Southwest Rapid Rewards - WN Lets Me Down

For the last 5 or 6 years, Southwest has been my backup carrier. Primarily I use it for short non-stops, but not always. And between flight credit and rental car credits, I usually earn 3 awards a year.

But today, in over 500,000 lifetime air miles, Southwest did something that no airline has ever done before. They lost my luggage on the outbound of a trip.

Now, I understand that these things happen. That's not the part that disappoints me.

I'm shocked that Southwest doesn't have a luggage tag scanner. When other airlines lose my luggage, they can tell me the last place it was scanned, and give me a general idea of when I might get it back. Or at least they they know where it is. Southwest, on the other hand, has no idea where my bag is. The very nice woman at MDW (Tricia) called SDF to see if the bag was still there, but they claimed to not have it. She tried to get a ramp supervisor to check the plane before it went to Kansas City (and then Portland), but no one would answer her radio call until it was too late.

The other problem is that I drove 2 hours east to South Bend, IN. Tricia said they could FedEx the bag to me, but FedEx makes the pickup at 3pm. So, since the bag wasn't found by 3pm today (Thursday), if it were found in time on Friday, they could have it delivered on Monday. I, however, will be staying near MDW on Saturday night and flying to another stop (PHL) on Sunday.

I have gone out and purchased $71 worth of stuff for two days, hoping that I only need two days worth of clothing. I'm under the impression that Southwest will repay me for some of those purchases.

IN CONCLUSION:
1) Disappointed that WN has no way of telling me where my baggage is.
2) Disappointed that WN has issues with the delivery of baggage once it is found.
3) Disappointed that WN thinks that $50 is sufficient for 2 days of no luggage.

1) Disappointed that WN has no way of telling me where my baggage is.
2) Disappointed that WN has issues with the delivery of baggage once it is found.
3) Disappointed that WN thinks that $50 is sufficient for 2 days of no luggage.

#1 is definitely true - once they find it, they know where it is, but that's about it :-)

#2 requires some persistence. Find a baggage supervisor (not a reservations supervisor) and keep them on the phone until they promise to do whatever you want. Dallas CS can also help here. You need to tell them exactly what you want them to do (fly it to MDW, deliver it somewhere), but they will do it if you are persistent enough. Don't let them push their "policies" on you - they can do whatever they want once a bag is lost/late, if you find the right person. It's just money. Get the name/department/location of whoever promised you something that was agreeable.

#3 requires a follow-up letter to Dallas and a specific request for $x of flight credit. They have never failed me here, whenever I have made a reasonable $ request. $100 is easy for a delay of more than a few hours and some type of real inconvenience like you have had.

"I'm shocked that Southwest doesn't have a luggage tag scanner."

This is where it confused me. Did you check your bags at the ticket counter where they tag it with a white tag with a black bar code for scanning? Or did you check it as you entered the plane when the bins were full.

1-if you checked it at ticket counter, i find it odd that they don't have a machine to scan the bar code in the first place. that would defeats the purpose of the tag with bar code.

2-if you checked it in the jetway due to full overhead bins as you board, it is also odd they would lose it since they just take it straight down to the belly of the plane and not 3 doors down to another plane.

Just wondering.

1-if you checked it at ticket counter, i find it odd that they don't have a machine to scan the bar code in the first place. that would defeats the purpose of the tag with bar code.

The OP is correct. Despite the bags having scannable bar codes, they don't have scanners. When I had a string of three consecutive trips where my bag didn't arrive with me (all through LAS...hmmm), the WN folks told me they were "working on implementing the scanners throughout the system."

I agree, it's rather frustrating when the bag people say "well, your bag could be anywhere." There are a lot of "anywheres" in the WN route system!

Until now, WN and BA are the only two airlines that have never lost my bag (knock on wood).

I surprisingly had a very painless lost bag last week with UA on a PVD-ORD-MSY. The bag was left at ORD, but by the time I got to the office in MSY, UA was already aware of it, it was on the next flight and was delivered to my hotel room 4 hours later.

If this is the only time you've had your bags delayed in 500,000 miles I'd consider yourself quite quite lucky.

The OP is correct. Despite the bags having scannable bar codes, they don't have scanners. When I had a string of three consecutive trips where my bag didn't arrive with me (all through LAS...hmmm), the WN folks told me they were "working on implementing the scanners throughout the system."

I agree, it's rather frustrating when the bag people say "well, your bag could be anywhere." There are a lot of "anywheres" in the WN route system!

Others scan baggages when they are loaded on any airplane so we would know where is my luggage as long as it is on any airplane. Also they will let me know if my luggage is on the flight coming to here. So they can tell me "your luggage is coming in an hour. You can wait here, or come back later, or we can send you tomorrow morning." or so. Southwest does not know until it actually arrives to the airport and until it travels tens of roundtrip on the conveyor belt.

