I just arrived back from my vacation in Key West last night to find that my bag, in which I had packed two declared pistols as well as some irreplaceable items, didn't make it to my final destination. The trip originated in Key West with Continental but was on US Air from Tampa, through Charlotte and eventually to DC. I was re-routed twice so my bag might not have made the switch from a flight to Philly out of Tampa that got delayed, and was the reason I was re-routed to the flight to Charlotte.
I filed a missing baggage claim in DC when I got there sans bag, and was told that when the bag comes in they'll deliver it to my home, but since then I've not been able to obtain much information about the bag other than that their automatic answering number lists it as not yet found. (At the moment I'm waiting to be connected to an actual human.)
Now, it appears to me that the longer I have to wait the less likely it is that the bag will ever be found, and that these folks need to have a fire lit under them or something. I could be wrong, I guess, and perhaps it's just paranoia or stress talking. I also wonder how long people typically have to wait when their bags have been re-routed?
OK, I just talked, after a half-hour wait, to the US Air baggage claim person and she said that the bag still had not made it to Philadelphia, and that for some reason it had never been routed to go past Philly to DC, even though my Continental baggage tag says the destination is DC. At any rate this person I just talked to, sent a message to Philly to say that as soon as be bag arrives it's to be sent to DC, but I can't figure out why the several people I talked to last night at various ticketing booths and at the baggage claim office in DC never bothered to send such a message to Philadelphia. It was they who commented to me, in credulous tones, that the baggage wasn't routed all the way to DC, and I told them that was wrong. In fact, I was ultimately standing in DC waiting for my baggage, so it strains credulity for me to try to imagine that anyone without brain damage would not have simply sent a message to get the baggage to DC somehow. Why wasn't it sent before now?
Anyway, I just thought I'd ask to see if anyone here knows of any alternate avenues to chase this down, or what sort of complaint processes are more likely to get actioned? What are the policies regarding reimbursement for lost or stolen baggage? Are there any class action law suits pending over this mess against US Air, and might I need to initiate a law suit myself should this turn out to be a case of theft or loss? Should I file a police report? What does one have to do to be thorough about this?
Man, something like this can really ruin the aftertaste of a great vacation, huh? Yuk!
I filed a missing baggage claim in DC when I got there sans bag, and was told that when the bag comes in they'll deliver it to my home, but since then I've not been able to obtain much information about the bag other than that their automatic answering number lists it as not yet found. (At the moment I'm waiting to be connected to an actual human.)
Now, it appears to me that the longer I have to wait the less likely it is that the bag will ever be found, and that these folks need to have a fire lit under them or something. I could be wrong, I guess, and perhaps it's just paranoia or stress talking. I also wonder how long people typically have to wait when their bags have been re-routed?
OK, I just talked, after a half-hour wait, to the US Air baggage claim person and she said that the bag still had not made it to Philadelphia, and that for some reason it had never been routed to go past Philly to DC, even though my Continental baggage tag says the destination is DC. At any rate this person I just talked to, sent a message to Philly to say that as soon as be bag arrives it's to be sent to DC, but I can't figure out why the several people I talked to last night at various ticketing booths and at the baggage claim office in DC never bothered to send such a message to Philadelphia. It was they who commented to me, in credulous tones, that the baggage wasn't routed all the way to DC, and I told them that was wrong. In fact, I was ultimately standing in DC waiting for my baggage, so it strains credulity for me to try to imagine that anyone without brain damage would not have simply sent a message to get the baggage to DC somehow. Why wasn't it sent before now?
Anyway, I just thought I'd ask to see if anyone here knows of any alternate avenues to chase this down, or what sort of complaint processes are more likely to get actioned? What are the policies regarding reimbursement for lost or stolen baggage? Are there any class action law suits pending over this mess against US Air, and might I need to initiate a law suit myself should this turn out to be a case of theft or loss? Should I file a police report? What does one have to do to be thorough about this?
Man, something like this can really ruin the aftertaste of a great vacation, huh? Yuk!