Does anyone know for how long they hold unclaimed luggage in GVA?

If someone is flying to GVA from USA and decides to make a quick stop in London along the way, thus missing the connection to Geneva. What would happen to the luggage in case it's flying directly to Geneva? Will it just keep spinning for days on the conveyor belt? Or will they take it to the lost/unclaimed luggage office?

Issue is that the person in question needs to be in London on the same day as US return, and luckily, the US flight is through London, so it doesn't make a sense to land in Geneva and hop right back on the plane to London.

Is it possible to ask airline in US to designate luggage for London during check-in?

I was always under the impression that luggage went on the same plane as its owner (unless, of course, the luggage gets lost) so how can the luggage fly direct and you decide to stop off in London?

If the owner of the ticket (and luggage) doesn't show up, I thought they took everything out of the plane and each person had to identify their own case(s) and the unclaimed luggage stayed at that airport.


Maybe I've got it all wrong though. Experts please?

Sorry, if I didn't explain correctly...

The flight is from US to GVA with a layover in London. When checking in, is it possible to arrange for luggage to be sent to London?

So, if the suitcases are directly sent to GVA, then it's not possible to collect them in London.

If the passenger is checked through with the same airline and he doesn't show up at the gate for his connecting flight, they will call him until the gate closes then take his bag off and it will remain in London.

If he's using two different airlines (which don't have codeshare) the bag will possibly come off in London and be sent circling round the baggage belt until someone spots it hasn't been picked up and it will go to lost property there. If it's Heathrow - good luck with that one...

I asked for a copy of the regulations but they couldn't find them

Again I am not an expert, but I think the phrase is 'the cases are booked through to Geneva' which is not quite the same thing in my book as 'sent directly to GVA'

Passenger is a no-show, plane will be held while luggage is removed from plane.

The procedure is called "short-tagging" of the luggage. They only tag it as far as London, the person picks it up off the carousel there and has to check it in again for the later flight.

And yes, by law luggage must be on the same airplane as the passenger and if said passenger does not show up for the flight the bag is pulled off the plane which often causes much grief and delay for the other passengers on board a flight not to mention the poor baggage handlers who have to re-stack the airplane afterwards. So please, either show up at your gate or have your luggage short-tagged to avoid this.

The only exception to luggage not travelling on a flight with a passenger is of course, if the bag is misdirected or delayed for some reason. A bag should never, ever be on a flight AHEAD of a passenger.

Signed, a grateful airline baggage customer service agent.

Just one word of caution though. If you have do not show up for a flight, all subsequent flights may be cancelled. So, if the flight from the US to LHR/GVA is your outbound flight and you do not show for the LHR-GVA leg, your return flights may (will probably) be cancelled automatically.

Thank you for such informative feedback. It's a return leg. Trying to cancel London-GVA portion now - but it seems that the ticket price might go up, which to me is ridiculous.