lespoir

I checked in three hours ahead of departure time (from ORD to IAH), and the agent put on a Star Alliance priority lable. Yet, in the end, they still lost my luggage in this flight from ORD to IAH on Sunday, and I desperately need this luggage for an important meeting on Monday morning.

Guess they will continue to suck!

globetrekker84

If it was so important, why didn't you carry it onboard with you?

Mike Jacoubowsky

Is United the only airline that's ever lost luggage for you? For what it's worth, UA has never lost my luggage. NW, on the other hand, has lost (or at least misplaced for five days) my luggage.

So by your criteria, does that make UA a great airline, and NW a terrible one?

I suspect you have other reasons to dislike UA, and the luggage issue just brings it all forward. Similarly, I have many reasons to dislike NW (although truthfully, the luggage issue is relatively minor compared to the rest, so I don't even think about it!).

kenlediver

Anytime any airline looses a piece of luggage the consumer is usually inconvienced. If people didn't need their luggage then I suppose they wouldn't bring it with them. and I don't know what the length of the flight has to do with anything. Isn't the luggage subjected to the same ground handling process thru the airport to the plane irrespective of the length of flight? Do you think that luggage gets lost somewhere in midflight on longer runs?

And I wonder what makes you so self important that since the airline lost your luggage that now they suck as opposed to the hundreds of other passengers that have suffered the same fate?

Or did they always suck and because they lost your luggage now they somehow suck harder? If they always sucked then why did you fly them? If you needed the luggage tomorrow but flew today then surley you had a choice in airlines.

I'm just wondering. Sorry your luggage was lost.

wimpypipsqueak

CApreppie

Sorry your luggage was lost. It sounds like you have built up bitterness against United. Perhaps, you should just avoid flying UA at all.

harrytsui

Sorry to hear your experience. I lost my lugguage from IAD-JFK years ago and I stopped flying UAL for a long time after I got the bad reception from NY's UAL ground crew. I guess the "suckness" depends on individual airports.

Last month, I was a 1K flying from LGA to ORD, continue to HKG. I feel the LGA sucks because the agent I encountered was mindless, did not put on the priority tag for me, (a business class all the way to HKG), and very rude or didn't care of my wish of getting on an earlier flight out of NY. But then later I found another agent in the First Class check in counter (I didn't know I can use the First class counter!) was excellent. So, I met one lousy one and an excellent one at the same airport. Then at the gate, the gate agent called my name for the flight. She was very rude too, even I got the 1D and E seats. My conculsion is: this is a common NY way of life. A good agent is just an exception. That may be the same for NW, Continental or other airlines.

It is really not the loss of lugguage, it is how they handle the unfortunate event afterward that counts.

MBS MillionMiler

Let's see...

I'm 12 days into a 13-day, 4-city trip which has taken me to 3 of 4 time zones in the US (ironically, I'm in Houston right now, leaving IAH tomorrow morning and finally going home)...

So far, 8 segments on UA...

Should have been 10 segments on UA...But coming to IAH, I my flight out of BNA had a mechanical, so I was put on a CO non-stop...UA didn't suck for promptly putting me on another carrier, which actually saved me a few hours. I was spending more of my own time to fly UA.

On my first part of the trip, heading to the West Coast, we sat on the tarmac at ORD on my flight from MBS--for an hour and a half--no gate because weather really made things difficult at ORD. I missed my flight to LAX, and subsequently, the last connection to LAS for the evening...I did have to overnight at LAX, but United put me up in a hotel, and still made it for my meeting the next day. Needless to say, my luggage actually beat me to LAS, was there the night before I arrived. United did do a good job of getting me to LAX, in First Class, even...Protecting my upgrade.

Speaking of luggage, United did lose my luggage...Coming to BNA from LAS. Despite lots of time between flights, my bags never got loaded on my redeye. United gave me an overnight kit, and luckily I brought my MOST IMPORTANT things with me in my carry-on...My bags caught up with me a few hours later when they delivered them to my hotel.

All that being said, I should be pretty upset...On top of all of the travel issues, I'm home sick, I'm tired, I've kept some really weird hours, including three 12-plus hour days...I lost money at the tables in Vegas, and I'm recovering from an accident a few weeks ago where it's tough to even walk right now...

But life is good...My experiences with United have been great. The flight attendants have been wonderful, the ground service has been great, even sincere and apologetic when things have gone awry. Those flights that have actually operated have been on time, and I got to my destination safely. I expect the same tomorrow going home.

It's all about perception.

UnitedSkies

Sorry your luggage was lost.

But I'm curious, given that you seem to be from Canada, has Air Canada ever lost your luggage?

oswaldjacoby

Probably will not get much out of posting random UAL complaints here. Probably would just be better to forward the complaint to the DOT so it can be included in their statistics of complaints against United. You can send the complaint to [email protected]. go to www.dot.gov/airconsumer for more info.

harrytsui

You seem to have miss the point here. The OP was upset and angry because UAL has lost his lugguage. He blame it on the check in agent for not putting the priority tag on it. I think the handling has some fault to it too.

I lost my lugguage with UAL some years ago and I was forced to stay in NY for few more days to wait for the lugguage, with no compensation or apology from UAL. So, I switch my business to NWA from then on.

If one is upset with the service that the company give, one is entitle to complaint. This is what we do here, talk it out and hope someone does listen and make it better. Losing one's luggage is a big deal for that person. If this is the kind of attitude of the UAL people, then something is wrong. Rather than saying anyone can lost one's luggage like Air Canada... Just handle it passionately and be brave, take up the responsibility and say "sorry". And promise to do better next time. (or ask how Air Canada can handle it better than UA in the case of loss lugguage, or the measure to prevent it from happening in the first place.) Otherwise, we keep staying in the stone age.

dismal_scientist

rookie mistake

Mike Jacoubowsky

I don't think anybody's questioning that UA is at fault, although the "priority tag" probably has little to do with it... there are many threads that have brought up the uselessness of the "priority" tags (attached to first-class luggage, for example). Could even be the equivalent of writing "fragile" on a package and not expecting someone to throw it around.Nor did NW apologize to me for losing my luggage for FIVE days on my return from AMS. After three days it showed up on their tracking website (a nice feature, when it works), and they mysteriously appeared on my doorstep on day 5. But truthfully, that wasn't the reason I switched from NW to UA. Comfortable seating was the issue; E+ is a big thing for someone like me who can't afford to fly biz or first.But isn't it true that lost or misplaced luggage is pretty universal, not something that UA has a monopoly on? I agree that there might have been a lack of tact in how the OP was answered, but it was, unfortunately, in line with the tone of the OP. It came across, perhaps unintentionally, as "UA sucks, I'm outta here, the only reason I'm bothering to post is to tell the rest of you that you're fools to be flying UA."

In the humble opinion of a lowly 2P, anyway!

uastarflyer

Did you ask for any compensation?

I had both my bags misdirected in Asia once, I wrote a letter, and got reimbursed for expenses I incurred.

I just find it questionable that UA (or NW) did absolutely nothing by way of tracking the bag and/or some form of compensation.

harrytsui

the lugguages arrived at my NY hotel some 4 days afterward. On the day of arrival, I asked the ground agent at JFK UAL baggage for help. She said nothing she could do about. I even asked whether they can just help out to give me the overnite pack like toothpaste stuff like that because it was very late at night. She said no. Anyway, I hate UA so much that I told myself not to take UA again. I was happy with NWA flying out of HKG!