SvnTwoo

My letter to AA.

AA you guys are AWESOME.

LOST BAGS 2x in 72 hours. Sweet.

Lost my bags on my return flight to OMA on Friday, when they were delivered Saturday at 1pm I was surprised to one of my Spinner wheels missing. Then today when I got off the plane at 1130pm in Killeen TX my bag did not make it. I have no clothes, toiletries and missing work materials/items that I need for a 7am appointment with a Dr for surgery.

Welcome to AA GOLD special I guess.

Splendid.

Doc Savage

That is frustrating, to be sure.

But.... Never put something you absolutely can't do without in your checked baggage.

will2288

Frustrating, absolutely.


But this could have just as easily been UA/DL/US/WN/AS/VX/B6/NK etc.

gemac

Either this is an extraordinary run of bad luck, or you are doing something that is increasing your chances of delayed luggage above the average. Examples of something you might be doing would be cutting it very, very close on arrival at the airport and checking baggage, or booking connection times very close to minimum connect times. If you cut these time issues very close to the bone, your chances for bag delays go up.

On the other hand, if this is just unusually bad luck, you might want to consider postponing that surgery.

SvnTwoo

Checking in two hours prior to my flights. I know this can and has happened with any and all other carriers as well.

First lost baggage was due to full baggage compartment on the American Eagle regional jet, lots of military bags (which I understand and really don't have an issue with). Second lost bag never made it on the plane departing Omaha.

As I was writing this post I was on the phone with AA baggage help, the agent could not verify where my bag was currently. She said "we don't have a scanning tracking system like FedEx or Ups", which has to be a false statement. I asked to speak to a supervisor and he confirmed they do in fact have a bag tracking system. I think they need to train their agents better. Bag should be delivered by 1130am.

As for never check what you need, the TSA frowns upon certain items in my carry on (basically metal objects over 7" are frowned upon) and I have to check them. I suppose I will start shipping necessary items FedEx.

Nothing beats showing up to an appointment in your travel clothes, changed into scrubs immediately.

JDiver

SvnTwoo: There are specific requirements for damaged baggage claims, noted here on aa.com. However, you are very unlikely to receive compensation from any airline for a damaged wheel - like AA, most state clearly they will not cover damage to any "protuberance" such as spinner wheels , handles, leash attachments, etc.

See in the Conditions of Carriage, here; in part:

As to the missing baggage, there are also good bits of information in those pages. And they have a very poor baggage tracking system, not nearly as good and automated as FedEx or UPS. And RJs are subject to weight and balance issues, perhaps moreso in summer than at other times due to density altitude issues.

I will repeat what others have said: never, never check what you need, such as medications, ex-rays, important documents, valuables, etc. If it's critical to a morning surgery appointment, it can usually be covered by a medical letter, and if it can't it can be shipped FedEx, as you said.

This is not at all to excuse the airline (and they do seem to have an inordinately large number of poorly trained or uncaring baggage handlers and staff) - but it's defensive flying, on any airline, because these things happen with a degree of regularity that makes one think we are still flying DC-3s; take it as friendly advice from one who has flown well over a half-century and probably has flown, on the average, at least 50,000 miles per annum each one of those years, on six continents.

SvnTwoo

Thanks for the info.

Even though I disagree with their policy on protruding object as they should handle luggage with care while in their possession, I know why they wrote the policy. When the bag agent looked at my bag yesterday we determined it was either dragged or run over by a tug/cart. At the broken wheel the plastic was worn down almost 3/8" with drag marks. A policy does not me you can be reckless with peoples goods.

All in all they did issue a voucher for $100 to cover the bag and issues two separate vouchers for $100 each for my bag delays. I consider these issues resolved as long as when my brand new bag is delivered today it has its wheels.

gemac

Glad it worked out for you. For future reference, a "lost" bag is a bag that you never got back. A "delayed" bag is a bag that did not pop right out onto the carousel with the rest of the bags from your flight, but which you eventually received.

oldpenny16

OMA is dealing with both the College World Series and the Olympic Swimming Trials. A receipe for trouble.

It is a small airport with very limited facilities.

Out of experience I do carry on only to and fro OMA and keep everything I need within my own control.

Certainly in full agreement with JDiver about keeping necessary paperwork, meds and etc in hand.

JDiver

Airlines have many policies I disagree with.

What has helped me are bags built by companies who guarantee their bag - I had one caught under a baggage cart that was retrieved with bent axle, wheels ground into half circles, etc. etc. and - I sent it in and received a brand new bag. ^ (No way was Air Niugini going to do anything about it, and I can't really spend Kina at home anyway.)

