‘Never check in anything you could not bear to lose’:An autoethnographic study of baggage loss

Airline baggage loss affects many travellers every year and its implications for travellers are rarely studied, despite the potential for such loss to damage travel experiences. The paper examines the effects of baggage loss on airline travellers, exploring this using liminality theory and loss frameworks and suggests practical implications of how to tackle and support this by airlines. Using a retrospective collaborative autoethnographic approach (RCA) we redress this gap in travel and tourism knowledge. Our first contribution is to uncover the impacts (behavioural/psychological) of baggage loss using liminality theory and Delorme’s (2004) and Berry’s (2014) ‘loss’ frameworks. Secondly, the findings reveal a multifaceted process of response to loss, and how this affects future travel and trust. We suggest how companies should respond, through human interaction and systems to support travellers through the period of loss. Baggage loss, though a significant problem is under researched, and we seek to fill this gap and encourage research in this area.