Actually,I think that,if one continues to travel with AA,the flight vouchers may be a better option than cash. If one really will spend the money on AA travel, then these are the same as cash. Plus,since it's cheaper for them,they're likely to give a higher amount in voucher than in cash. Everybody wins in this case.

Cheers.

Brp's conjecture may explain why AA was willing to give us each a couple of hundred on top of the reimbursement for expenses.

Re Dallas49er's reminder to remember the FT way, I should have mentioned that my husband kept politely pushing the matter up the chain at AA and didn't settle for their first offer.

While AA messed up on your bags, you cannot blame AA for an ill-planned vacation.

You should have known flight delays do happen, and one should always fly in embarkation port 1 day early. Sometimes if your port is far away, such as Whitier or Seward for an Alaska cruise, you need to make sure the flight arrival time as the port is a good 2+ or 4+ hours away - and should your flight miss connection, thus have to take the next day flight, it may still cause you to miss your ship!

Secondly, you should pack in a way that the whole family's stuff spread out in different bags, i.e. a bag contains some clothings for EVERYONE, in hope not all bags got lost in the transit.

You should go to Cruisecritic.com to look up the very good write-ups to guide the first time cruisers.

Better planning next time, you would have a much more enjoyable and stress-free cruise.

I have a question - if the OP had booked his family's air travel through the cruise line's Air/Sea department instead of independently, would the cruise line not have been responsible for getting the missing bags to the ship ASAP? (If true, I would also guess that the cruise line's reps might have had more clout than a single traveler).

NO.

You should read the fine print of the cruiseline, they are acting as "agents" to provide air transportation for the convenience of the passengers, but in no form or fashion, be responsible for any mishap caused by airlines. On top of that, the air tickets you got from cruiselines, are Consolidator tickets.

There are enough horror stories posted in the forums of Cruisecritic.com, and the horror stories applied to every mass-market cruiseline.

Read this sticky to understand the peril of so-called "Cruise Air".

In fact, all stickies on that particular forum, are well-worth reading, even for people who cruise frequently. We cruise at least one to two times a year, and I still find info new to me every now and then.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=128

First of all, I agree when go from airplane to cruise, do anything you can to leave at least an extra day between arrival in the port and departure of the ship, and do anything you can to avoid checking luggage. It is something when I take my three kids on a cruise, I spend extra time planning (the packing) so we do carry-on only, including several 10 and 14 day cruises.

That said, in your case I would request the entire amount, and see what happens.

Last year going JFK-BGI I was made to check my tumi roller that I had forever taken on AA as part of their at the time carry-on crack down. I was connecting from BGI via a private plane onto a small island that was also served by AE from SJU, but anyway, I chose to go via BGI. Needless to say when I got to BGI, my checked bag was not there. Now keep in mind that I am hanging out on the tarmac at BGI near the FBO (private jet terminal) a bit concerned since it was up to the staff from the jet company to pull by bag from AA. At any rate, one of the AA people came over to me and confirmed it had not come on the plane, so it must be in NY. We filled out all the paperwork, I got on my charter and headed off with my gf on vacation.

I called as soon as I got to the resort, and AA had not located the bag. Day 2 they had not located the bag either, so it was a bit concerning, and several calls, etc. left the unsettling feeling the bag might be gone forever since it hadn't been located. At that point I had with me a USA Today in which there was an interview with a SVP at AA discussing how they were trying to improve customer service. I had spent at this point probably about $400 - polo shirts and shorts, swim trunks, etc. which at the resort store were expensive, but the only place to buy anything on the island.

I wrote him a very polite email identifying myself as a 5 million mile AA customer, seeking his help in tracking the bag since the only thing AA lost baggage could say if it hadn't been located by Day 5 file a claim.

Within a couple hours I got an email from the SVP and a phone call from the GM or MD of AA at JFK. They were apologetic and said they had made personal searches at JFK, MIA and SJU to no avail, but would do so again at the end of the day and again the next day as sometimes bags just show up.