By the way, my experiences about Southwest delayed baggage are all involves LAS too.

Still, I like that bags fly free :)

WHen my bag was delayed for what turned out to be 12 hours...WN told me to buy $50 worth of stuff and bring them the receipt...they gave me a check on the spot which the Ticket Counter cashed for me...they also gave me a spiffy toiletry kit with all sorts of stuff ....

that said, sorry your stuff is missing...but IME, WN will try and take care of you.....

good luck!

from my experiance working on the ramp. having scanners and scanning each bag would deley any quick turnarounds we do. also it is a big expense to maintain.

from my experiance working on the ramp. having scanners and scanning each bag would deley any quick turnarounds we do. also it is a big expense to maintain.

The scanners are coming anyways grain,.. I've already seen the instruction manual PDF on swalife.. If you do some digging you'll find it..

I agree, the scanners are a bad idea. I understand why it would be a benefit to have total accountability of all of the bags all the time, but it'd be at the expense of our turn around times.

So I pose the question to some of our loyal passengers here,.. Would you trade in on time performance for bag accountability?

Me personally,.. I'm hoping that the scanning never becomes standard operation. Doesn't Southwest rank among the top for baggage handling? It's not worth the cost and drag on the operation to implement the scanning.

I agree, the scanners are a bad idea. I understand why it would be a benefit to have total accountability of all of the bags all the time, but it'd be at the expense of our turn around times.

How? Scan the bag as it comes down the belt. Or scan them when they are on the cart. It takes all of a second or two to zap them. It's not like you need to program anything.

As a customer it's frustrating when you a) see your bag on the ramp as the plane backs away or b) when the people in LAS can't transfer your bag from B12 to B13 with 90 minutes of connection time. It's equally as frustrating when you go to report the missing bag and you're met with "well, we don't know where it is, it's probably in LAS, but we don't know."

How? Scan the bag as it comes down the belt. Or scan them when they are on the cart. It takes all of a second or two to zap them. It's not like you need to program anything...."

I have to admit, at first, I was going to point out that, to scan each bag, at 3 seconds per bag, at 200 bags per flight, that would add 10 minutes.

But then I realized, as I have looked out the window, at the bags sitting there, and the rampers just waiting for the plane to pull in, there must be some dead time in there someplace.

UPS has each package scanned as it travels down the belt, with no human interaction. I think that is the way to go. If it can be done.

So I pose the question to some of our loyal passengers here,.. Would you trade in on time performance for bag accountability?


On-time performance will not be hurt. If scanning slows the turn time ( which I am not convinced it will ) , then WN will build a longer turn time into the schedule.

I must have typed out a whole long explanation and deleted the whole thing about 4 times before submitting this post. It's difficult to explain this to everyone if you don't have hands on experience working Southwest's ramp operation. I suppose scanning bags would be reasonable if everything was moving a leisurely pace all day long, but it's not the case. There are times when you're moving bags from surface to surface, cart to cart, belt to cart, belt to plane at a very high pace. It would be an INCREDIBLE hindrance to have to stop, set the bag down, straighten a tag, and scan the code each time a bag is repositioned. Whatever images you are conjuring up in your minds about the way we work and how we'd be able to simply scan bags all the time on the fly is simply misguided..

And as for simply extending turn around times, that's just not possible. Think about what you're talking about.. Think about the way the Southwest flight schedules work,.. When a flight leaves a gate, the next flight follows shortly after.. It's all about keeping the planes in the air as much as possible. If you start extending the standard turn time even by 5 minutes, that's 266 cumulative hours of flight time LESS a day (5 minutes times 3,200).

So I pose the question to some of our loyal passengers here,.. Would you trade in on time performance for bag accountability?

Absolutely! Schedules can be changed by a few minutes to accommodate bag scanning and tracking.

Scanning and tracking:
- helps to direct someone at a specific airport to look for xyz bag instead of having a systemwide lookout for any odd bags;
- can better track which airports, shifts, even terminals are having the most lost bag issues
- based on scheduling and routing, can provide a pretty good estimate on when and where a lost bag can be expected to be returned to its owner.

Bring it on.

+1, I think bag tracking is probably necessary. Especially if the grapevine stories on new routes to SJU or Canada or Mexico end up being accurate.

I think in this day of modern travel, you just gotta be able to know where a bag is/was last. Especially with Int'l. destinations.

I can hear it now "Sorry Mr. Jslo, but your bag is in Mexico City....we think...we are looking for it". They gotta scan em I figure.

I am surprised WN doesn't do this. That was a surprising revelation from OP, no scans.

