A2 · Elementary · Travel · 153 words · ~2 min read

🧳 A Lost-Luggage Claim

Language focus: Past Simple & Present Perfect · problems

Before you read

A problem at an airport needs two tenses at once: the past simple for what happened, and the present perfect for what is still true. Watch Maya switch between them, and notice how much of the vocabulary is fixed airport phrasing.

After a long flight, Maya waited at the carousel, but her suitcase never arrived. She has flown to Berlin, but her luggage has not turned up.

She goes to the airline desk to make a claim. “My case hasn’t arrived,” she explains. “It is a large grey suitcase with a red label.”

“Please fill in this form with your address,” the agent says. “Hold on while I check the system.” He soon finds the bag in another city.

“Good news — we have located it,” he says. “We will deliver it to your hotel tomorrow.” Maya feels relieved and thanks him warmly.

Maya has travelled with this airline many times, and her bag has never gone missing before. She had packed her medication in it, which worried her most.

The suitcase arrived at her hotel the next afternoon. Nothing was damaged, and the airline has offered her a small payment for the inconvenience.

Key vocabulary (8 words)

carouselnoun: The moving belt where you collect your luggage.
suitcasenoun: A large case with a handle for travelling.
claimnoun: An official request for something you are owed.
labelnoun: A tag with information attached to a bag.
airlinenoun: A company that carries passengers by plane.
delayedadjective: Made late.
relievedadjective: Glad because a worry has gone.
addressnoun: The details of where you live or stay.

Phrasal verbs in this story

turn up — To turn up means to appear or arrive.
fill in — To fill in a form means to write the needed information on it.
hold on — To hold on means to wait for a short time.

The grammar in this story

Past simple for the sequence of events

“Maya waited at the carousel, but her suitcase never arrived.” “He soon finds the bag…” Each of these is a completed step in a story with a clear timeline. When you report what happened, the past simple keeps it clear.

Present perfect for the situation now

“She has flown to Berlin, but her luggage has not turned up.” “My case hasn’t arrived.” The bag is still missing at the moment of speaking, and that is why the present perfect is the right choice. Saying my case didn’t arrive would suggest the matter is closed.

Past perfect for something earlier still

“She had packed her medication in it.” The packing happened before the flight, which itself is already in the past. English marks that earlier step with had plus the past participle. At A2 you only need to recognise this; you will produce it more at B1.

turn up, fill in, hold on

Turn up = appear or arrive, often used about lost things and late people. Fill in = complete a form. Hold on = wait a moment. All three are everyday spoken English and all three are far more common than their formal equivalents.

Phrases you can reuse today

My suitcase hasn’t arrived.: Present perfect — the problem is still true now.
I’d like to make a claim.: The exact phrase at an airline desk.
It is a large grey suitcase with a red label.: Adjective order: size, then colour.
Could you hold on a moment?: Hold on = wait briefly.

Comprehension quiz

Where has Maya flown to?
- Berlin
- Paris
- Madrid
Show answer
Berlin
What is missing?
- Her passport
- Her suitcase
- Her ticket
Show answer
Her suitcase
Her grey case has a ___ label.
- blue
- red
- green
Show answer
red
What does she write on the form?
- Her address
- Her age
- Her job
Show answer
Her address
Where will they deliver the bag?
- To her hotel
- To the airport café
- To another country
Show answer
To her hotel
“Hold on” means to…
- wait
- run
- pay
Show answer
wait

Now use it yourself

Reading builds recognition; writing your own sentences is what turns it into something you can actually say. Three short tasks:

Describe a travel problem in three past simple sentences.
Now write two present perfect sentences about a problem that is still not solved.
What do you always pack in your hand luggage, and why?