Southwest Rapid Rewards - Somewhere to store bags at MDW?

Title says it all. We'll be coming from MSN, flying SWA, and may have a boatload of time before the flight. Is there storage? If not, any ideas?

Ouch. I don't think so.

Were you going to go downtown for the day? If so, it's not very convenient, but take your stuff on the train and find some friendly bellman at a hotel not too far from the Orange Line and slip him a few bucks. I've done this at the Palmer House when dropping off something for a friend to pick up later, even though neither of us was staying at the hotel.

Or how about this: rent the cheapest car you can find at the airport that will hold the stuff, put it all inside, and never even turn the ignition. Hertz has some good WN promotions going right now (1.5 RR for a 1-day rental).

Only things I can think of. Sorry.

There has got to be a way...

What is the WN check-in limit? Up to 4 hours in advance. Probably not enough time... (Customers may check luggage and receive boarding passes at the Skycap Counter (in select locations) or Ticket Counter up to four hours prior to scheduled departure.)

Storage lockers? Or did the terrorists win that battle too?

WN does cargo, would that help, would they give some sort of credit since they would have to move them anyway, later.

Send them ahead on an earlier flight? Check-in, then cancel the boarding pass - would the bags still go through? Probably not very ethical though.

I don't think any hotels are physically connected to the airport.

Call the airport authority and see what they suggest?

I don't know what airline you are flying in from Madison but what if you just don't claim them immediately? They've got to end up in a baggage office, no?

There must be a way. Brighter minds than mine will figure this out.

just an idea, and kinda risky. go down to the # 7 or 8 baggage carousel, and stick your bags on there. and come back a few hours later and "claim" them, and go check in.

just an idea, and kinda risky. go down to the # 7 or 8 baggage carousel, and stick your bags on there. and come back a few hours later and "claim" them, and go check in.

I wouldn't do that. There is a person there who pulls bags off the carousels. I see that they always check the bag tag against paper that they have on a clip board. I have not tried it at MDW but have sucessfully checked bags more than 4 hours before a flight at other airports.

I'll provide more details. This is Labor Day wknd, schedule looks something like this:

SWA Weds: CLE-MDW, 2 nights in chicago, prob at Palmer House
Fri: getting a ride to madison
Mon: getting ride back to chicago, and at some point flying MDW-CLE

however, our ride might get us there at 11AM and we might be there til 9...I'd like to go to the Cubs game at 3, but we'll see

Ouch. I don't think so.

Were you going to go downtown for the day? If so, it's not very convenient, but take your stuff on the train and find some friendly bellman at a hotel not too far from the Orange Line and slip him a few bucks. I've done this at the Palmer House when dropping off something for a friend to pick up later, even though neither of us was staying at the hotel.

Or how about this: rent the cheapest car you can find at the airport that will hold the stuff, put it all inside, and never even turn the ignition. Hertz has some good WN promotions going right now (1.5 RR for a 1-day rental).

Only things I can think of. Sorry.

The car might work, and Palmer house might too, as we'd be staying there earlier in the week

There has got to be a way...

What is the WN check-in limit? Up to 4 hours in advance. Probably not enough time... (Customers may check luggage and receive boarding passes at the Skycap Counter (in select locations) or Ticket Counter up to four hours prior to scheduled departure.)

Storage lockers? Or did the terrorists win that battle too?

WN does cargo, would that help, would they give some sort of credit since they would have to move them anyway, later.

Send them ahead on an earlier flight? Check-in, then cancel the boarding pass - would the bags still go through? Probably not very ethical though.

I don't think any hotels are physically connected to the airport.

Call the airport authority and see what they suggest?

I don't know what airline you are flying in from Madison but what if you just don't claim them immediately? They've got to end up in a baggage office, no?

There must be a way. Brighter minds than mine will figure this out.

I called the number on MDW's site, they answer as Ohare, and then if you want to talk to someone it connects you to their 311 line.

See above about our plans...

I'm assuming lockers are gone (remember, if you can store your bags in a locker, then the terrorists win), and I'm assuming the 4 hour window is still in effect, unless we can get a nice supervisor. Cargo maybe? I'd be reluctant to check the bags then cancel our flight, as I feel like if I did that, I'd be telling my story to CNN later on about our bags being destroyed in a controlled explosion by TSA...

Take the shuttle to the mote complex (10 min). Stop at one of the hotel and show the deskclerk a $20 spot. Likely he will hold your bags for the day.

If not, trot to next hotel in the complex and do the same. It will work.

I see that they always check the bag tag against paper that they have on a clip board.

Are you talking about an employee who stands by the exit from the carousels and verifies your bag tag against the receipt stapled to the boarding pass jacket?

They stopped doing that quite some time ago.

Nobody checks nothing now.

Also no lockers at MDW.

I just checked Hotwire for a car for that one day: $23-$28 plus the fee. Hertz is $43 with a discount code. Surely that would work well.

The car sounds like a good idea. But can you leave it in the rental lot like that?

You could always abandon your bags, wait for them to be taken away by Chicago's finest, and claim them later ("Aw, shucks! I can't believe I forgot my bags!"). That assumes they've not been destroyed at that point, but it has the potential to be cheaper than a rental car. :)

Are you talking about an employee who stands by the exit from the carousels and verifies your bag tag against the receipt stapled to the boarding pass jacket? They stopped doing that quite some time ago. Nobody checks nothing now.


No I am not talking about the people checking to see if you have the correct bag as you exit and you are incorrect that nobody checks anything. You will notice that there are often bags sitting on the ground away from the carousels. They are there because periodically a SWA employee checks bags that have been on the carousels for a while and pulls them off. She ( it is usually a woman ) checks each bag tag against a list of flights on her clipboard as she pulls if off the carousel and lines it up on the ground. So you should not do as Grain suggested and just put your bag on the carousel to be picked up later because this employee will see that there is no correct bag tag on your luggage, and I suspect the Chicago police would be called.

Title says it all. We'll be coming from MSN, flying SWA, and may have a boatload of time before the flight. Is there storage? If not, any ideas?

Sammy,
back to your original question. I don't know if this applies to MDW or not, but a while back at some of the airports I worked at, the companies who deliver delayed bags would store bags, especially if they had a work area at the airport. It may be that the TSA has put a stop to this. I just don't know. I will see if I can find an answer from our MDW folks.
Brian

Sammy,
may have some good news for you, I will let everyone know.
Brian

okay, I am not sure when you are traveling, so I will post what I know now. I have been told that there is a company next to MDW that will store bags. They are on 55th Street, between the Employee parking lots. Not sure if they do day storage. Once I get a phone number or more info, I will PM you.
Brian

okay, I am not sure when you are traveling, so I will post what I know now. I have been told that there is a company next to MDW that will store bags. They are on 55th Street, between the Employee parking lots. Not sure if they do day storage. Once I get a phone number or more info, I will PM you.
Brian

Assuming they take all comers, it would be more helpful to post the company's information in this thread, please. @:-)

Assuming they take all comers, it would be more helpful to post the company's information in this thread, please. @:-)

As long as there aren't some restrictions or stuff, I wll post it here.