbed wire mine Fields and other legacies of Arab israeli hostility Ullh a couple of other colleagues i hired a battered taxi and drove at first Light Over the mountains to Beirut Lebanon flashing my press cards and Bird Cage at puzzled gunmen Manning the assorted roadblocks. From Beirut i found a night leaving for Rome and caught the next plane from there Back South to Israel. Eventually i arrived Back in Cairo six countries in As Many Days with a Bird Cage. I would t recommend ii for serious Light travellers.  suitcase by William a sheer new York times Hen Marcia and Emanuel Frankel flew Down to the dominican Republic from new Vork for a week they checked a suitcase but when they arrived in Santo Domingo their bag did not arrive with them. Doll Elcana airlines said it would not Forward the bag if it turned up to the couple s hotel so Frankel went to the Airport each morning to look for it. Hews Natalone i spent almost every morning of my vacation along with hundreds of other unfortunates rummaging through packed warehouses As Wea a open Fields trying to find my Valise from he thousands piled up Frankel said. There was no order by Check number or by Dale of flight just mountains of Luggage that everyone literally climbed Over without any Heip whatsoever from airline employees. There were boxes in one warehouse Ullh tvs arid broilers and Vars even a sink. Then they look me to another warehouse it was just  since the Chi aeronautic Board the Federal Agency that had regulated airlines since 1933, was disbanded in december 1984, More people have been travelling by air and More airlines have been merging in the More competitive deregulated Market. Consumer groups that Monitor the airline Industry say that these two contributing factors have led to More lost Luggage. There is simply Mare of it being transported and the mergers have left baggage handlers Uncertain about which airlines baggage handling procedures they should follow the ones hey always allowed or those of their new employer As Well As which airline is using which Gate and when new flights leave and arrive. This is a time when consumer groups Are telling travellers to expect to lose Luggage. As Ralph Nader s aviation consumer action project in Washington warns pack Asil you la never see it  tie number of complaints we have been receiving is nothing Short of outrageous said Angela j. Aponte new York City s commissioner of consumer affairs that s due completely to the absence of a Federal regulator. The demise of the cab took away whatever Hook a consumer had to Gat redress. But now there is nobody so we be stepped into the  the responsibilities of the cab were actually transferred to the department of transportation which will help a passenger resolve a dispute with an airline after the passenger has been unable o resolve ii. Hoyte Decker the department s assistant director for consumer a lairs said that compared with the increase n Trie number of travellers he did not believe there had been a substantial increase in complaints about lost Luggage. He said his Agency received 2,583 complaints from people whose Luggage was lost or delayed in 1986, slightly More than the 2,529 they received from the 14 percent fewer passengers travelling in 1985. Of those complaints in 1986, he said the department s consumer affaire division resolved 98.8 percent by Jan. 6,1937. The department s Only category of complaints larger than baggage complaints Are those for Light delays and cancellations. Seven of 70 airlines in the United slates whose customers complained about lost stolen damaged or delayed Luggage or about having difficulty getting compensation from the airlines accounted for nearly half of the 2,583 baggage complaints received last year. The number of travellers who complained to the department however was Small compared to the number of passengers who flew on Hose airlines when you Fly. Always identify your bag attach a card with your name phone number and address on the inside of the bag and write your name business address Telephone number and a Contact at your destination on the outside of the bag. Printing your Home address on the outside could tip off a burglar that you Are away. Also Mark he bag on the outside to distinguish it ram other bags of the same make and lock it. Do not put valuables such As cameras into checked bags. Also put necessities such As medication in your hand Luggage. Taking a change of clothes in your hand Luggage is also advisable. If your Luggage does not appear when you arrive where to take your complaints the department of transportation asks that you first attempt to work out baggage claims with the airline. But if you Gal no response in three months Call the consumer affairs division 202-366-2220. Or write consumer affairs division department of transportation 1-25, Washington . 20590, and include a daytime Telephone number. Angelo j. Aponte new York City s commissioner of consumer affairs said that his Agency would also mediate complaints about baggage from travellers who have problems with lost or damaged baggage at Newark la Guardia and Kennedy airports. They need not be City residents. The department s complaint line iss12-577-oi11. The Nader group issues a pamphlet called fads & advice for airline  Send $2 to Avail sort consumer action project. Post office Box 19029, Washington. . 20036. The department of transportation publishes a pamphlet called Fly rights a guide to Ait travel in the United  Send $1 to consumer information Center department p-16s, Pueblo colo., 81009. New Vork times Contact the airline s service department immediately. Be sure to keep your baggage checks As hat is he first thing the department will ask for. Before you leave Home consider taking out travel insurance thai includes Luggage loss. Often if an airline does make a settlement Lor lost Luggage it is not enough to cover the value of the contents. A traveler can buy excess valuation from the airline which usually costs about $1 per $100 of value but airlines have the right to refuse to sell it. In fact they have the right to refuse to take responsibility for any Luggage they Bellei a is too valuable or prone to damage. They also have the right and exercise ii to disclaim responsibility for jewelry Antiques musical instruments and various terms of Money. Carry them on Board Ullh you. When a bag is damaged or something has been stolen report the problem at the Airport before continuing your journey. Expect to be asked to produce a receipt thai documents the value of the suitcase or its contents when you try id collect from the airline. Ii you paid for the item with a credit card you Are in Luck. American express keeps statement records for up to six years. For Bank credit cards the length of Lima statements Are kept depends on the Bank but it is usually several years. Do not expect to collect immediately Hitchcock says in is rare for an airline to pay within three months and seme claims drag on or a year. If a checked bag does not arrive on the same Light As a trawler it is considered delayed until the airline decides it is lost. Hitchcock says airlines will often wait months before doing this. When a bag is delayed the airline is not required to deliver it to a passenger although most will. Some airline will offer a traveler a kit Ullh essential toiletries if requested when a bag is delayed and some will offer Cash. How much Money depends on the airline and the circumstances. Delta for example will give $25 Lor emergency purchases and on rare occasions up to $100 under special circumstances a spokesman said of the airline misplace a pair of skis when you Are headed on a ski vacation it will often pay Lor you to rent another pair but ii will usually refuse to pay the full Cost of new clothing arguing that you can use it again in the future. In All cases it is up to you to negotiate with the airline. The Frankel never do find their bag. Frankel was told to file a claim when he resumed to new York. In new York a was told the bag had been found and no written claim was necessary. The bag he was told was never put on a plane but had been trucked to Miami because the airline had too Muffi Luggage to Fry to same Domingo. At the and of january however Whan the bag had not yet turned up the airline agreed that it was indeed Tost and this time sen Frankel a claim lorm to ill out. Bui alter he had filed a claim Lor $3,600 in february for lha lost bag and its contents lha airline said in March that the bag had just surfaced in Santo Domingo altar All. Frankel is still waiting to see it again. Wednesday april s. 1987 the stars and stripes Page 17