Want to see how your luggage gets from point A to point B when you check it at the airport? Well, sit back and relax, here's a short but sweet video showing one (drug free) bag's journey from Atlanta to New York: more ›

Drug traffickers, apparently tired of storing their stash in hangers, saris and sneakers, have found a new place to hide the goods: your luggage. So now you can pay a "checked baggage fee" AND bail when you're busted for being a drug mule! more ›

Just one more travel-induced headache: luggage-related larcenies are up almost 30 percent at JFK airport, so maybe think twice before checking that bag. And don't expect to get it back once it's gone—only 28 of the 299 complaints filed this year have lead to arrests. more ›

A Georgia man wound up missing his flight home last week after admitting to a luggage handler that he had a .357-caliber handgun stashed in his bag. Authorities also found 15 rounds of hollow-point ammunition in a locked gun box. However, the TSA says guns are permitted in checked luggage, as long as they are "unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided container, and declared to the airline at check-in," which it seems was everything this man did. It's unclear if he was detained or if the airport authorities were just slow to check his baggage, but, to quote the Post, the whole situation seemed "just plane dumb." more ›

Isn't is nice how airlines continue to come up with new ways to surprise us? Like, hey, your dog is dead! Or, hey, we're gonna make this trip take 10 extra hours, get to know your neighbor! Or that time they let you sleep on the empty plane. The latest: the luggage you carefully chose and packed for your trip has been inexplicably and utterly destroyed. more ›

Full body scanners, we hardly knew you. An Obama administration official has reportedly stated that hand-swabbing will be the latest anti-terrorism technique put into use at airports nationwide. more ›

Would you look at that—NYC Transit will be rolling out (in a pilot program) luggage racks on buses that go to JFK and LaGuardia Airports. According to the Daily News, "The racks, which replace several seats toward the back of the bus, debut Monday on the M60 route between Broadway and 125th St. and LaGuardia Airport. NYC Transit will have racks on 10 buses on seven routes in all that include stops at LaGuardia or Kennedy airports." The other routes are B15, Q3, Q10, Q33, Q48 and Q72, and one bus driver is already happy, noting that many customers complain about the luggage blocking the entrances, exits and aisles. more ›

Not so shocking: Queens DA Richard Brown said that a TSA officer and contract baggage handler at JFK Airport were arrested for stealing a Macbook Air laptop and a T-Mobile Sidekick from checked luggage. As part of an "integrity test," a suitcase with the laptop, two cellphones and an iPod were planted on a flight from Miami—and were apparently too tempting to TSA officer Brian Burton and handler Antwon Simmons. When the luggage left the check baggage room, the Queens DA's office alleges the two items were gone "and that the luggage tags had been switched - indicating a different passenger’s name and a destination of Los Angeles - in an effort to conceal the theft of property." Brown said, "When air travelers check their luggage with an airline, there is an implicit trust that their bags and their contents will meet them at their destination." Yeah, but that's also why people hate checking their luggage and insist on bringing too many carry-on items. Five years ago, Chevy Chase learned the hard way not to check his $10K watch in his suitcase. more ›

After Miguel Olaya's wife lost her battle to pelvic cancer on March 28th, he made arrangements with a Bay Ridge funeral home to send the remains to their native Ecuador. Then he went ahead to make the funeral arrangements, but when he arrived at the airport in the city of Guayaquil, he was told that his wife's remains were, uh, lost. Care to guess which airline? Good old American, which has been in the news recently for its baggage issues. more ›

UPDATE: The American Airlines situation at JFK still seems to be a mess, with about 25 flights delayed due to a computer "glitch" in the software that controls the baggage sorting conveyor belt. As of 1 p.m., delays were ranging from an hour to an hour and a half, according to Reuters. In the meantime, one Gothamist reader took the time to vent with the image above. more ›