“Never check in anything you could not bear to lose”: an autoethnographic study of baggage loss

Purpose 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. This paper aims to examine 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. Design/methodology/approach Using a retrospective collaborative autoethnographic approach the authors redress this gap in travel and tourism knowledge. Findings The first contribution is to uncover the impacts (behavioural/psychological) of baggage loss using liminality theory and Delorme et al.’s (2004) and Berry’s (2012) “loss” frameworks. Second, the findings reveal a multifaceted process of response to loss, and how this affects future travel and trust. The authors suggest how companies should respond, through human interaction and systems to support travellers through the period of loss. Originality/value Baggage loss, though a significant problem is under researched, and the authors seek to fill this gap and encourage research in this area.