And as for simply extending turn around times, that's just not possible. Think about what you're talking about.. Think about the way the Southwest flight schedules work,.. When a flight leaves a gate, the next flight follows shortly after.. It's all about keeping the planes in the air as much as possible. If you start extending the standard turn time even by 5 minutes, that's 266 cumulative hours of flight time LESS a day (5 minutes times 3,200).

That's a pretty good point; the time does add up. However you're suggesting that bag loading is a constant choke point in the system. Is that typically the case? I would think that isn't always the case.

bag loading is definitely the slowest part of our operation. you can only go so fast with the people in the bin before you hurt them, or they get exhausted and need to stop for a few seconds.

on a side note, down here in rsw i see the delta people scanning bags. they dont seem to have any problem with it, except where they use two people to offload the bags to the belt. one stands there with a scanner and the other offloads them. we use one person to offload.

Some of the usual suspects here are no doubt going to tell me (again) that I'm the dumbest human being on the planet, but aren't RFID tags available pretty inexpensively and trending downward all the time?

People who fly more than occasionally could get a permanent bag tag linked to their WN RR number that would run near a "wi-fi-ish" scanner on the way out to the plane, so you wouldn't even have to straighten the bag for a standard barcode-type reader.

Obviously, someone somewhere must be thinking about such a thing, but I guess it must be considered too expensive.

I am always annoyed when an airline bad does not arrive as promised (who isn't) and happy to report that WN has never lost a bag.

But look at the plus side - at least you didn't get charged a baggage check fee. And most airlines (AS excepted) do not refund this fee even when you bag is delayed or lost! :mad: Ripe for a class action suit.

WN certainly can scan bags without affecting turn time - many places this could be done after you drop it off at the counter or skycap. Also some increased productivity by keeping track of where they are. Eventually all airlines will go to RFID :cool:

WN certainly can scan bags without affecting turn time


On-time performance will not be hurt.



Where are you guys based and how long have you been with the company?

WN called me Thursday night at midnight to tell me that they had my bag, and we're going to try to get special permission to courier it to me from Midway to South Bend. I called back at 1am Friday morning before I went to sleep to get an update but had to leave a voice mail. I got a voice mail at 2am telling me that they would be sending my bag. When I got up at 7am Friday, the front desk of my hotel did have my bag.

Today, I got to Midway early to give them my receipts. I had managed to return a couple items, so my total was $50.80. They gave me a check for $50 (I'm just fine eating a whole, whopping 80 cents).

So, in the end Southwest did come through for me.

But, I still believe that there needs to be some form of tracking. If, as num1bearsfan suggests, that scanning would add too much time to turning, then is there a happy medium. Maybe a system could be implemented that when a bag goes to the wrong place they could at least tell the impacted party "Hey, we found your bag in XXX, and it will be on Flight YYYY, and will be back at ZZ:ZZ."

WN certainly can scan bags without affecting turn time - many places this could be done after you drop it off at the counter or skycap.

What good is a scan at the drop-off point? You already knew that the bag was there, then. To get useful information from scans you need to have them scanned right when they are being loaded and unloaded from the airplane. That will show that the bag made it onto/off of an airplane and if it was the correct airplane/destination. That's also the point in the process where time is at a premium.

The RFID system is exactly what is needed so that the scan can be passive and without ramper intervention. That will take a significant capital investment but I'm sure that it will happen eventually.

"I'm shocked that Southwest doesn't have a luggage tag scanner."

This is where it confused me. Did you check your bags at the ticket counter where they tag it with a white tag with a black bar code for scanning? Or did you check it as you entered the plane when the bins were full.

1-if you checked it at ticket counter, i find it odd that they don't have a machine to scan the bar code in the first place. that would defeats the purpose of the tag with bar code.

2-if you checked it in the jetway due to full overhead bins as you board, it is also odd they would lose it since they just take it straight down to the belly of the plane and not 3 doors down to another plane.

Just wondering.

Gate-check tags ('string tags') have barcodes too.

Where are you guys based and how long have you been with the company?

You obviously did not read what I said. On time performance will not be hurt because if this is implemented and if it affects turn times then WN will adjust turn times in the schedule. Hence, I repeat, on-time performance will not be hurt.

You obviously did not read what I said. On time performance will not be hurt because if this is implemented and if it affects turn times then WN will adjust turn times in the schedule. Hence, I repeat, on-time performance will not be hurt.

Well I guess you didn't read all of my posts either because I already addressed your suggestion about increasing turn around times..

Well I guess you didn't read all of my posts either because I already addressed your suggestion about increasing turn around times..

