Knowing where it is is one thing. Getting them to load it on the plane is another.
On my last trip to Namibia it was cold..... very cold. Before we left our PHs contacted us to tell us to bring coats. During the overnight in Johannesburg, I sat around waiting for our one and only checked bag..... with the coats in it, of course. The kind Delta luggage folks located it, showed it to me through the outside door, and told me it would be automatically loaded on the AM flight to Windhoek.
Next day..... of course, no bag, as it was still somewhere in the bowels of Tambo. We went shopping for coats. They were OK, but not as warm as the layers we had packed. We scraped frost off the cruiser seats each morning before setting out. Brrrrrr!
We were finally able to retrieve it 4 days later after Windhoek airport employees were kind enough to go on a hunt for it. Good thing it's a small airport.
Going home, the JNB-ATL flight was cancelled. They rebooked us through Brazil. On the LATAM flight, the flight attendant asked to see my luggage tag before we pushed back. That's not a good sign! He assured me there was no problem. He was wrong. 4 days later, and many odd journeys over 3 continents, it was delivered to my home in the US.