5 days in Lima with no suitcase
 

On Feb 14 I flew my first-ever Continental trip: DCA-IAH-LIM. It was less than wonderful (I know, I know, one shouldn't expect 'wonderful' from today's airlines, but I had heard quite a few good things about Continental). Flights themselves were fine, crews were great. But upon arrival at LIM, a number of us waiting for luggage were informed that our bags didn't make the flight due to the aircraft being overweight. We were sent to a counter for more info. The Continental employees working the counter were apologetic, gave us each a form, included the phone # for the CO baggage office at the Lima airport and told us we could call the following day for more info. No promises or suggestions were made as to when the suitcases would actually arrive.

From Feb 15 - 19, I called the local number at least 10 times. No one EVER answered. I took to calling the US 1-800 # for baggage. CSRs there were of varying helpfulness. I got conflicting info about all sorts of things - about where my bag is, about when it might get to LIM, about reimbursement amounts (for needed toiletries/clothing). In the end, my suitcase got to LIM (flown on cargo through Miami) Sunday PM. We had to drive to the airport on Tuesday, confront some employees to actually get the darn thing. It was sitting in a locked room behind the ticket counter with at least a dozen others...and it seemed that the local employees had little interest in returning these suitcases to their owners.

This was my 1st Continental flight, I have no status, but I am interested in some type of compensation. (I am willing to give CO another chance - although just in the US and most likely not checking a bag. :)) Five days without a suitcase in a foreign country is just excessive. (I had to convince some of the CSRs that buying new clothing (other than Tshirts) in Peru was practically not an option - I'm a 6ft tall woman visiting a country where the average height is drastically shorter.) Naturally, what made the situation more frustrating was the lack of and conflicting info. My friends and I did not leave Lima that weekend because I was told by one CSR that the suitcase would arrive on Saturday and that I would receive it Sat night or Sunday at the latest. Delivery to the place where I was staying was continually promised, but that was not the case - we had to drive to the airport ourselves in order to receive the suitcase.

Interestingly, one of the CSRs I spoke to said, "The Continental I work for is not the same CO some other people work for." Another one told me, "Well, Peru is a 3rd world country, and who knows what they are thinking and/or doing." The best CSR I spoke to tried to call all CO numbers at LIM - baggage, ticket counter, general manager's office and one other. He did not receive an answer at any of them!

My story isn't even as sad as that of some passengers from EWR. Their baggage from a Feb 11 flight arrived at LIM on same cargo flight as mine: 8 days w/o a suitcase...:td:

Anyway, I just needed to vent a bit. And I'd certainly be interested to hear any advice/suggestions as to where to direct my letter of complaint, what to say, and what to ask for. Muchas gracias in advance!

Well, as a general rule Co is better than average by most US carriers...that being said, unfortunately they do sometimes fumble the football.

I recently had a lost bag IAH-LAS, spent the weekend in Vegas with no luggage, albeit not near as bad as Peru. Long story short, to date, I still don't have my bag either, so I understand.

As far as I know you are entitled to reimbursement for the contents of your luggage. If you go to continental.com under baggage, you can fill out the form, itemize your contents, etc. and send in the info.

Good luck to you!!

I feel your pain. I did an itin recently RDU-CLE-ORD where I checked 2 bags (golf clubs and a suitcase).

The golf clubs arrived but the suit case did not (I am plat and both bags were tagged priority).

ORD baggage office was very nice and said it probably misconnected and it would be on the 2 remaining flights from CLE tonight. No bag that night at all and going to sleep with no update.

Finally at 8am, I got a call from Elite baggage office that my bag had arrived in ORD from EWR!!! (on the flt that arrived at 7:30am). How the bag came from EWR is anyone's guess.

I told them to hold it at the baggage office since I was flying ORD-EWR on the 4pm flight that afternoon.

10 minutes later I got a call from the ORD baggage office and they profusely apologized why it took so long and their delivery company dispatcher was going to deliver it PERSONALLY to the McCormick Place Hyatt by 11am so I can can get fresh clothes for my ride home. Now that all the way from ORD to the South Side during rush hour.

My bag was delivered to the bellman at the Hyatt at 10:30am.

Now this is Chicago, the USA and I am a plat...so YMMV...but it just shows you that CO does try to do its best...I know that doesn't make your situation better, but I am sure it being Lima doesn't help.

During this ordeal I dealt with the Elite baggage office and the REGULAR baggage office (after hours, the elite line transfers to the regular line)...there was a STARK difference in attitude of the employees. The two Elite baggage CSRs were way more apologetic and empathetic than the "regular" baggage CSR (she was just spitting back info from her screen). Just shows the stark difference between Elite and regular joes.

- HF

Amen to that!! See the other thread I posted...
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=792877

Three days in Equador...
 

Same thing happened to me a few years back. CO dumped luggage because they were overweight and didn't bother to tell anyone. In fact they didn't even tell us it was for weight reasons until pressed.

Not sure why CO thinks anyone wants to show up to their destination with no baggage... would make sense to unload pax with compensation rather than pi$$ them off at the other end.

I had zero status at the time. My friend (bags were also tossed) was plat and I think got a few more bucks for clothing.

FWIW I now never travel without a change of clothing in a carry on... minimum.

lido taja, I feel your pain! I once lost a bag that had all my shoes in it. You know how hard it is to find shoes in a womens size 9 1/2 in Chile? Impossible. They don't make them.

Sadly in today's travelling climate not packing at least one change of clothing on any carrier is risky. Hopefully Continental will reimburse you for the costs you incurred. Also consider checking with the credit card you used for baggage delay coverage.