whatupbovice

Hi all, trying to gauge what kind of compensation I can get for the massive headache that the following caused me.

I'm an AA Platinum and was flying in Y.

Booked on IAH-CLT-DCA on Jan 1. Inbound flight to IAH went mechanical, so GA confirmed me on IAH-DFW-DCA at the last minute and on the last flight of the evening. I didn't expect my bag to make it, and sure enough online bag tracker showed that it was on the earliest flight to DCA the next morning (DFW-LAS-DCA); and indeed the baggage office at DCA confirmed that that evening. I was told my bag would be in hand the afternoon of Sat 1/2.

Come ~9 PM on 1/2, no word at all and no incoming phone calls. I called the central AA baggage office and agent tells me that my bag arrived at DCA in the morning and that an attempt was made to deliver but it was unable to be delivered. This makes no sense as my phone was on my person all day and a number of friends/work colleagues were able to call me yet I received no incoming or missed calls from any other numbers. After some impassioned begging, I am able to get the direct number for the company AA contracts to deliver delayed baggage out of DCA.

This is where the fun begins. The next 36 hours are some of the most infuriating I've ever experienced, with a lot of non-responsiveness and baseless guarantees and promises from the contracted company. Short-ish version here.

The first thing I notice is that about 90% of the time I try calling the company (I made about 15-20 attempted calls over the course of that evening, and about 2-3 dozen more over the next day and a half), no one answers, despite the fact I was told at a later time that the office is open until 1 AM. When I'm finally able to get someone on the line, he has no explanation for why it says the bag was unable to be delivered on Saturday 1/2, but says they will get it to me by Sunday 1/3 for sure.

By 1 PM Sunday, I haven't heard from anyone so I call the company to get an update. After about 45 mins of calling every few minutes and getting no response, I finally get through to someone who says I will have my bag by 4 PM. I am pretty frustrated at this point and press him on whether that is an estimate or a hard deadline. He says it is a hard deadline and I will have my bag for sure by 4.

6 PM Sunday night. No word from anyone and no incoming phone calls. I struggle to get ahold of someone at the company for another 15-20 minutes, finally asking for a manager. He tells me that because of the failed attempt yesterday (that I'm convinced was not ever actually made), the bag went back to AA and the company just got my bag back at 6 PM (ie a few minutes before I called). There won't be any more scheduled deliveries to my area that evening, but if I'd like they can do a special rush request and I will get bag between 11 PM - 3 AM. As my drivers license (coming home from an int'l trip so I had my passport/passport card in carryon while leaving license in checked bag), work clothes, and computer charger are in the bag, I tell him to put in that request. He says that my bag will definitely be delivered by 3 AM.

Come morning of 1/4 (now 2 days since my bag arrived at DCA), no word from anyone. I struggle all morning to get ahold of the company (stayed home from work as no license and no work clothes) and after literally 2-3 dozen attempts, finally get through. Of course my bag never went out last night, no explanation for why. Person on the phone says they will send it out this morning and will be in my hand by 11 AM.

11:30 AM: Nothing. Enraged at the incompetency of this company that can't seem to get it together, I struggle on the phone for another 30 minutes before finally getting ahold of someone who I pressure into giving me the number of the actual driver responsible for my bag. Finally get in touch with driver, who promises a 1 PM arrival.

1 PM: After an unbelievable ~60 hours, my bag is finally in hand. I notice immediately as the driver hands it over that the TSA lock on my bag has been opened and the zippers moved. After opening my bag at home, it is obvious that stuff has been moved (various things changed zippered compartments), yet there is no letter from TSA saying that my bag was opened. While I don't think anything went missing, I do find this disturbing as every time TSA has opened a bag of mine, they leave a note.


Apologies for the long-windedness here, but I tried to keep it as succinct as I could. Honestly, this whole process was absurd and it boggles my mind as to why various employees at the company would repeatedly promise me things they were unable to deliver on. In addition, why would the driver on Saturday say that he was not able to deliver when in reality no attempt to deliver was ever made? Finally, it is unfathomable to me that 90% of the time a phone in an office rings, no one is willing or present to answer it.

I understand that the majority of my gripes lie not with AA directly but with the company they contracted to provide delivery. Yet I feel like that this does fall under AA's responsibility as they should at least have some idea of how the company does business. In the end, I had no clothes, computer, or drivers license for a weekend and missed over half a day of work. My bag was at DCA the morning of 1/2 and I didn't get it until 1 PM on 1/4 -- this, I think, is the most ridiculous part of the whole ordeal.

I will be writing a strongly worded letter to AA requesting compensation, but would love to hear others' thoughts and suggestions for what to request.