My BIL is in a motorized wheelchair, and is a quadriplegic. He not only travels in that chair, but also must bring other items which are checked that he needs at his destination.

DELTA lost all those other items, but, thankfully, not the wheelchair. They were never found. That was the last time he flew any airline.

This can happen with anything on any airline. I'm not a UA apologist by any stretch of the imagination, but it happened to someone in my family as well. No, it didn't get any press.