Threatened with denied boarding at PTY due to missing bag
 

Ticketed with AA on following itinerary

BOG -> PTY -> MIA -> LHR

First sector from BOG was on Avianca, all subsequent with AA. At checkin in BOG was given luggage tag showing bag tagged through to LHR and advised no need to collect at any intermediate points. Agent tagged luggage with Red ITI tag.

Arrived PTY and confirmed with local AV staff no need to collect bag etc and connected airside to AA flight to PTY (6 hour layover between these).

After boarding started at PTY, gate agent had just called group 6 for boarding when my name was called and asked to present at the desk.

Presented and agent informed me that they had not received my bag from Avianca and accordingly would deny boarding since I didn't have my bag.

Protested to a supervisor that a missed bag wasn't a valid reason for denial of boarding, requested assistance and asked why they had waited until 15 mins pre departure to raise this when I'd been in terminal for 6 hours.

Remaining passengers boarded, doors closed. Supervisor insistent that I would have to retrieve my bag and then travel standby on the remainder of my itinerary.

As you may imagine, not impressed with this suggestion. After a while, another one of the gate agents informed me that I should contact a particular email address and request my bag be sent on. I was warned NOT to file a baggage irregularity report, otherwise he would refuse to send my bag on. ...?

If I complied with this, then I would be permitted to board. I said yes, got the email and rushed down the jetway to be the last person onboard.

Now bag snafus happen, I get that. But I'm not impressed that AA left it til the last minute to raise the issue and then only permitted me to board if I agreed not to file a baggage report?

What kind of shady crap is that and what is the actual position on pax knowingly continuing a trip sans checked luggage?

Sounds like complete Central America wild west made up nonsense.

Bags get lost all the time, I've never heard of a GA threatening to deny boarding because the airline didn't transfer a bag correctly between flights.

No idea what email address they told you, but when you get back to LHR, just file a lost bag report with the AA baggage office there (assuming your bag doesn't make it). Forget about emailing or whatever the GA said about not sending your bag on, what are they going to do just hold it there?! :confused: Out of curiosity what email did they give you?

Complete :rolleyes:

I wonder if the Latin America operational group of AA (if there is such a thing) is strictly measured on official baggage incidents. My home airport is MDE, and when I have a baggage issue they bend over backwards to not have an official report entered in the system. If I have a late bag they have a paper form they fill out and the incident is not logged in the regular system, though the bag is always delivered in a day or two. Last year, I had a bag severely damaged. I said that I would enter a claim and the baggage supervisor's face went white. She insisted that I absolutely should not do that and took me to a room with a bunch of brand new suitcases with the tags still on. She told me to pick out any one that I want. I walked away with a new suitcase that was of similar quality and much larger than the damaged one.

Wow. This was one of the more interesting stories on FT that I have read in a long time.

IME international bag connections through a U.S. airport is frequently iffy.

If this happened at MIA, where the bag would've needed to have been collected and re-dropped, it would be ever-so-slightly more plausible, but no reason for an I-I baggage transfer at PTY to be denied.

His bag did not even made to PTY, let alone MIA the next leg.

So how is that having anything to do with US airport when it is not even at the last airport BEFORE US?

MIA does not require baggage collection for an Intl to Intl connection.

Isn't AA one of the airlines at MIA where International to International means you don't have to claim your bag? Not that the OP would be in this situation as he didn't have his bag, but if he did, some I-I connections don't require baggage claim at MIA.

I see Antarius answered my question.

Perhaps there is an ongoing problem with AV->AA bag connections, with AV frequently losing/delaying bags and AA having to pay out because of the way lost bag compensation works on multi-carrier itineraries. If AA felt this was a big-enough problem, perhaps they put in this (unofficial) rule so as to reduce the amount of money they're paying out. I doubt that the individual GA just made up the rule on the spot.

TIL. Until I googled, I didn't realize how many airports were capable of thru-checking I-I these days.

Reminds me of the time we had a UA flight cancelled after checked a bag. They rebooked us on AA over the phone, but the agent said not to tell the AA that we had checked bags or they might not let us board, but when we got to our destination to file a lost bag claim with AA :-) This was back when AA had More Room Throughout Coach and we had a toddler, so must have been circa 2003-4; 4. Involved getting UA to print paper tickets to take to AA checkin.

I was nice and went back to the airport the next day -- the AA agent took me into the UA luggage area behind their adjacent counters and our bags were there, so no extra cost to AA other than the bag report itself.

So by way of an update.

Arrived at LHR and of course no sign of the bag. Went straight to the AA baggage counter and related the sorry tale to them and filed a baggage report.

Whilst at the desk they checked and found a report on the bag advising Avianca had put the bag on their daily direct overnight from BOG to LHR and it would be couriered to me either later this evening or tomorrow as that flight lands early afternoon LDN time.

Will be following up with AA on the shocking conduct of their agents at PTY. That sort of shady crap needs to be stomped on hard.

The email I was told to contact (and received replies from was):

[email protected]

Good point.