So, you believe it's "just too bad" if someone's bag is lost. I expect MORE service from WN, not LESS. But if WN wants to lower the standard, hey that's a business decision.

So, you believe it's "just too bad" if someone's bag is lost.

Please don't put words in his mouth.

So, you believe it's "just too bad" if someone's bag is lost. I expect MORE service from WN, not LESS. But if WN wants to lower the standard, hey that's a business decision.

As has been mentioned previously SWA has the best record for baggage delivery. When other carriers have bag scanners, can tell you exactly where your bag is and STILL have a poorer performance record? How is that less service?

southwest has so few baggage problems that scanners would only:
1) add to capital equipment costs (let's see.... 68 stations times ?? scanners per airport).
2) add to hardware repair / maintenance cost (water+computer scanners=bad), battery replacements, charging stations, etc.
3) add to backoffice software development/maintenance cost
4) add to labor cost doing these scans
5) possibly add time/delaying bags at ARRIVAL and flight departures

All this to what? tell you if there is a problem? ring a buzzer if someone is about to load a wrong bag on a flight? still wouldn't be a foolproof system because of all kinds of issues (tags falling off, and the occasional swapped/mis tagged bags)

I'm sure it costs Southwest much less to issue the occasional $50 refund and pay the occasional fedex or courier fee than to do all of the above. Even if you factor the occasional scammer who says their bag never arrived.

I agree that as soon as the bag is found to be mis-routed someone should call you. That DID happen to me when I had my phone # on the bag tag. Maybe what helped is my luggage barcode tag fell off so they were calling to see what airport I had flown into that day. They had a problem finding my ticket in their computer so they resorted to calling.

Don't get me wrong people. I am in no way trying to make less of or defend against the fact that this person had their bag lost. I am sincerely sorry to hear about what happened, and I understand the frustration of being separated from your cloths while on a trip. I only chimed into this topic when people began talking about scanners because this has been a topic of controversy with me and my constituents at work as of late.

I am all for a system that would create a safeguard against misconnected baggage that would not be at the expense of the operation. Unfortunately scanning bags is not such a system. As someone pointed out, not only would it be costly, but it would also be with hardly any benefit. I suppose it would be nice to have an immediate answer at the baggage services desk when a bag is lost, but the fact remains that it was lost and will be returned at the same rate, scanner or not. Not to toot the company horn, but Southwest is typically only second to Hawaiian in the entire airline industry in baggage handling (and Hawaiian shouldn't even count if you ask me) and we don't even charge for our bags. That means MORE volume and MORE connections and we do it under MUCH tighter time constraints. Do bags get mishandled? sure. You can't be perfect. But we're about as close to perfect as can be achieved. As a person who is EXTREMELY nuanced in the process of baggage handling I can also tell you that it would be extremely cumbersome and a hindrance to the operation. Do you want to hear it from me or a guy with a tie and a brief case?

As a person who is EXTREMELY nuanced in the process of baggage handling I can also tell you that it would be extremely cumbersome and a hindrance to the operation. Do you want to hear it from me or a guy with a tie and a brief case?

Well actually.... since you seem pretty knowledgeable perhaps you can explain to us how the bag makes it from the dropoff at the counter onto the plane, how much time you have for each step, how many people are involved, and therefore by deduction we can understand how the scanner would impact your operations.

Nobody on FT really accepts "because I told you so" :)

... and we don't even charge for our bags. That means MORE volume and MORE connections and we do it under MUCH tighter time constraints.

Maybe it's time to charge a bag fee :) $30 / PAX round-trip for the number of flights that WN operates a day, you guys can have all the latest baggage tracking gadgetry plus the fee would discourage the number of bags checked. A win - win for the baggage handlers and cs people.

But, I still believe that there needs to be some form of tracking. If, as num1bearsfan suggests, that scanning would add too much time to turning, then is there a happy medium. Maybe a system could be implemented that when a bag goes to the wrong place they could at least tell the impacted party "Hey, we found your bag in XXX, and it will be on Flight YYYY, and will be back at ZZ:ZZ."

we have this system in affect already. here in ft myers, we get misconnects and bags that weren't taken off at the earlier destination. the baggage service office will scan the bag to say to the computer system "hey, your bag is in ft myers, xxxx is the flight it will be sent back to xxx station"

Maybe it's time to charge a bag fee :) $30 / PAX round-trip for the number of flights that WN operates a day, you guys can have all the latest baggage tracking gadgetry plus the fee would discourage the number of bags checked. A win - win for the baggage handlers and cs people.

What about the loss to the customer with a nonsense baggage fee?

As a person who is EXTREMELY nuanced in the process of baggage handling I can also tell you that it would be extremely cumbersome and a hindrance to the operation. Do you want to hear it from me or a guy with a tie and a brief case?

