US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Reminiscing about the old days - verifying baggage at claim area

All

Maybe I'm just getting old, but recent events have made me think about the good old days when airlines/airports hired employees to check your bag tags against your stubs to make sure you were picking up your own luggage.

Instead, sometime in the past 10 years or so, airlines/airports have replaced these people with announcements saying "bags look alike - make sure you grab your own".

I bring this up, because guess what - someone walked off with one of our bags on Tuesday... My wife and mom-in-law were coming home SAN-PIT with 2 young kids in tow. So they got off the plane, changed some diapers, and slowly made their way to baggage claim. (I came home on same flight 2 days later). I talked to my wife when she got back to the house, and she told me the story - the punchline being "as we were coming down the escalators, I remember seeing someone walking away with a bag that looked like ours".

But hey - "bags look alike", and you dont confront someone just for thinking that.

So of course, the bag never shows. There's a bag that looks alot like ours left on the carousel though. [I asked my wife on the phone whether she nudged the local PIT staff to ask the family who called in looking for the remaining bag whether they accidentally took ours home]. She puts the claim in to US, and the person tells her they'll put the info in the system. They check the records, and show the bag coming through the baggage system in PIT, and coming down the chute. So it was "delivered".

The good news is someone brought it back, and it was delivered Thursday. What a relief.

Regardless, this makes me go back to wondering why with all the increased scrutiny at airports, why this is allowed to continue. I know that these bags have already been screened, thus no imminent bomb threat - but that's why I am bugged. We're so concerned about catastrophe that now we dont care about other things. Whats worse - anyone can still walk in from outside and grab a few bags even without a ticket.

[I had a security scenario written here, where having this vulnerability is actually a serious security problem, but thought better than to leave it in the post.]

Question 1 is - how long til we get back to using technology for this (I am fine if its not a human being). Imagine a self checkout system where the baggage bar code is scanned, as well as the bar code stickers on the baggage stubs they put on your ticket jackets...

Question 2 is - would US have paid for this if it was lost? I can imagine them claiming they didnt lose the bag..

Interestingly enough, WN still does this at ABQ, but only for their own carosels. Other than that, I haven't seen anyone checking for a long time.

I've always thought that it would be so easy to steal luggage. There is all sorts of things in some people's luggage....laptops, pda's, ipods, and etc....all stuff you could sell on e-bay on make money and nobody catch you. There should be some type of "tighter" security controls on luggage. I wonder how much airlines lose b/c of this?

Same thing happened to me a few months ago. I even bought new luggage when I got my new job and bought BLUE luggage after 7 years of black. Needless to say I had to be on the same flight as some yahoo who also had this blue luggage and he took mine.

What made matters worse, when I asked the United agent to check the other blue luggage for a name tag she said it didn't have one. Funny thing is I saw it when I went to grab the bag initially thinking it was mine. Guess those pesky name tags just disappear between the tarmack and the luggage room. And this was an express flight so our bags are right there at the plane.

Thankfully, after an hour and a half of waiting Mr. Stole My Luggage returns to the airport just as I was about to walk out. I guess his ears were burning with what I was saying about him.

Even though my bag is BLUE I make sure that I have a very identifiable luggage tags on my bags. Even having my business card as another luggage tag.

.............

I have another story about when I worked for Kodak. As a Kodak employee we have our picture on our business cards. And we always used our business cards as luggage tags for easy identification. A coworker of mine saw his luggage being grabbed by someone else. He approaches this man and says, excuse me but you have my bag. This guy gets indignant and says it belongs to his daughter. My coworker says, well I guess your daughter is named Paul ... and is a 55 year old man as he's pointing out his picture on his luggage. This man hands my friend his bag and doesn't even apologize. What a jerk.

I have the world's cheapest (and best) luggage... it's very distinctive looking and I've never seen another like it (hard to believe since it's a big chain housebrand...) I had gate checked it on a recent flight, got off the plane, grabbed my bag and was half way up the jetway before I realized it was too light to be mine... looked harder and realized it wasn't mine - the first time I've seen my bag's twin sister ever... I took it back and saw my bag sitting in the back of the pile. Since then I've been looking much more closely at my ID on the bag... and no longer assume that just because it looks like mine, it is mine...

I had a similar experience in London. Although all of the bags had been unloaded and the carousel had stopped, only one of my bags appeared. I was about to notify baggage service, but I decided to walk around the carousel and look at other passengers' bags. There I saw it -- on the ground next to a woman who was chatting with a few of her friends. When I approached her and told her I thought she might have my bag, she responded that she "wasn't sure" if it was her bag, but it looked like hers so she "just took it." I can understand her taking a bag off a carousel if she thought it MIGHT be hers, but one would think that she would have checked the tag and then put it back when she realized it was not her bag!

Although I did not see a policy on their webiste, based upon my experiences with lost luggage with US Airways, I would imagine US Airways would reimburse you.

I too thought about this just recently. I flew into JFK from LAX. There was this foreign man who didn’t speak much English on our flight [who was also annoying the flight attendants to the third degree].

We were told on the plane our bags would be on carousel 5. We went downstairs and waited as usual. This foreign man, as the bags started coming out, I assume could not remember what his bag looked like so he started unzipping people’s bags right off the carousel to check and see if it was his! I was amazed. He of course couldn’t keep up but he sure as hell did a good job of delaying the whole process.

After opening like 5-7 or so bags, he looks over at me and said "Los Angeles?" and I'm like "what about it?" He says "my bag, is not here" all I said was "just wait" and then relocated myself to the other end. He was quite the character.

