WineCountryUA

Did you have running shoes in your bag? If you had shoes with the anticipation of using them, then I would press UA on this.
If you had not packed shoes, then the baggage issue does not come into play, IMO.

phbl

travelled with a briefcase carry on only and i made it clear running shoes were in my luggage and i needed them for a meeting. i was borrowing workout gear (it's extremely cold here) and was cleared for $220usd in clothing/sundry/etc. if i didn't need the shoes or if i had them i wouldn't claim them.

received bags 4 days later. called in, $220 usd confirmed and $175 travel voucher (i'm a ua platinum).

faxing my claim during the annual day of sloth tomorrow. how long yall reckon for this claim to be processed?

Roar

I have had my bags delayed before, but this is more concerning....

I was flying with 2 bags...one bag made it to my destination, one did not.

When I asked the UA baggage rep to help locate my bag (while still in baggage claim) she told me my bag was still in EWR (where I had picked up a connection) and it had not been loaded onto the plane or it was offloaded from the plane because "I was not on the plane" - which was ridiculous, because I WAS on the plane, and so was my other bag.

Anyway, she also mentioned that the bag, when she punched in my baggage claim stub number, had "no name" associated with it.

How can that be?

She re-input my name to the tag number details...

She hypothesized the bag had somehow lost the tag...but that does not make any sense because otherwise they would not know the bag was still in EWR...would they?

Anyway, this was all 10 hours ago... I called the UA helpline for lost bags and the message I got was a recorded one that said something to the effect of "we are still trying to locate your bag."

I am finding this incredibly disconcerting. I get it if the bag missed the plane... or they accidentally off loaded it (I do know there were some misconnects on the flight and they pulled a few bags....)

But how can they not know where my bag is? They have always at least been able to locate the bag and send it on when this has happened before.

Any pro tips on getting it back?

Presumably, it's somewhere in EWR....

Tchiowa

Was it a horse?

Sounds like they are simply dancing. They're not sure where your bag is. They are offering you standard explanations of what happens to bags, but they're not really sure.

If a bag is truly missing then 10 hours is nothing. It might take a couple of days to locate.

You are entitled to some compensation to purchase replacement clothing or whatever. "Entitled" probably isn't a good word because the airlines will pretty much never call it that. If they do it begins to imply an entitlement they becomes enforceable against them.

I think the rule for calling a bag "lost" is 3 days. And given the current chaos with cancelled flights because of weather it might take that long.

channa

Reimbursement for interim clothing and toiletries is not compensation. It's a reimbursement of necessary interim expenses since the airline delayed your bag.

Compensation (or better yet, a goodwill gesture) is something the airline may provide you (typically mileage or vouchers) for inconveniencing you as a result of their mishandling of your property.

As for locating the bag, never trust anything UA says about it. They're completely clueless and make stuff up to get you off the phone. The next agent may give you information that conflicts with what a previous agent says which will just frustrate you. I've had my bag in my hand for 2 days before, with UA calling me giving me updates telling me it's in Chicago. I've had my bag fly across the country, with a connection, and never been scanned once, while UA is doing a search for a "tag-off" bag that lost its tag (it didn't). Yes, it's that bad.

The bag will show up when it shows up. There's almost nothing you can do to expedite it. Buy what you need an save the receipts, and enjoy your trip.

Good luck!

emcampbe

OP didn't include any information that I saw to know whether or not replacement clothing, toiletries, etc. would be allowed.

Believe bag needs to be delayed for 24 hours first (OP says this was 10 hours, and based on my view, that was only 2 hours ago) and unless things have changed for the better (very doubtful), if bags went missing on a flight home, UA (or other carriers) typically won't reimburse for those items even if delayed for over 24 hours.

Compensation, of course, is a different issue. After the bag is received, can certainly write in to request something.

TonyBurr

Heaven forbid anyone even suggests that UA lies to its customers about lost bags or anything.

