What happens when an airline loses your luggage?

A long time ago, I worked on a construction project in Eastern Iceland. To get there you landed at the international airport in Keflevik west of the city of Reykjavik, drove to the municipal airport then take another flight to the east then drive to the site. A remote village in a remote part ofthe remotist country in Europe.

With all the different connections most people had to make to get there luggage was always being lost en route. The Aussie in particular often arrived at different times than their luggage.

My team never had any luggage issues but just about every one else did. The various international airlines would get the luggage to the domestic carriers who would take the luggage to the nearby airport then for some reason they would get the luggage to us to send to whoever lost it. How they got it to us was a constant source of amusement to us.

We had a big concrete pour one day and mixers were brought in from various places. A concrete mixer truck pulled up on front of my office and the driver dropped off some luggage that I then delivered to the owner.

I had to take my rental car in for service and was given a replacement. In the trunk was some lost luggage that needed to go to its owner.

My admin guy was going to the stationary store, the airport delivered several pieces of lost luggage to him there. They just put it in the back of his truck and never said a word. He say it, checked the tags and delivered it.

A couple times, random strangers stopped at my office and dropped off some luggage. I had no idea who they were or why they were delivering luggage.

Once luggage showed up for a guy no one knew. After some calls we found out that he was part of a tour group that had no connection to our project, we got him his luggage.