My preference is Colleen. Is she not available?

On a more serious note, I'm glad you're providing input. Otherwise its just a bunch of open questions and speculation.

from my experiance working on the ramp. having scanners and scanning each bag would deley any quick turnarounds we do. also it is a big expense to maintain.

:td: :td: :td: :td:

I can't believe this. Why not just go back to the old days with a paper/rubber-band style tag then?

I agree, the scanners are a bad idea. I understand why it would be a benefit to have total accountability of all of the bags all the time, but it'd be at the expense of our turn around times. I don't agree with this, but even if so, who cares? Why not just get rid of some safety checks to even things out?

So I pose the question to some of our loyal passengers here,.. Would you trade in on time performance for bag accountability? False choice. I had no idea WN cannot trace bags throughout its system. Shame on them. :td:

Me personally,.. I'm hoping that the scanning never becomes standard operation. Doesn't Southwest rank among the top for baggage handling? It's not worth the cost and drag on the operation to implement the scanning.

FedEx ranks really high on package handling and delivery. And they still trace all their volume.

So, you believe it's "just too bad" if someone's bag is lost. I expect MORE service from WN, not LESS. But if WN wants to lower the standard, hey that's a business decision.

+1

Granted it's only been 5 minutes since my last post, but I'm still really shocked to hear WN doesn't have a handle on baggage tracing.

On the rare occasion I've had a delayed bag on UA they tell me where it is, and then which flight it will be loaded. It's called peace of mind and additional certainty.

:FedEx ranks really high on package handling and delivery. And they still trace all their volume.

FedEx has UPS & the Post Office for competition. Their primary business is package handling, not providing air transportation (logistics and fulfillment are sidelines). When SWA misplaces as many passengers as FedEx loses or mis-delivers packages, let me know. :confused:

Then SWA can slap a label on your butt, toss you in the cargo hold and deliver you to your destination in 1-3 days. :D

FedEx has UPS & the Post Office for competition. Their primary business is package handling, not providing air transportation (logistics and fulfillment are sidelines). When SWA misplaces as many passengers as FedEx loses or mis-delivers packages, let me know. :confused: Read the piece I quoted. The assertion is WN doesn't lose/delay many bags, so why bother tracing. Which is ridiculous conclusion. They haven't killed anyone either (on board anyway), so might as well ease up any discretionary safety items, right?

By the way, FedEx's competition also traces. I know at least one of WN's competitors does tracing. So I don't understand your point either.

Me personally,.. I'm hoping that the scanning never becomes standard operation. Doesn't Southwest rank among the top for baggage handling? It's not worth the cost and drag on the operation to implement the scanning.

Depends how you define "among the top." WN was 9th in September for bags, right in the middle of the pack.

FedEx ranks really high on package handling and delivery. And they still trace all their volume.

Their airplanes also do four to five-hour turns at their hubs.

Their airplanes also do four to five-hour turns at their hubs.

Given these airplanes are primarily flying overnight routes, that makes another service (in addition to bag tracing) WN does not provide.

Is it your contention that bag traceability is not a desireable capability to offer customers, especially in case of situations such as faced by the OP?

By the way, do you think Skywest (United Express) has 4-5 hour turn times?

I don't know what else to say besides, you simply don't understand. I think the fact that baggage scanning is being likened to Fed Ex parcel tracking speaks volumes to that point. Two completely different operations, two completely different services, and two completely different purposes.

I guess the main purpose I would see for scanning bags would be for scenarios when a bag is lost and nobody can find it. The only thing is,.. we don't really ever have that problem.. If a bag gets mishandled, it doesn't take very long to discover it and it's on the next available flight. Scanning will not get it there any faster, and I guess to answer your question NO it's not worth all of the added cost and hassle just to be able to tell you what the status of the bag is in the event of a misconnection.

You see, this is where Southwest tends to separate itself from most other airlines. We're not going to take on some costly system that would serve only a negligible purpose. How about we make up for the fact that we can't track your bags by not losing them in the first place? Sound like a deal?

I don't know what else to say besides, you simply don't understand. I think the fact that baggage scanning is being likened to Fed Ex parcel tracking speaks volumes to that point. Two completely different operations, two completely different services, and two completely different purposes. The FedEx thing is a tangent. The real comparison is airlines that do scan bags along the journey, such as UA.

I guess the main purpose I would see for scanning bags would be for scenarios when a bag is lost and nobody can find it. If WN ever ties in with another airline, interlining would be another aspect. Or if WN ever goes to another country. And having the scan allows the airline to provide an informed response to a query by folks like the OP. It cools the potential temperature in the room.