Often1

Ultimately a lot will depend on whether this was an international or domestic flight (or a connection from one). But, at the moment, it is not particularly relevant.

What the agent said does make some sense and the UA-haters here sometimes have to froth a bit no matter what the issue is. But, the ultimate point is that nothing is going to expedite your bag and nobody is looking for it and that is pretty much true of all carriers.

The key is that you have provided UA all relevant information, including good delivery information and good contact information. That is all ultimately entered in WorldTracer and when someone finds the bag, they will enter the tag into WT and find that it belongs to you and head it your way (hence the reason for keeping UA and thus WT up-to-date if you change locations).

For an international journey, a bag is considered lost at 21 days even if it is lost.

You can expect to be reimbursed for reasonable necessary expenses. But, as a rule of thumb I would not spend anything that you would not spend if you were not being reimbursed as you may not be. As a practical matter, consider that generous carry-on allowances will get most people through the first 3-4 days at least, so hopefully this isn't an issue for most.

Few bags are ultimately lost unless they are stolen or destroyed. So, chances are yours will turn up.

unitedhandcuffs

I feel for you mate. I just went through this. QF lost my bags on a flight from BNE to SYD and it missed getting onto the following international United flight from SYD to LAX. United was responsible to track it down as they were the last leg. Dealing with the lost baggage team will be frustrating and lengthy. you will need patience, it could take many days, there is not much urgency in that team cause honestly they are just overwhelmed, you'd be surprised how much stuff gets lost checked in or even in cabin. you can wait on hold for up to 90 mins to get a rep, most will not really do anything, some rare ones do. Status will not help you, i'm GS and the GS line just routed me to the lost baggage department. Best advice is to go to the physical department near the baggage claim at the last leg of your trip, and give them all the info you can including description of the bag, etc.

good luck.

mjcewl1284

+1. Cannot stress this enough. Always save baggage tag receipts and go to the baggage handling office at your destination. They always know how to deal with lost baggage whereas calling into a phone number whether or not if it is a dedicated line or not, has always produced the runaround for me.

channa

You don't need a 24 hour delay to get interim expenses compensated. So long as the expenses are necessary and reasonable, they are generally approved.

As for delayed bags on the way home, you can still have necessary expenses. Again, they must be reasonable and make sense. DOT prohibits the airlines for refusing reimbursement for expenses occurred at home.

docbert

Of course they would have! They know where it is based on where it was last scanned. It was scanned in EWR when you connected there. If there's no further scans (such as it being put onto an aircraft out of EWR), then their presumption is that it's still in EWR, which will be right probably 99.9% of the time.

FC ORD

I can relate to your frustration. UA lost my bag last month during a connection in Houston. At least they were honest. I was told that the bag made it to Houston, and was last scanned in Houston. They then mentioned that they had looked "everywhere" for it, and simply couldn't find it. Repeated that admission twice a day for two days. I almost wish they had lied??

Three days later it showed up in Damman, KSA which was my final destination. Lufthansa was my final carrier so they got stuck with the claim. LH was very good at reimbursing me for extra clothes. I was a cheap date; only about $150.

wb233629

Any help is appreciated. On a bachelor party and arrived in Denver with three ski bags missing. Unhelpful agent claims they randomly take bags off the plane as needed but they picked three priority tagged bags in the same party.

They have offered $75 dollars per person to rent skis which is reasonable but the ski clothes were also packed in those bags. They are offering zero compensation for the fact that we cannot ski without them or that lift tickets have been paid for in advance and are now effectively worthless.

I spent an hour waiting on hold to be told that there are no supervisors working because it is midnight in Houston.

For what hat it is worth I am premier platinum and we were on paid first class tickets.

Thanks in advance.

Kryssa

Here in Cali they rent ski clothes - maybe call around and see if you can rent the basics? Just trying to save your ski week... good luck with United - is there an ETA On the bags?