At any rate, on Day 4 there was a knock on my door a voila, my bag. On Day 5, AA Baggage called me to begin the process of claiming my lost bag. In other words, AA didn't know they returned it to me. I told the person I had received my bag, which really seemed to stun him, because they had no record of ever finding it. I then took the time to re-contact the SVP, tell him what happened and thank him for his attempts to help. He asked if there was any expenses I incurred, and I told him I picked up some clothes, but it was things I would have bought anyway. A couple weeks later I got a transferrable travel voucher of some sort worth $500. The point is there is no reason not to ask, just be reasonable and polite. Also if you are not getting what you believe are adequate responses, escalate your cause to the executive ranks.

If they had purchased travel insurance for their cruise to include their flight costs then the insurance company would have compensated them for their lost baggage.

I don't think such a policy is realistic - it would likely be abused. People will just spend outrageously on things they'd never otherwise buy since it's free. Then you'll get people who book tickets intentionally where the bags are likely to misconnect then spend lavishly at the destination for reimbursement.

People just need to be realistic about travel and prepare better. If you absolutely need checked baggage and loss would be catastrophic to the trip, then plan to arrive a day early. If I'm headed to Nepal for a month long mountain trek and my bags are delayed, should AA have to buy me thousands of dollars worth of expensive gear? No, it would be up to me to arrive a day or two before my trek departs.

This example is the best one I've read on FT of how to go about getting compensation. It should be stickied.

Losing bags is no fun and I don't see a lot of people taking advantage of it to go on a shopping spree. Yup, the OP should have come in a day ahead of time, but the bottom line is that AA lost the bags. I think the OP spent a lot less than he reasonably could have. You'll note that I didn't say that AA should reimburse all purchases every time (although such a policy would virtually guarantee improvement in baggage delivery). I think the OP's expenditures were very reasonable.

Mike

Some good suggestions in the replies - so to summarize:

1. Always arrive the day before you are to begin a "long/extended" journey from your main arrival destination (such as a Cruise or train/road travel).
2. Buy travel insurance - for an expensive, non-refundable vacation
3. (My motto for more than travel) - Plan for the worst, hope for the best

Also, did you purchase your tickets (airline) using a credit card? If so, have you checked the travel insurance section of your CC benefits? Depending on the benefits - you may have a claim to make there as well. I know my Amex would pay for a lot of the expenses you're talking about.

Take care

While I agree with, and practice myself, the very sensible option of flying a day early to a cruise, in the OP's case this would have been irrelevant. They could not find his bags for 4 days, so even if he had flown in a day early, the bags would still have been missing for 3 days!

Not necessarily... the bags may have never been lost at all on the day prior. Even if so, they may have been merely delayed until later the same day. In any event, the additional time prior to sailing would have allowed for contingencies before getting underway, had the bags not materialized by that time.

As I said before, ship them to the hotel or the ship.

I'm sorry, but most people are not going to do that. One would expect your bags to show up on time or at the worst the next day. Telling him he should have sent them directly to the ship is not helpful. What I find disturbing is that every time he asked the story was either they were on their way or had not been found at all.

Actually, you miss an important piece of the info in OP's post - they almost MISSED their ship because he had to file loss baggage claim and spent couple hours at the airport.

Even not for any baggage issue, it is, I am sorry to say that, downright stupid to fly in on the day of sailing, and only allow a few hours to go to the pier which in OP's case, is from LAX to Long Beach. (Unlike FLL and Port Everglade, which are pretty much just accross I-95). What if there is a flight delay? He will be totally SOL.

Regarding the tracking of luggage - it is not unusual the airline cannot pinpoint where the luggages are, once they went astray. A friend went to MAD last year on IB. IB lost his luggage. The bag eventually caught up with him Day 5 at Granada - that was, he already left Madrid for Cordoba, and then Seville, and arrived Granada - that was when the luggage finally caught up with him.