The only thing is,.. we don't really ever have that problem.. If a bag gets mishandled, it doesn't take very long to discover it and it's on the next available flight. Not the case with the OP.

And what if it arrives but is separated from others at the destination? Scanning isolates the possibilities that much faster.

How about we make up for the fact that we can't track your bags by not losing them in the first place? Sound like a deal?
The thing is this is not a promise that can be fulfilled to a 100% certainty. Case in point: the OP. And actual data.

This thread has been eye-opening to me, exposing a lack of a (IMO important) aspect of service that goes lacking on WN.

This thread has been eye-opening to me, exposing a lack of a (IMO important) aspect of service that goes lacking on WN.

I am sure that if you are not inclined to fly WN, you will take this added piece of information as confirmation of your decision.

For me, in the extremely rare situation that my bag is not on my flight or a previous flight ( never has happened to me) I am confident that it will be on the next flight and WN will deliver it to me at no charge.

Is it your contention that bag traceability is not a desireable capability to offer customers, especially in case of situations such as faced by the OP?

It's desirable but not at the expense of 20-25 minute scheduled turns.

SWA already scans the bag when it's mishandled so it's location is traceable. To add anything meaningful to the tracking ability you'd have to scan the bags as they are loaded, and unloaded, from the aircraft. This is when the time is critical so you'll need technology that isn't currently in use at any airline in order to do these scans without slowing down the loading and unloading process. A system based on RFID tags, for example, with the scanners built into the airplanes so that it doesn't require any additional action on the part of the rampers loading/unloading the airplane. Such a system would also be able to alert the rampers when a bag is being mishandled right at the time when it can be corrected. I think that most airlines will eventually have such a system but they don't now and it will take time, and a lot of money, to develop.

By the way, do you think Skywest (United Express) has 4-5 hour turn times?

No, I don't. I have direct experience with checking bags on both Skywest and SWA. SWA, flying a 137-seat airplane, is consistently able to return my bag to me faster (~15 minutes) than Skywest, flying a 50-seat airplane (~30 minutes). Skywest also does not do 20-25 minute hub turns even though their airplanes are less than half the size of SWA's.

Sorry to hear about the OP's experience but there really isn't much to argue with these two points:

We're not going to take on some costly system that would serve only a negligible purpose. /QUOTE]

[QUOTE=num1bearsfan;12815691]How about we make up for the fact that we can't track your bags by not losing them in the first place? Sound like a deal?

^

So when the folks with "misdirected" bags file a class action lawsuit what happens? This sounds prime for picking by a lawyer. Who wouldn't understand the plight of the passengers who would, understandably, presume that the barcode on the bag tags make them traceable? Not that it's just a barcode that can be used when someone realizes that a bag is in the wrong place. Oh the poor passengers with those oh so valuable and necessary items that they don't want to or can not bring through in their carry-ons. In defense of mister union line baggage handler FedEx & UPS systems require the packages to be placed upright on belts by people with labels that can be read by scanners. The tags used on handles of luggage aren't quite the same.

It's desirable but not at the expense of 20-25 minute scheduled turns. Nonsense - you're positing a false choice. WN isn't the #1 ontime airline each and every year anyway. So what if they "turn 'em fast"?

By the way, "quick turns" cause greater risk for delayed bags for routes where customer is transferring from one aircraft to another.

Not everything in WN's environment is a single OAK-LAX flight.

SWA already scans the bag when it's mishandled so it's location is traceable. So magically it is scanned and located? This makes no sense.

No, I don't. I have direct experience with checking bags on both Skywest and SWA. SWA, flying a 137-seat airplane, is consistently able to return my bag to me faster (~15 minutes) than Skywest, flying a 50-seat airplane (~30 minutes). This is your anecdote, and baggage delivery time isn't exclusively perview of airline baggage agents. Also non-responsive to my question.

Skywest also does not do 20-25 minute hub turns even though their airplanes are less than half the size of SWA's.
ORD-MKE and SFO-SMF turns come to mind. And they're integrating baggage that has come in through customs (international) or being x-ferred to international flights.

Of course on average they're blocked closer to 35 minutes than 25 minutes. But they know if my bag is on board or not. I don't pay any extra, and I get an extra service.

Has there EVER been any one single item the fanboys wished WN integrated into its service, something offered by a competitor? Or is it the fanboys' raison d'etre to simply push back on anyone who dare question any item whatsover regarding the angelic LUV?

^

So when has that happened to a 100% certainty in a single year? Or even a single month?

Easier spouted than actually delivered.

This is the sort of thing that makes message board posting frustrating at times. You get into these debates where one party will never concede and it just goes on and on and on. And even when a valid point is made, you're hit back with spin and circular logic.. You've got actual ramp agents in here with real world hands on knowledge of the topic at hand, and other people insisting that they know better based on no real experience or behind the scenes knowledge of how things work.. Is that not the definition of insanity or at least being unreasonable?