Glad AA did close to the right thing and compensated you with three Benjamins - even if they were vouchers.

jayer

Or in the alternative buy a cheap bag and consider it disposable. Then nothing happens to them. I've got one that is 15 years old.

monnyc

.I was booked on a flight to GRU that was delayed last Friday. The AC agents were able to get the baggage to be removed from the plane that went MX for the 3 pax that were being assisted..As we pushed back, the captain announced that we needed to return to the gate and load additional baggage for pax that were rebooked for that flight - a good sign I thought, they are really taking care of the pax and it was more than worth the small delay.
However, it turned out my baggage was not on that plane when I arrived.I went to the Baggage service counter at GRU and they were not able to confirm the location, their last update was that they were scanned for the original flight, which incidentally ended up being cancelled, I found out after we landed.
On Sat,..I called the local Baggage service as well as the US Baggage number and after being transferred to over a dozen agents no one was able to confirm the actual location of the bags
On Sun, after the arrival of the 2 flights in GRU it took several hours to confirm that none of the3 bags had arrived. The GRU office could only give me the Friday status, which is they were scanned for the flight that went MX..However, the Baggage Services in the US was able to see 2 were scanned for the Sat flight.
Several hours on the phone later, local office telling me that the bags were not being held in the US either, a lot of disconnect between the info from the 2 Baggage Services and no info whether they were sent on the Sunday flights.

Is this a common occurrence for international incidents, the complete disconnect between the2 systems? Based on what the agents tell me they see on the system, they seem to not talk to each other.
Not only that, the local Baggage service agents each time give different information and had me calling back every hour only to find out there were no updates.
I was told there is a special group that works with premium pax and seems liked only today they are monitoring this case. Only thing is that they cannot be contacted and the local office says there is no difference, this (Exec Plat)," is a US thing".
My main concern is what's the actual location of the bags, are they being held in the US or considered lost, as the local office said they are not.
BTW, not only once was I contacted by AA, is that the case for most? Also, does the bag status link ever get updated? mine shows the 3 bags have not been located, same info all the time, although different status have been provided by agents.
I understand a bag can be lost, but 3 seems tremendous bad luck or something is broken on the system.
Any advice from anyone tha had to deal with the Baggage Services in GRU? Many thanks in advance

sent

My trusty 7 year old Tumi came home at JFK with its retractable handle hopelessly broken.

At JFK, I was offered either a new London Fog rollerboard to trade and resolve the issue, or to return the bag to send it out for repair or replacement if it can't be repaired. I read that Tumi doesn't necessarily honor the "lifetime guarantee" so I figured I would return it to JFK to see what AA repair is going to do with it. The most irritating part of all this is that it is hard to get a human at JFK to who can offer some insight the process. We got to baggage services during normal business hours on a Thursday afternoon. The person at the counter said "Debbie" is in charge of damaged bags and I could talk to her, but this lady left the baggage service office right in front of us and showed no sign of return in the 40 minutes we waited. (She did acknowledge that I had a broken bag on her way out, but that's all.)

When I dropped the bag off on Saturday, I got no receipt or indication that AA now has my busted bag. I asked to speak to someone and the agent said "they are only here during business hours M - F." The agent said he noted the returned bag on my locator and he was going to send the bag off right now. If I call the local number given to me, I get a recording that says they will call me in 48 hours, but 48 hours has long passed...

I took pictures of the bag before the agent took it on Saturday. Keeping my fingers crossed.

sweetz_21_83

Hi all,

I am wondering what advice you can give me. I just arrived from LAX and my brand new Samsonite Hard-sided spinner has the wheel completely bent in the corner. The wheel is amazingly still there, but the corner is so dented in the suitcase will not even stand up! I went to file a claim with the airline, but they said they would send it in to be repaired or replaced in 2-4 weeks. If they replace it, will it REALLY meet the same specifications as my bag? I am also leaving on a 3 week trip in 9 days, so will most likely need to replace my bag for this trip.

Also, this was a reward flight with the taxes paid by my BA Visa, should I pursue a claim with them?

I could also try to pursue this with Samsonite, but offhand I don't know where I put the receipt, so that will take some digging?

Which option would you pursue?

DiverMark

Hi all,

I have what may be a somewhat unusual case that I’m trying to figure out how to handle. I realize this is kind of long; I hope you will find the details interesting.

I just returned from a scuba diving trip to the Galapagos Islands. The purpose of the trip was under water videography of hammerhead, Galapagos, and whale sharks. I purchased approximately $5K of new underwater video equipment for this trip (not an issue as it can be used later, but I mention it to reinforce the purpose of the trip).

Background of the event: The flight from Miami to Quito, Ecuador (UIO) departed approximately 1 hour late. By the time we reached Quito, we were informed by the pilot that the airport was now closed due to fog (If we had departed on time, the airport would have still been open when we arrived). We diverted to Guayaquil to refuel. After spending an additional hour on the tarmac, the pilot told us that Quito was still not open, and rather than take a chance that it would not be open by the time we flew back there, American was going to put us into hotels in Guayaquil (with breakfast) and fly us to Quito the next day. Because of airline (FAA) pilot rest rules, the flight to Quito would not depart until Noon.