I've always thought that it would be so easy to steal luggage. There is all sorts of things in some people's luggage....laptops, pda's, ipods, and etc....all stuff you could sell on e-bay on make money and nobody catch you. There should be some type of "tighter" security controls on luggage. I wonder how much airlines lose b/c of this?

More surveillance that one might guess is taking place in most baggage claim facilities domestically. I recall a story on Nightline (or Dateline, or whatever) maybe 18 months ago ...... it was a string of video footages taken from all over the US in baggage claim areas of airports. Time and time again the footage showed folks marching off with other people's luggage -- these were all thieves and NOT misindentified bags. Essentially, these were folks who'd park in short term parking once a week or so, run in and grab two bags and then head to the car. Wild.

In a surprising number of cases, they were caught. Of course, I know that was what we were shown on TV. Who knows what percentage of these cases are eventually solved.

However, the show did cause me to take a moment in baggage claim areas thereafter and sure enough, I have yet to be in an airport baggage area (with the exception of Presque Isle, ME and Athens, GA) where there were not cleverly placed hidden (or not so hidden) cameras taking it all in.

Yes, I remember the bag checkers. I thought it was really stupid, because it wastes the time of the 99.9% of people who aren't stealing luggage.

One time I left my ticket jacket on the plane, and when I realized that I wouldn't be able to get out of baggage claim without the stickers, I decided to be a "thief" and wait for the luggage checkers to leave so that I could leave with my luggage. The luggage checkers didn't stand there all day. Once everyone got their luggage, they left. That is when you can leave with your luggage if you lost your claim check.

Question 1 is - how long til we get back to using technology for this (I am fine if its not a human being). Imagine a self checkout system where the baggage bar code is scanned, as well as the bar code stickers on the baggage stubs they put on your ticket jackets.

Great, let's make checking baggage even more onerous! :td:

This reminds me of the plot of "What's Up Doc," a hilarious slapstick movie about four look-alike bags, each of which gets taken by the wrong person at the SFO airport. One of my favorite movies as a child, and worth seeing anew. Partly filmed at the SFO Hilton, the Towers of which were still under construction at the time. I recall Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neil (?) as the leads.

Yes, I remember the bag checkers. I thought it was really stupid, because it wastes the time of the 99.9% of people who aren't stealing luggage.

One time I left my ticket jacket on the plane, and when I realized that I wouldn't be able to get out of baggage claim without the stickers, I decided to be a "thief" and wait for the luggage checkers to leave so that I could leave with my luggage. The luggage checkers didn't stand there all day. Once everyone got their luggage, they left. That is when you can leave with your luggage if you lost your claim check.



Great, let's make checking baggage even more onerous! :td:

JS

Spoken like someone who hasnt had someone walk off with their bags!

Point is, there is an easy technological solution to this for CLAIMING (not checking!) bags. First airline to adopt it can take the credit.

I hate seeing processes added to make things more complicated, but there are some pretty serious security implications as a result of the current system, the least of which is having someone accidentally walk off with your bag.

Interestingly enough, WN still does this at ABQ, but only for their own carosels. Other than that, I haven't seen anyone checking for a long time.

AFAIK, LAX checks tags.

LAX may check tags but they aren't very stringent about it, last time I was there you could walk around the checkpoint pretty easy. Maybe that's changed or maybe I've spent too much in airports to remember LAX. :)

My own baggage story comes from a wonderful RJ.. where you have to check your carry-on bags. I sat down in the RJ on the window seat and this biigg woman gets on board and I pray she's not sitting next to me .. and lucky she's not. She was a couple of rows in front of me, and apparently got off the RJ and took MY bag and started walking to her car.

Since I stuck around till the end looking for my bag, there was only one bag left (ie ms biggie's bag) and the USAirways agent said "Just take that bag and try to find that person". Lucky for me ms biggie was a slow mover and I caught her going into her car with my bag and swapped bags. I just wish I had left her bag on the tarmac rather than playing delivery service for an idiot.

AFAIK, LAX checks tags.

LAX used to be pretty vigilant about checking tags, up until a few years ago. I don't recall having my tags checked in at least 2 or 3 years.

I went with red...Different, but not different enough...Seeing more and more red ones, especially in my size/style. :mad:

One airport, I forget which, has a permanent bag on the carousel that goes around all the time and says something like what's said over the loudspeaker, "Many bags look alike...And this is not your bag!" I'm thinking of painting something to that degree on my bags...Perhaps more vulgar. ;)

JS

Spoken like someone who hasnt had someone walk off with their bags!

Point is, there is an easy technological solution to this for CLAIMING (not checking!) bags. First airline to adopt it can take the credit.

I am talking about checked baggage, not carry-ons.

How is scanning your own bags trying to get out of baggage claim an "easy technological solution"? That's just a big pain.

I hate seeing processes added to make things more complicated, but there are some pretty serious security implications as a result of the current system, the least of which is having someone accidentally walk off with your bag.

Like what???

RFID luggage tags and ID's. Solves it all.

(Not what people want to hear and/or have implemented but it solves the problem)

-JC

The last time I had someone check my bag w/ the ticket was at LGA over last summer (off of a AA flight)...kinda caught me off guard.

Like others-I try to have a different bag-IE not black...it was more that my favorite colors are red and pink...so went to red...

well guess what..alot of others are doing this now...so what did I do...

I found a great large luggage tag that reads: "Dysfunctional Family Member"-usually gets put back down quickly but with a smile! :)

RFID luggage tags and ID's. Solves it all.

(Not what people want to hear and/or have implemented but it solves the problem)

-JC

It solves the problem only if you are Walmart. ;)