Luggage Lost On A Nonstop Flight

December 19, 2009

in Luggage Stories

This story is more about my asinine brother-in-law than it is about flights from hell. In all fairness the airline DID manage to lose his luggage on a nonstop flight from Las Vegas to Phoenix.

So here we are, a few days before Christmas and my BIL, who ALWAYS drives when he visits us in Phoenix, decided to spring for an airline ticket this time. By the time he arrived here from Vegas… an hour and 10 minute NONSTOP flight, Southwest lost his luggage. Imagine that.

At the PHX baggage claim, my intoxicated BIL was too busy being obnoxious to hear that there was a carousel change for his flight, so we moved over to the other carousel and proceeded to wait for 30 minutes, while the carousel went around and around and around… not to mention the fact that there were PILES of unclaimed luggage sitting on the floor next to it.

So, as I try to tell my BIL that we can’t find his bag, he starts talking VERY LOUDLY about how he got to the airport 3 hours early because it was the holidays (and proceeded to drink tequila shots at the bar) and that his flight was nonstop and how could the airline lose his luggage… WITH Christmas gifts in it, nonetheless. OY VEY.

So we go stand in the Southwest baggage line with all the others whose stuff got lost and he continues to yell about how he got to the airport 3 hours early and it was a nonstop flight and bladdety bladdety blah. OVER and OVER. I tried to get him to go outside and smoke a cigarette, but he wouldn’t budge. Finally, airport security came over and told him that if he didn’t mellow out, they would have to remove him. They even went as far as to stand behind the counter, to make sure he controlled himself. Thank god his parents were with me, cuz I was ready to punch his lights out. I just left his father with him and mom and I went outside.

He filled out the paperwork and we left with the understanding that they would call my home phone when the luggage was on it’s way. Needless to say, I only got a very rude pounding on my front door at 2am, and by the time I got to the front door… the guy just left the bag at the door and drove off. WONDERFUL customer service.

Regardless of the drunkenness, he’s right… how do you lose luggage on a nonstop flight?

{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }

Gigget December 20, 2009 at 8:02 am

It wasn’t lost, either it was left off in Vegas or fell off the baggage cart in Phoenix. Mistakes do happen. I do have to agree that it was wonderful customer service to get your BIL’s bag to him ASAP.

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Sarcasm December 20, 2009 at 7:03 pm

Does Everyone else read the Wonderful Customer Service line at the end sarcastic…While I do agree that they should have maybe waited for the answer, hand delivered at 2 am is pretty good customer service no, at 2 in the morning you would have to assume that it was done a.s.a.p.

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Josh December 22, 2009 at 9:40 am

I read it as sarcastic. I HATE when delivery people just leave stuff at your front door. I order my wife a nice mother’s ring for christmas this year. The UPS guy just left it at the front door. The ring was almost $600. I was very angry. My neighborhood isn’t bad, but I would never just leave stuff on my front porch.

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BlueMole December 22, 2009 at 6:17 pm

You need to specially request a required signature when ordering the shipping. A friend who works at UPS said the policy is to “ring the bell and run” unless a signature is specified. Saves them time and $$$, plus the driver has less exposure to pets (and owners) with bad behavior.

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Laura December 31, 2009 at 5:52 am

I think the 2am baggage drop would have been great if you were the one who it belonged to – but since you were the one who was already annoyed by the behaviour of your BIL .. the added annoyance of being woken up at 2am by someone at the door on his behalf probably pissed you off more than it should of lol I know I'd be in a shitty mood!

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xxx March 29, 2013 at 11:57 pm

easy solution, bring in your bag from outside, call the airline in the morning asking if they have any updates about your bag, then deny you received it

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jonasgal August 12, 2017 at 4:14 pm

WHY do that??!!? That's not right!!!

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jonasgal August 12, 2017 at 4:16 pm

Also, ALL these luggage problems could be damn AVOIDED if people would just bring a CARRY ON BAG or BAGS on board! Problem(s) solved!!! If not possible, then DRIVE unless it's to Hawaii, for example!!! (or somewhere else one can't drive to and from!!!)

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John August 14, 2017 at 9:57 am

That's not always possible. I have large, odd-shaped feet (size 14A). This severely limits my choice of footwear. In addition, my job requires me to wear steel toed safety shoes. With these safety shoes, wearing a wider size can be dangerous; I tried to get away with a 14B, but the shoes slid around so much on my feet that I kept falling. I also tried wearing more pairs of socks, but since that also elongated my feet as well as adding width, I would have needed longer shoes, which kept getting wider, so it was a loosing battle. After much scouring of the internet and many phone calls to big and tall stores, I found 3 models of shoes that are made in 14A. All three are high-ankle boots. They are of a size that, if packed in a suitcase that can be carried on an airplane, there is only enough room left for 2 changes of clothes (assuming I can wear the same pair of jeans for 3 days). This is after I've stuffed the shoes full with 2 days worth of socks and underwear.

My typical trips have between 24 and 48 hours of notice before I have to travel (although I once had 4 hours notice) and the trips are 1-3 weeks long. My most frequent travel route is from Florida to California (according to Google Maps, 38 hours drive time door-to-door, with no stops). I cannot wear the boots to fly because they are painful to walk in for any distance (i.e. changing planes in ATL), so I'm stuck not having an option but to fly and check my bag, unless you, jonasgal, in your great wisdom can think of a solution.

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John August 14, 2017 at 9:42 am

For years, I had the problem that every time I flew into Atlanta's North Terminal (flew into Atlanta on any airline that wasn't Delta (or related) or American (which uses the old international baggage system), my luggage would be lost. The problem was always something that had nothing to do with a connection.

Once I flew US Air, I had gotten to the airport between 4 and 5 hours early (long story). When discussing this with the baggage office, they immediately started asking when I got to the airport. I said I had cut it pretty close (watching the CSR's eyes light up as he prepared to lecture me about planning ahead), arriving only 4 hours before departure. It turned out that since I was so early, my bag had been piled under other bags and forgotten about until after my flight left.

Another time, I flew in late on United. After my bag didn't show up, I checked in with the baggage office. We arranged to have the bag delivered once it was found (they had no record of it at IAD where i connected), I took a toiletry kit from them (since I wouldn't even have a toothbrush until the next day) and left. An hour later, as I'm pulling into my parent's driveway, I get a call on the cell telling me to come back to the airport to pick up the suitcase I left. I told the guy that I had filed a lost bag report and it was supposed to be delivered the next day. He responded that they do not deliver bags that made it on the flight. After going up a couple of levels of management, I finally got the answer that the bag had dropped off of the cart and another airline worker had found it, eventually getting it back to United. I finally got them to begrudgingly deliver the suitcase to me the next day.

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