That's one of the great mysteries of life. I doubt OP will ever receive an explanation of how it got there. The important thing is it's been found and is being returned.

Haven't looked very hard, have you?

Guide to, and listing of, compensation (consolidated)

Although 2 separate tickets means that neither carrier is responsible for a passenger misconnect, ordinarily there would be nothing to prevent bags from being through-checked. Certainly you could do this with most carriers, even between alliances and on different tickets. Unless Virgin Australia is a carrier that generally doesn't interline (like Southwest in the US), perhaps you were just mis-informed on this issue at check-in in Orlando. An advantage of through-checking in this case is that once the bag was found, they would have transported it to Sydney at their expense.

Steve thanks for the info.
AA said she couldnt through check and had to collect bags in LA.
To be fair to them the "lost" baggage desk did offer to send the bag if/when they found them to Sydney on Qantas but to be quite honest we both felt that we had little confidence with the system and of course would not be able to determine what is missing (if anything) until Bag arrived in Sydney.

Heading off to the airport shortly hoping to get the bag back and then my son will take it to sydney next week. I have to convince AA not to charge him for excess baggage though , i think that would finally set me off!!

I think they are going to charge for excess baggage and to be honest, I don't think you can complain about that.

This is all certainly only my opinion, but they offered to send the bags to Sydney at their expense, and that is a generous offer that you shouldn't have passed up. Now that you and your daughter have made the choice to not take that offer, all bets are off. Also, since your daughter is in Sydney, she's the only one that really CAN determine if something is missing, so really she won't know what's missing until her brother gets the bags to her in Sydney, so that's probably not the best argument to use!

With all this said, good luck, and I hope that they don't charge you!

All a bit premature as i havent got the bag in my hand yet.

I think you could be right in that they will try and charge excess . The reason we got them sent here was the baggage desk at LAX did not fill her with confidence.
We know what gifts we bought her and my wife helped pack her bag so i tihnk we will be able to spot if any major item has gone.
The fact is they missed her connection and as you rightly say they would have sent them via qantas to Sydney and then via a courier co to my daughters house. If that is less than $90 excess charge i will be stunned.
But surely bearing in mind the circumstances its not unfair to ask them to waive the charge.

Agreed. I think, though, that the OP's son should explain the situation at check-in. Hopefully the agent will waive the excess bag fee even though AA isn't obligated to do so.

It's certainly worth a try.

I am a little confused. Why is the bag going back to Florida? I would have AA send it on to a next flight to your daughter as it is their fault. How is you son going in a week going to help her with her clothes, toothbrush etc etc.???

The OP has already explained that decision.

Hopefully, the son will be able to check bags all the way through, so we won't get "Lost baggage part deux".

An update.

I got the bag off of the carosel at Tampa airport. Looking at the tags the bags did make it to LA but for some reason didnt go the final few yards to the belt in LA.

Nothing missing and all intact.

I spoke to a AA official who was sympathetic to the excess charge and told me to speak to a supervisor when my son checks in on Sunday. Its now more of a principle thing as i dont think its fair that i should have to pay $90 to effectively get her bags back to LA.

A funny incident though at TPA. We collected the bag as it came off the DFW flight with everyone elses. My wife took it to the car park, but i thought it would be common decency of me to inform the baggage staff that i had collected it. I went to the baggage office and lined up, then told them my file no and that i had collected it so they could mark it as collected or whatever.

She then demanded ID , i gave it to her but laughed and said if i hadnt come to you then you would never had known that the bag had even been collected.
Just for future reference She did tell me that the normal policy is that the bag stays on the belt for 90 mins and then they come along and move it to be delivered by courier.

I will update the thread on sunday but wanted to thank you ALL for your input it was much appreciated.

AA Lost Baggage Question
 

I have a AA lost baggage question in regards to compensation. Recently a family member's baggage (ski equipment) was delayed for over 48 hours on an international ski trip.

He submitted a complaint to customer relations as follows:

I am writing about baggage delays I have had on multiple AA flights, most recently on a trip to Switzerland. I was traveling on flight 400 from DFW to JFK and flight 64 from JFK to ZRH on Saturday, December 26, 2009. There was a two-hour layover between the flights. One of my bags containing a snowboard and gear was lost in transit, and I did not receive it until more than 48 hours after my arrival at ZRH. This delay ruined a portion of my trip, not to mention the time and expense wasted to make sure that I received the bag at all. This was the second time in one year that I have had trips ruined by delayed baggage on AA flights. I expect to be compensated for this mistake, and I would like someone to contact me directly to discuss it. Thank you.

The response from customer relations:

After reading about your recent experience with us, it's easy to understand your disappointment. We let you down and I'm truly sorry for all that occurred.

We know that it is particularly disappointing to arrive at your destination without your bags. That is why we work very hard at American Airlines to implement procedures to avoid baggage mishandling. While it remains one of our biggest challenges, we constantly monitor our performance and standards in this area in an effort to improve-- and your experience will form part of this record. While I realize it may be of little solace to you, please know that we are doing our very best to prevent such aggravating situations. We'll do our best not to disappoint you again.

As a gesture of goodwill, I've credited 10,000 bonus miles to your AAdvantage® account. I hope you will be encouraged to give us another chance to serve you soon.