UAstarflyer,.. What is your work background? Do you have a history of airline employment? Or are you just a "terminal window observation expert"?

So, in the end Southwest did come through for me.



That's great news! Need more be said?

This is the sort of thing that makes message board posting frustrating at times. You get into these debates where one party will never concede and it just goes on and on and on. And even when a valid point is made, you're hit back with spin and circular logic... ... Is that not the definition of insanity or at least being unreasonable?


I'd have to completely agree. It appears that as the consumers that pay so that you have a job you think we're insane for wanting to know where our bags are if they're lost.

WN isn't the #1 ontime airline each and every year anyway. So what if they "turn 'em fast"?

It's not about being "on time", it's about aircraft, empoyee, facility and equipment utilization.

The fast turns are what allow SWA to fly their airplanes, on average, an hour or two more per day than network carriers. This allows them to get more utilization out of their crews, gates, equipment, agents, etc. It is the key to how SWA keeps their costs low.

Has there EVER been any one single item the fanboys wished WN integrated into its service, something offered by a competitor? Or is it the fanboys' raison d'etre to simply push back on anyone who dare question any item whatsover regarding the angelic LUV?

Please stick to reasoned arguments rather than ridiculous attacks. It is perfectly clear that the argument is whether this positive enhancement to service is worth its cost. Your position on that has already been made clear.

Good god.

Why are people so hell bent fixing a problem that doesn't exist?

Bags will always be mishandled no matter what system is in place so the goal should be to drive the error rate as low as possible. It sounds like WN does that already without scanning.

Ever hear of the law of diminishing returns? Throwing money at a situation doesn't guarantee the same impact of improvement.

I ship some 300 packages of a live, perishable product via UPS, FedEX and the Post Office that are scanned and tracked some 10+ times from pickup to delivery. A small percentage are mishandled each week no matter what precautions we take. Knowing that the package took a wrong turn in a far away sorting center and now will be delivered Monday instead of Friday doesn't help my customer going to receive a dead product 3 days late.

So we file a claim, apologize profusely, re-ship and move on. While knowing who to blame and where to look first might be nice, it really adds nothing to the outcome.

I've had 3 mishandled bags in 12 years of solid WN flying and have always gotten my dirty clothes back the next day.

Sounds like WN handles the exceptions very well and has legitimate reasons (the turns) for not implementing a scanning system.

So again I ask, why fix something that is not broken?

Good god.

Why are people so hell bent fixing a problem that doesn't exist?

Bags will always be mishandled no matter what system is in place so the goal should be to drive the error rate as low as possible. It sounds like WN does that already without scanning.

Ever hear of the law of diminishing returns? Throwing money at a situation doesn't guarantee the same impact of improvement.

I ship some 300 packages of a live, perishable product via UPS, FedEX and the Post Office that are scanned and tracked some 10+ times from pickup to delivery. A small percentage are mishandled each week no matter what precautions we take. Knowing that the package took a wrong turn in a far away sorting center and now will be delivered Monday instead of Friday doesn't help my customer going to receive a dead product 3 days late.

So we file a claim, apologize profusely, re-ship and move on. While knowing who to blame and where to look first might be nice, it really adds nothing to the outcome.

I've had 3 mishandled bags in 12 years of solid WN flying and have always gotten my dirty clothes back the next day.

Sounds like WN handles the exceptions very well and has legitimate reasons (the turns) for not implementing a scanning system.

So again I ask, why fix something that is not broken?

^ Finally, a breath of sanity and common sense.

But don't let this stop the drivel from continuing. Carry on....grind this thread into dust

So again I ask, why fix something that is not broken?

It gives the customer piece of mind when you can punch a few keys on the keyboard and say "sorry sir, your bag was mis-transfered and ended up in San Antonio, not San Diego. It'll arrive on flight 4321 tonight at 11:00pm from San Antonio."

Maybe things have gotten better recently, but I can't tell you the number of times I've been standing in bag claim in Portland and I've seen bags tagged to Boise, Spokane, and other cities circling the belt--cities with airport codes totally, 100% different than PDX. I've landed in Portland and my bag is nowhere to be found. WN has no clue where it is, only telling me "well, it might be in Las Vegas, but your plane continued on to Islip, so it might be there." Nothing until I call PDX at 8pm the next day (almost 36 hours since I arrive) and find out "oh your bag went to Manchester. It's being routed back to Portland via Chicago and might be on flight 4321 which arrives about 1am. We'll let you know."

