Oh wow, do I wish I'd been reading FT in Feb. 2000!
We'd planned to fly SDF-ATL-PVD, to attend a convention in the Boston area.
Snowstorm. Flights cancelled, diverted, etc. We ended up at JFK at midnight where the kind DL people said, we're going home, see you at 6am, go find a piece of floor.
OK, fine, things happen. Mr. Hertz & Mr. Marriott came through for us. We drove on up to PVD the next day, and - chaos!! Lots of luggage around, but not our bags.
Next no bags, Saturday night.
Personal clothes? I can do laundry in a sink. We had several thousand dollars worth of merchandise in those bags that was going to turn into vast quantities of pumpkins after this weekend.
We asked, we begged, we pleaded: when the bags show up, PLEASE CALL US, we'll come and get them. It will be faster that way. PLEASE DON'T PUT THEM ON A DELIVERY TRUCK.
We made 3 visits to PVD, and each time said the same thing. Each time, we were promised they'd call us.
So, Sunday afternoon, we called again - we were scheduled to fly to Rome the next day, btw - and Guess What? Yes! The bags were on a truck... later we got a call from the truck driver, who couldn't find our friends' house, and LexPax was able to talk him into meeting us at the convention hotel about 2:30 in the afternoon.
Did we get compensation? Not one jot. I feel like a real patsy.