He responded that the goodwill as unacceptable and requested that customer relations contact him directly to discuss. They did, but again, the call was unproductive in his mind. There was nothing more that AA customer relations could do, and he could send a letter to the CEO.

Living in DFW, we fly on AA regardless of price. He travels consistently 25,000-50,000 a year, and at this point is unhappy with the resolution and will take his business elsewhere.

The 48 hour delay ruined his trip. Should he expect a different resolution.. e.g. compensation? Or just take his business to another airline?

Any thoughts would be helpful.

wasn't there any gear4 to rent.....i hope that they didn't hang around and not do their thing...how much did they pay for the rental gear?...i would ask for that....good luck

IMHO, it is equally unproductive for the family member to "expect to be compensated" without any type of guidance as to what he would have deemed a reasonable solution. That should have accompanied the original email. I'm not an AApologist, but it's not reasonable that every communication to AA should get a personal follow up - especially for issues that are a common occurrence in this industry. It appears that he did receive a follow up call. I give kudos to AA for that.

Unfortunately, delayed baggage happens on all airlines. Some are better than others, clearly, but if he takes his business elsewhere, and continues to fly 25,000-50,000 miles a year - somewhere down the road, it's likely that baggage will be delayed again.

Threatening to take business elsewhere will not go far, I'm afraid.
If it were me, I'd accept the customer service miles and move on.

Imo 10K miles was an adequate offer and he should have accepted. I can understand that the bags being delayed was very annoying, but if it ruined his trip, shame on him.

I also think he needs to proceed with caution before jumping ship. If he believes that luggage isn't delayed on other airlines or that he will receive better compensation when it is, then he's setting himself up for more "ruined" trips. With DFW as his home base, switching airlines decreases his non-stop options to many destinations, thereby increasing the chances that his luggage will go AWOL from time to time.

AA baggage issues - especially MIA?
 

Up front - I don't and never have flown AA except when left with no other option by by allegiances. I am Plat on CO (long term) and DL (switched last year and a half from US).

However, found myself in the situation of need to go to SKB for meeting. With flight cut-backs, this is not an easy place to get to - even from east coast unless you are way ahead of the booking curve.

With no other saliable options, I decide to drive to BWI and catch a 6am connecting thru MIA to SKB (MIA to SKB - 1 flight per day). Since this is a good time for a vacation for me, decide to extend meetig a few days and take a mini-vaca with wife on sister island Nevis. Since its our only vacation, I decide to pony up and buy F tix/seats - my wife deserves it.

Get to BWI late on our own accord and get fewer than 4 hrs sleep to catch shuttle for 6:10 flight. Flight delayed - mechanical. 1 Hour boarding postpone, 1 Hour on plane while problem fixed (great status up Up front - I don't and never have flown AA except when left with no other option by by allegiances. I am PLat on CO (long term) and DL (switched last year and a half from US).

However, found myself in the situation of need to go to SKB for meeting. With flight cut-backs, this is not an easy place to get to - even from east coast unless you are way ahead of the booking curve.

With no other saliable options, I decide to drive to BWI and catch a 6am connecting thru MIA to SKB (MIA to SKB - 1 flight per day). Since this is a good time for a vacation for me, decide to extend meetig a few days and take a mini-vaca with wife on sister island Nevis. Since its our only vacation, I decide to pony up and buy F tix/seats - my wife deserves it.

Get to BWI late on our own accord and get fewer than 4 hrs sleep to catch shuttle for 6:10 flight. Flight delayed - mechanical. 1 Hour boarding postpone, 1 Hour on plane while problem fixed (great status updates by GA and pilot). Mech issue fixed - go to de-ice an off we go - 2:20 late. Only flight to SKB leaves at 11:05 - finally get to MIA D gate at 10:45. Unlikely to make INTL flight - so I figure we're screwed but am still gonna try - or else our mini vaca is down the tubes. First ones off plane - AA had to know of tight connex issue - NO AGENT, NO CART - despite SKB flight out of (High) E31 gate (tram, etc). Not familiar with MIA, signage sucked bad, ran arse off, get to E31 11:00 am - flight still open. Got on, whew. Figured sole checked bag will not make it. But then, learn they are waiting on others (admirable, wish I would have known before sprinting a marathon to get to gate). Do not push from gate until 11:50 - figure now, no way bag didn't make it with > 1hr.

You guessed it - get to SKB, no bag. Go to ticket desk - no record of bag - period (not even in MIA at all). GA says, "Priority bag, shouldn;t have lost it" - kind of my thoughts, but I now those tags are largley useless and meaningless to ramp. Here's the kicker - one guy in line been waiting for 3 days for bag from MIA and another student in line....9 days..for bag, bike, etc. All MIA. Agent claims MIA has issues to due some volcano ash and related flight issues, but that means zero for baggage in my mind - maybe flights, not baggage alone.

No idea when it will get here or if it will ever be found. Questions-

1) Does MIA have a known baggage issue?
2) what has been AA response to such issues when raised?

I doubt the value of official complaining as I don't fly AA and points would not satisfy my dissapointment - not even just the baggage, but the whole experience - especially leaving us to fend for ourselves b/w tight connex in MIA. If anything my experience has reinforced my allegiance to CO - they wouldn;t have let this happen this way - even for a free ugrade. Not enough IRROP experience with DL to compare.

Comments/thoughts?