This isn't about making a fool proof system. This is about customer service, and this is one area where WN really lacks. Rampers will just have to learn to adapt to the system. You guys will do just fine...Ask the agents here in Tucson how many strollers, bags and other stuff tagged for Tulsa end up down here because of the Las Vegas folks who can't read tags.

Good god.

Why are people so hell bent fixing a problem that doesn't exist?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/southwest-rapid-rewards/1017315-southwest-airlines-loses-luggage-do-they-really-just-pay-you-everything.html

A scan might have aided the search immensely.

It gives the customer piece of mind when you can punch a few keys on the keyboard and say "sorry sir, your bag was mis-transfered and ended up in San Antonio, not San Diego. It'll arrive on flight 4321 tonight at 11:00pm from San Antonio."

Maybe things have gotten better recently, but I can't tell you the number of times I've been standing in bag claim in Portland and I've seen bags tagged to Boise, Spokane, and other cities circling the belt--cities with airport codes totally, 100% different than PDX. I've landed in Portland and my bag is nowhere to be found. WN has no clue where it is, only telling me "well, it might be in Las Vegas, but your plane continued on to Islip, so it might be there." Nothing until I call PDX at 8pm the next day (almost 36 hours since I arrive) and find out "oh your bag went to Manchester. It's being routed back to Portland via Chicago and might be on flight 4321 which arrives about 1am. We'll let you know."

This isn't about making a fool proof system. This is about customer service, and this is one area where WN really lacks. Rampers will just have to learn to adapt to the system. You guys will do just fine...Ask the agents here in Tucson how many strollers, bags and other stuff tagged for Tulsa end up down here because of the Las Vegas folks who can't read tags.
Well said.

And in the case of the other current thread, it might actually solve a mystery.

If the scan were to work most efficiently it would reject a bag load on a wrong plane. i.e. only accept bags marked TUS in your example.

My last few lost bags, whatever scanning equipment the legacy carriers were using was no help at all anyway. In MCO earlier this year I had flown in on DL and told the woman at the bag office our bag didn't arrive, but because her computer showed it had been loaded on the plane she insisted nothing was wrong and I just needed to wait (more). I spent the next few minutes explaining that everyone else from our flight had picked up their bags and was gone already (we were on a very late flight so there weren't many people around, in the baggage area, period) and my bag was nowhere to be found, but since her computer insisted everything was in order I had to spend time explaining why her information didn't change the fact my bag was missing and that they needed to try and locate my bag. In this case the technology was quite simply a hindrance to resolving the situation. (In the end they somehow misplaced it at MCO and found it in about five minutes once they started looking for it).

The first time I saw a legacy employee scanning every bag being loaded on a plane I thought "that's nice, but I don't possibly see how that's efficient."

In this case the technology was quite simply a hindrance to resolving the situation. (In the end they somehow misplaced it at MCO and found it in about five minutes once they started looking for it).

Perhaps it was a hinderance to get the DL folks to start looking for the bag, but knowing it was loaded in ATL (educated guess?), meant that it was either in Orlando or still on the plane. Making the search much easier.

Let me add another situation I just recalled. Last Christmas, there was a massive ice/snow storm in the Portland/Seattle area. Flights were cancelled routinely for nearly two weeks as PDX ran out of glycol and SEA was running low. (For those of you who live in snowy parts of the country, the PNW is ill-equipped to deal with snow and ice. It was "only" 18 inches over a 10 day period.)

Anyway, I landed on December 23 on an Alaska flight from LAX, walked in to bag claim and saw a huge, huge mess of bags. There were so many bags you could barely walk to the belts. Not just for AS, but everyone else. Imagine now that you misconnected on Dec 20, you show up, but your bag doesn't. WN says: "well, we have no clue where it is. You were rerouted, but we don't know where your bag is." Wouldn't it be nice for WN to say: "your bag is currently sitting in Oakland. Since the weather is in charge now, we can't say when it'll arrive, but it's in Oakland."

Bags will always be mishandled, rampers are only human and scanners aren't 100% perfect. Scanning won't make bag handling any better, but it will at least give the customers piece of mind knowing where their bag is. I'm not sure why everyone is so against it? What might be "dirty clothes" and no big deal for one person, might be another person's suit for an extremely important job interview. Or someone's Christmas presents (since the TSA forbids holiday cheer.:rolleyes:)

"You're bags fly for free..."

Even if they don't get on your plane... or they go somewhere else... Not that they'll even know because they don't have a scanner.

Yeah, no thanks.

Not sure if US uses this baggage scanner technology you speak of -- but as others have stated it did no good if they indeed have it. Last Christmas my mom's bags were lost for about 6 days (and over Christmas day) and US had no idea where the bags were and they did not offer any info about when they were last scanned.