That means that at 1%, if my maths is correct, if there are 300 passengers on a plane, 3 of them are likely to have missing baggage. Having said that, we always check our bags. And last trip to Europe, they went missing, and didn't turn up for another 8 days. But we'll do it again next time. As you say, coming from Oz, you don't have a lot of choice unless you want to go visiting your rellies in hiking gear.
Or to put it more in forum perspective, if there are 200 forum members signed up to start in April, two of them will have their checked luggage go astray. Ok, I know that’s faulty logic, but no more faulty than assuming that since you’ve checked your bags ten times and not had a problem, you are good to go.
This is another one of those topics with very strongly held opinions, but I think that the best we can do for newbies who are not sure what to do is to point out the facts:
1. Budget airlines in Europe are ruthless, so be careful with a carryon.
2. Many forum members routinely carry on packs with no problem.
3. Many forum members have checked their packs for years and haven’t had a problem.
4. Some forum members have had checked luggage (pack or other) lost or delayed on their way to a camino and have vowed to never again check the pack. I am in that group — having a pack go missing creates incredible hassles for those who are coming from afar to walk and don’t have free days at the beginning to sit and wait for the bag to arrive. And the prospect of getting to a store to replace all my gear weighs very heavily in my mind in favor of carrying on my pack. I had to replace my hiking poles once at the start of the Vdlp and it added a lot of unnecessary stress.
I’m going to be carrying my pack for a month, I better be able to carry it for an airport transit!
@dick bird, I’m assuming you were not planning to start walking upon arrival, because an 8 day wait for a pack to show up would have done many of us in.
Those who have read my rants before will be surprised that I have not mentioned hiking poles — if I had, I would have had to delete my own post!