Trip Reports - Lost Baggage and customer care

I suppose with a title like that [oxymoronic] one could expect an entertaining read. But I assure one and all, this has not been entertaining to experience. I planned a family vacation to Buenos Aires , Argentina. This trip had a dual purpose, vacation, and to purchase a collector car that is very difficult to find in collector condition [restored]. Upon arrival to Argentina, my suitcase and my daughters were lost, leaving us with the clothes on our back, which I might add had been on our backs by that time, some 30 hours or so. We were promised the bags would be returned by the following morning 10:30 or so. NO bags. This went on until Thursday. [we landed on a Sunday] We spent our time daily shopping for essentials, not touring. Now here is where it gets aggravating. The contact telephone number of the cars' seller was in my bag. Upon receipt of the bag [Thursday] I called the seller and was informed that he waited an extra day after not hearing from me, and sold the car Wednesday. Damn. Upon return to the US all passengers connecting with the LA flight from the Argentine flight, were disappointed to find that we did not have baggage to claim. We could have been informed of this fact during the flight and not have waited at the carosel until the belt stopped and the last bag was claimed and then en mass lined up at the baggage office only to find out that our bags were on the way and could be claimed in 45 min. from the next arriving flight from Atlanta. That done, I was told to submit all receipts for clothes we had purchased during the "no clothes period". Up to $100 each would be paid [ as of today, no money yet] but they did send 2 $50 travel certificates as a good will gesture. The sending of these certificates was mentioned by a customer car agent and I said please don't bother and wanted to speak to some one that could authorize 2 tickets to return, when someday, I find the next car. I was told that was out of the question. Mind you now, I haven't lost my temper once or raised my voice. I looked on the web and found the vice pres. name of customer care and called and spoke to his secretary who assured me that he would look into the matter and get back to me with in 48 hours. I called her back in one week, and she was puzzled why I had not been contacted. She said that I would be contacted again. Wow, I was. But this agent seems to know when to call me, when I can't answer. [sounds a little like catch 22] So phone tag is the game we play. I've left instructions on my contact # but never get a call back with in the same day. The only human beings that I can reach in this matter are in a call center in Bombay, India, and are difficult , at best, to understand. They have no suggestions other that keep leaving messages for the customer care agent that had previously contacted me. Thanks for that. Oh, did I mention, all this communicating is being done on a long distance #, not an 800. Dear Reader of this tale, do you know if the $50 travel certs. are transferable, you may have them. And if you think that the Delta folks read these pages, what are the chances that something good will come from all this????

First, welcome to FlyerTalk!

Answering your last two questions:

The travel certificates may be transferrable, but you need to read the "fine print" to get the answer.

If someone from Delta (is that the right airline? You mentioned something about an Argentine flight from LA) reads your post, he/she may be able to help. That said, I had a challenging time following your post. If I understood correctly, you traveled to Argentina from the U.S. in an effort to buy a car and for a vacation, but your luggage did not arrive in Buenos Aires with you. (I did not understand the part about your daughters being lost.)

You arrived on Sunday and were reunited with your luggage on Thursday, and by then the owner of the vehicle you wanted to purchase had moved on to another buyer.

In response to your lost luggage, you were offered two $50 travel certficates, but you wanted two tickets to return to Argentina whenever you could find another car to purchase. Delta said that was impossible, so you searched the internet and found the name of a VP in Customer Care and you called to contact him/her, but you played phone tag, and not via a toll-free number, but on a direct dial number.

Your story is quite unfortunate, but I would agree with Delta that two return tickets to Argentina would be excessive compensation for this problem. To me, the airline lost your luggage and should compensate you for clothes and other necessary items that you bought between Sunday and Thursday. The fact that the phone number of the car collector was in your lost luggage was beyond the control of the airline. If the number was so critical, I'm not clear why it wasn't in your pocket or in your carry-on bag. I view this as akin to checking a camera or laptop or other item that you wouldn't want lost or stolen.

I would continue to communicate with the person that you have located in Customer Care, but give him/her a specific time to contact you. I would also put your experience in writing and deliver it to the same person at Customer Care via mail or fax.

Good luck!

A most unfortunate situation that was, unfortunately, made worse by some bad decisions on your part. As dchristiva noted, putting a vital telephone number in your checked luggage was a very, very bad idea. Also, did you even need to check luggage? You were only gone for a week -- I would not have checked a bag in those circumstances, preferring rather to carry-on fewer clothes and have them washed once there. Even if you did need to check bags, you should have carried at least a change of clothes and your toiletries with you. Every time you check a bag, you have to assume that it will be lost and plan accordingly.

While I concur with the previous posters that it was not the best choice to pack the contact information of the car-seller in your checked luggage, I disagree on the suggestion that you should not have checked luggage.

