If you are an airline passenger returning from a shopping spree, then it would be wise to carry your luggage as hand baggage or be subjected by the airlines to a frustratingly long wait or paltry compensation in the event that your belongings are misplaced or lost.

Lost in transition: Monica Sambharya, who has been running from pillar to post, after Air France misplaced her luggage when she flew a JFK-Paris-Mumbai flight on September 11