I was scheduled to depart the next day on AiroGal from Quito to San Cristobal (Galapagos Islands), with a 9:40 a.m. departure (the dive boat was scheduled to depart the following day, giving an additional day buffer for travel interruptions). Knowing that the current arrangement would cause me to miss my AiroGal connection, I made my own way to the airport early the next morning to make alternative arrangements. AiroGal informed me that they had no seats available on any flight prior to my boat departure the following day, and my travel agent (who was located in Quito and associated with the company that ran the dive boat) was not able to find any seat on an alternate carrier. However, my AiroGal flight was scheduled to make a stop in Guayaquil before continuing to San Cristobal (what luck!). AiroGal was able to change my reservation so that I could get onto the flight in Guayaquil.

The problem: I now had three hours prior to my flight departure time, and needed to get my bags. American Airlines had no open counters at the airport, so I was able to talk my way into getting permission to meet with American Airlines personal in their back office. I explained my situation to them, and asked for my bags so that I could continue to the Galapagos Islands. The woman in the back office said that she would see to it, and placed a phone call to arrange for it. After about 10 minutes of back and forth in Spanish, she hung up and told me that getting my bags “would be difficult.” I explained that I had a boat to catch at Noon the next day, and asked what I could do. I also informed her that I would not be on the flight from Guayaquil to Quito, and she said that they would note that so that there was no concern when the flight was scheduled to depart. She then told me that American Airlines would fly my bags to Quito on the continuation of the original flight, and then put them on the next flight to San Cristobal. I asked to file a late bags claim, but they wouldn’t let me do that as they weren’t technically late yet (the aircraft hadn’t reached its final destination). I called the Quito office of my travel agent, and explained what happened. They said that they would work with American Airlines to get my bags to me before the boat departed.

Upon reaching my hotel in San Cristobal, I found that it had no internet connection, no phone, and no English speaking staff. Thus, I was forced to rely on American Airlines (and my travel agent) to do what they said they would do. The next day, when I arrived at the boat, I received a message from my travel agent stating that “the Quito airport is a zoo, and they couldn’t get American Airlines to deliver my bags as promised.” I thus departed on the 7 day diving cruse with no bags other than my carry-on.

The consequences: My checked baggage contained my clothing, scuba gear, and the underwater housing and lights for my camera. I was able to rent scuba gear from the boat, purchase a couple of pairs of shorts, and a swim suit from a store at the harbor, and I made due with just 3 pairs of underwear from my carry-on, but I was not able to rent a camera for the trip. While the diving was exciting, I was not able to complete the original purpose of my trip.

Retrieving my bags: when I returned to Quito a week later, I was informed that the baggage office was only open Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. As I arrived on a Saturday, I would not be able to claim my bags until Monday morning. Fortunately, I was able to talk my way into the international arrivals area when the American flight from Miami arrived that evening, and found the on-site baggage person for American. After all arriving passengers had departed the arrival area, she took me to the storage room and let me retrieve my bags. I asked about filling out a delayed baggage form so that I could submit a claim to my travel insurance company. She said that she could not do that because I now had my bags (apparently a delayed baggage from must be filled out while your bags are still delayed). I asked her to check with her supervisor, which she did. Her supervisor would not authorize a late bags claim. Not wanting to accept this as an answer, I called American Airlines in the USA, and asked what I should do. The delayed baggage person on the phone asked how long my bags had been delayed. Since I didn’t receive them until 7 days after I arrived, I said one week. She said that she couldn’t help me because bags delayed more than 5 days must be handled by another office. That office is only open Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. She also said that I could go on the internet to fill out a claim. I went on the internet, but you must have a delayed baggage claim number before you can proceed with the site, and it is this number that I was trying to get in the first place.

The complication: it is unclear what status should be applied to my bags. My bags actually arrived in Quito with my originally scheduled flight. I, on the other hand, did not arrive in Quito with this flight because of the delay. I have trip insurance for this trip, but it requires that I have a delayed bag claim filed with American in order to make a payout, which American won’t let me file.

How much I am out: 1 week rental of dive equipment: $270; shorts, a shirt, and a swim suit purchased at the harbor: $100. Additional airport taxi rides: $17. Cost of the dive boat who’s purpose was video documentation of sharks (which I couldn’t do): $4,700. Cost of the flight to Ecuador on American: 70,000 miles + $150. Cost of the flight from Quito (Guayaquil) to San Cristobal: $532. Hotels in Quito and San Cristobal: $440. Total: $6,209 + 70,000 miles.

I have trip insurance, but it won’t pay unless American verifies that the bags were delayed, and American won’t do that. Does anybody have any suggestions on how to proceed?

Thanks,

--Mark