Airlines offer checked luggage as a service, and indeed encourage you to check luggage rather than carry on. Given this as a practice, I think that airlines should deliver on their service and should be held accountable when they do not, at least to the extent of the cost of the replacement items you purchased, and/or cleaning costs.

An aside: I normally do not comment on posters' spelling errors, but I think this one has caused confusion so I will suggest a clarification.

You wrote: "Upon arrival to Argentina, my suitcase and my daughters were lost"

I presume you meant: " Upon arrival to Argentina, my suitcase and my daughter's [suitcase] were lost"

It appears that dchristiva thought that you had lost your daughters on the flight. I certainly did until I re-read the post.

Gee fellas, as far as the phone # goes, I agree with what you have said about keeping them with me. I backed up all my contact #s [friends, hotel, transportation companies] with an email that I could retreive at the hotel, on their computer. The only # that didn't survive, and was lost, because it was a program removed, and it had expired by the time I arrived to the hotel, you guessed it, the car seller. The point that all commenters seemed to miss and I consider essential, why did it take 5 days to deliver my bag? It should have come on the next flight , just as the return flights' bags were put on the next flight after ours. The fact that the car I was buying is an Argentine favorite and is revered by all and certainly would have been an honor and a privilage to drive this classic as a transportation piece, with your family, for an experience that would be something like driving a perfectly restored Packard on your daily commings and goings in Los Angles as perhaps you might immagine, a unforgetable joy for the car lover. As far as my typo [daughter's] cut me some slack this time, OK? A little punitive dammages in this case, would be in order. [2 return round trip tickets]

We don't get it?!

You seem to want compensation for your own stupidty. If the car and the number were that important, you would have had the number on your person - period.

A little punitive dammages in this case, would be in order. [2 return round trip tickets]

I disagree. I am very sorry for your experience. I think all of us who travel frequently know what it is like to have that sinking feeling when you see the last piece of luggage come off the carousel, and it is not yours. And it is unfortunate that it took the airline 4 days to locate them and get them to you. It certainly is frustrating. However, the airline did locate your bags and get them to you. If I read your posts correctly, you want additional compensation because you will have to plan a return trip to Argentina to buy another car. It is not the airline's fault you packed a crucial telephone number in your checked baggage - I think the $100 the airline provided in compensation for the delay is reasonable. Any time you fly, you should realize that baggage does get lost. When I have to check a bag (mine was once lost for 5 days on a trip to Budapest), I now always pack essentials and enough clothes for a few days in my carryon, just in case.

fascarman, I'm pretty sure that I DID understand your OP and "got it". I stand by my answer. I don't know why it took 5 days to get your luggage, but the airline seems willing to compensate you for items that you needed to purchase while your bags were enroute. Further, I stand by my assertion that you should have kept such a vital piece of information in your pocket or in a carry on bag. I understand that you were relying on technology to provide the number once you arrived at the hotel, but I think that idea was bad planning on your part. Never assume that your checked luggage is going to arrive with you or that technology is going to perform for you.

Given the importance of the car, I think you should have had the phone number in multiple places, including on paper in your possession at all times. Unfortunately this sounds like a disappointing way to have to learn such a lesson. I hope that a similar car becomes available to you soon, but I don't think the airline has any further responsibility, unless you want to argue with them that $100 wasn't enough to pay for the clothes and other essentials you needed between Sunday and Thursday.

We don't get it?!

You seem to want compensation for your own stupidty. If the car and the number were that important, you would have had the number on your person - period. You seem to have a way with words. Let me see now, when you call the fire dept., it is implied that they will be arriving shortly, asap. When you check your bag you expect the bag and contents to arrive as implied. So I hope that if you ever have a fire [if your house is that important] and summon the fire brigade [using your logic] , that you have had a lot of beer to drink, so you can start putting out the fire with your little hose, in case they don't arrive. Oh, did I mention, you didn't spell stupidity correctly. Keep on dreaming.

Look, did you post for advice or a row, because the tone of your responses are starting to verge on the downright hostile!!!

I've read your post and the only thing that went wrong from the airline's point of view was YOUR BAGS WERE LOST BUT EVENTUALLY REUNITED WITH YOU. A sad story but the airline's primary job is to get you from Point A to Point B.

You were incredibly foolish to put a phone number inside your luggage - what on earth were you thinking... would you have done this with your house/car keys or medication??? No, you wouldn't have.

So now you're p*ssed off because YOU didn't have access to a phone number to buy a car. That is NOT the airline's problem and any offer of compensation over the standard is rather generous. Why on earth should they pay for further flights back to the USA for you - it's not their fault you couldn't keep a handle on your personal items.

Take it on the chin and learn from the experience.