A friend of mine has been emailing me about a trip she's now taking on American Airlines without any luggage. She packed everything in a carry on bag several days ago. When she got to the gate they asked her to checkin the piece because the flight was full. They tell her to wait at the jetway when deplaning to pick it up. They lost it. It's still nowhere to be found. This gets me so mad. How can an airline lose luggage just going from the end of the jeyway to the cargo hold? Total incompetence. Any suggestions here? She should demand the maximum lost/stolen luggage $3,300 compensation for this.
Almost all the time, while sitting in F in a bulkhead aisle seat, when carry-ons are checked at the last minute, I hear the FA and gate agent tell the pax that it will be "at the luggage carousel at your "final destination". This is also said over the pa, when pax have to bring luggage up from the back.
I can't think of any instance, other than AE, where it would be brought back to the jetway.
If she was given a baggage tag, the solution, if she hasn't checked, may be as simple as checking with baggage claim.
Good luck!
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Last edited by Dallas49er; Dec 24, 12 at 10:49 am..
Almost all the time, while sitting in a bulkhead aisle seat, when carry-ons are checked at the last minute, I hear the FA and gate agent tell the pax that it will be "at the luggage carousel at your "final destination". This is also said over the pa, when pax have to bring luggage up from the back.
I can't think of any instance, other than AE, where it would be brought back to the jetway.
If she was given a baggage tag, the solution, if she hasn't checked, may be as simple as checking with baggage claim.
Good luck!
That was my first thought. When gatechecking with mainline American, the bags will end up in the baggage carousels, and not on the jetway.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by burgerwars
It could be I got that part wrong, but she's checked everywhere. A lost luggage report has been made and AA can't find it.
Myself, I've never had to have a piece checked in at AA at the gate.
So, was did she fly nonstop to her destination or not?
If not, was the bag gate checked on the first, second, or other legs?
You said she should claim the entire $3300 in compensation..
If she didn't have stuff in the bag worth $3300, then she isn't entitled to that much. As noted, it didn't just go from the jetway to the cargo hold. At the destination the bag would go to baggage claim, not the jetway.
It's not like baggage never gets misplaced on arrival.
The details really do matter and this one is a game of telephone in which OP is simply relaying what someone else told him. He's already had to retract one part of his original post, so who knows what else is incorrect.
I think that we've established that this was AA (mainline) and that the bag was not to be returned on the jet bridge, but rather at baggage claim for the final destination. We still don't know whether OP's friend flew non-stop to her final destination or whether there was a connection. That matters in situations such as this.
Bags rarely go missing when dropped / picked up at jet bridge (although there are instances where bags get left or intentionally stolen). But, once a bag is in the hold on its way to baggage claim, bags go missing. More often on connections, but missing nonetheless.
As to compensation, advising someone to claim $3,000 unless they've suffered a $3,000 loss is advising them to commit a fraud. The terms and conditions of baggage check are quite clear and are limited to fair market value of an item. Some insurance policies do provide for replacement value, but that's something which OP's friend will presumably know.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by burgerwars
Direct flight. No stops.
How long after the flight did it take her to get to baggage claim?
That is, when she eventually went to baggage claim, were people from that flight still getting baggage?
Baggage gets lost. Baggage also gets stolen from the baggage carousel.
Airlines pay compensation.
This is a common thing.
That brought back to mind something I once read.
My brother stole a copy of Abbie Hoffman's book, "Steal This Book", back ,in the 70's.
In one part of the book, it talked about checking a bag, having someone else pick it up for you, then filing a claim.
She packed everything in a carry on bag several days ago. When she got to the gate they asked her to checkin the piece because the flight was full. She should demand the maximum lost/stolen luggage $3,300 compensation for this.
I believe it is actually harder to claim more money with gate check because the bag is carry-on size, so therefore she actually carried less then if it were checked with TA.
If she tried to claim expensive electronics etc, it will be denied becasue they should not be checked.
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I believe it is actually harder to claim more money with gate check because the bag is carry-on size, so therefore she actually carried less then if it were checked with TA.
If she tried to claim expensive electronics etc, it will be denied becasue they should not be checked.
With expensive electronics, a passenger should stand his ground on refusing gatecheck unless they get something in writing from the airline agreeing to be responsible for those expensive electronics.
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