Originally Posted by
chollie
It is reasonable to expect that if I check your bag within the timeframe mandated by the airline, the bag should be on the same flight with me.
The carrier agrees to get me from A>B. It does not unilaterally decide to reroute me from A>C. If my bag is delayed because of misrouting, I certainly think a refund of the bag fee is in order.
I agree, this is the expectation and I am not necessarily against the idea - I just do not think it will happen.
Not many bags go from A to C. More common is connecting or interlined bags do not make connections. What if you were flying OGG - HNL on HA, then connecting to ORD on UA and your bags did not make it and you paid a fee to HA. Who should refund your fee? HA who has your money or should UA refund money it does not even have?
I could see the carriers getting reluctant to interline bags or even increase checkin times to give bags more time if they were forced to give refunds.
Carriers have their own incentive to cut down on late bags. They estimate their cost of a delayed bag (manpower, paperwork, delivery...) to be over $100.
Compensation might be a better approach in some cases. The number of delayed bags is probably around 4-5 per 1000 and I just do not think the pressure is there to initiate refunds. I can not get excited about something that will not happen.