And now help on the way for something that can sure torpedo your vacation. You arrive but your luggage doesn't. This summer more than half a million of us will be in that fix. So tonight, abc's steven osunsami is here with a way to save the day. Reporter: This man was traveling to beautiful cancun mexico, but before we got to go swimming with the whale sharks, his airline lost his bag. He had to waste a day finding new gear and he had paid one of those hefty baggage fees. I was sort of imagining my bag had gone to the island of lost luggage. It turned out it won't to tijuana what was close. We met this man wearing a suit after american I recalls lost his bag. Somehow the various airlines mishandled this bright red bag four times since february. There is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Reporter: Nearly 23 million checked bags are lost every year. The airlines could lose an estimated 637,000 bags this summer alone. The problem is not always the angry baggage handlersment this video from an airport south of seattle shows the 9.5 miles that a bag has to safely travel. Sometimes bags like this get stuck or set aside. What do you do? First pick the best time to check the bag. Our experts say bags are more likely to get lost when they're checked in too late or too early. The sweet spot is between one hour and 90 minutes before your flight takes off. You want to give the airline enough time to get the bag to the aircraft but you don't want to give so much time that the bag gets set ahead. Reporter: This damage et is called a track dot and it slips into your luggage and will tell you where your bags have gone. When you land it sends you this e-mails sake if it landed, too, or got reruined to alaska or even worse to the land of lost bags where if they are not claimed someone with the right amount of cash goes home with your stuff. Steven osunsami, abc news, atlanta.