What would you ask for?

[SecondAttempt]

Enjoy-it does look like a perfect midsummer day in Stockholm.

Thanks! Just got back to our hotel. It was a fantastisk evening. Not my first midsommar but definitely my best so far. Swedes like to sing so enter my partner and her ukulele and it was a wonderful time for all!

 

[rodi]

Glad to hear you got your luggage back. I only do carry on. Biggest change I had to learn was pick your shoes first... Preferably 2 pair, max 3 pair. Then pick outfits that with with those shoes. I bring laundry soap sheets which work well for doing laundry in the sink. Recently did 4 weeks in Italy with carry on only. Planning a month in East Asia in January, will only do carry on

 

[jollystomper]

Thanks everyone. Our bags arrived at the hotel yesterday afternoon but no one bothered to notify us. I have not decided whether to file a claim since we spent a total of about $100 and got some nice clothes to take home. I don't think it would be worth the aggravation to me.

It is great you have your luggage back. I would still file an issue at least with United customer service, and document the communications hassle that you went through. $100 is not much but they are the ones that caused you this issue.

When I returned from Ireland a couple a months ago, between time I left my lodging and my arrival at the airport, they cancelled my direct flight home. Long story short, my direct flight with an arrival at Sunday 3:30PM became a connection with an arrival at 1:10 AM Monday, with a 12 hour layover at the connecting airport. The best I could get them to improve to was a 11:45PM arrival with a 10 hour layover. However, that airport was a 4 hour drive from our home. Fortunately I did not have checked baggage, so I rented a car and drove home, arriving there several hours before my connecting flight was scheduled to leave. I opened up a customer service issue describing the situation. United reimbursed me for that final flight segment (I cancelled the segment after arriving home), as well as for the rental car and tolls cost - total of $250.

 

[rmcelwee]

Back around '95 (pre-9/11) we flew from Charleston, SC to Pensacola because we didn't want to drive. The flight took longer than the drive would have and they lost our luggage on the way there AND the way back. We said we would would never fly again and we meant it. I don't want to seem insensitive but how can lousy customer service from an airline be a surprise to you? Don't worry about it, forget about the compensation ($100?) and enjoy your trip.

 

[Koolau]

So my goal is to get our bags but when the carrier has a policy of ignoring me to the extent possible I am looking at my options. My credit card insurance gives me $100 per person for 3 days for delayed baggage. So that is $600 and would more than cover what we will need to buy.

There is also "trip delay insurance" that covers up to $500 per ticket for expenses if flight is delayed more than 12 hours. We arrived 12 hours and 5 minutes after our scheduled arrival. I might claim our bar bills in Newark and Edinburgh but doubt that will fly. It was way under $1000!

Honestly, I can absorb the loss and am actually getting some nice new clothes at good prices. I will file an insurance claim if necessary. But I much prefer to collect from the airline even if it is more work for me. I know it will be an uphill battle. United wronged me, not the insurance company.

About 20 years ago on a return flight from Europe we sat on the ground in DC for 6 hours waiting for a thunderstorm delay. This covered as not being airlines fault but the airline kept us hostage on the plane. I complained to the Department of Transportation and United fell all over themselves with cash flight credits and refunds because they had clearly screwed up.

I guess mostly a rant. I am very tolerant of problems beyond the airline's control. But this was a comedy of errors that I actively tried to correct at every opportunity and was actively shut down by the airlines. So I am hoping that making them pay will result in policy and procedure changes. Yeah, I'm a hopeless optimist.

You will need patience and persistence to pull off any settlement. I suspect you will prevail, but like most such potential policy mazes, they'll make you w*rk for it. Since they do have such recovery policies in place, it's probably impossible to launch a class action which is what is needed to get their attention. Good luck and keep us posted.

By the way, this issue sounds like it could have been posted in the "incompetent w*rkers" (or whatever it is) thread. What idiot decided to just send your stuff home? I'm sure your itinerary was available to them if they had just looked at it. At least I hope your stuff makes it home okay.

 

[steady saver]

So happy for you that you got your luggage back.

My DH bought me an international sized Classic Carry On from Monos. I'm literally just about to hit the button to buy him one (there's a July 4th sale going on which I just happened to hit so that's a plus).

Your story convinced me to only go with carry-ons internationally. We mainly do that now domestically but you've sealed the deal for me on international travel.

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm sorry it happened, but I appreciate your sharing it here.

 

[Koolau]

So happy for you that you got your luggage back.

My DH bought me an international sized Classic Carry On from Monos. I'm literally just about to hit the button to buy him one (there's a July 4th sale going on which I just happened to hit so that's a plus).

Your story convinced me to only go with carry-ons internationally. We mainly do that now domestically but you've sealed the deal for me on international travel.

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm sorry it happened, but I appreciate your sharing it here.

For a long trip, I think I'd still take luggage but have a complete back-up plan in case the luggage didn't make it. I've done that domestically.

 

[gayl]

Thanks everyone. Our bags arrived at the hotel yesterday afternoon but no one bothered to notify us. I have not decided whether to file a claim since we spent a total of about $100 and got some nice clothes to take home. I don't think it would be worth the aggravation to me.

I guess what is most annoying is how horrible the communication has been since the start. Very little information has been available and most of what was available turned out to be wrong. Lufthansa, for example, still says they are looking for my bag and the local baggage service still says it is being delivered to Hawaii. I frankly don't care about the $100. I may complain to my members of congress and the USDOT to maybe get some pressure to hold airlines accounatble. Yeah, I know, one complaint from a nobody like me means very little. But airlines have seen lots of new rules lately about holding people on planes for hours, paying for meals or rooms, etc. I'd like to see requirements on baggage tracking.

I wouldn't file for $100 for items that I'd keep

 

[Gearhead Jim]

During my 36 years on the airline, I learned the following rule:

"There are two kinds of airline baggage- CarryOn, and Lost."

We use carryon when possible, otherwise use a carryon with the important stuff and check the things we can survive without.

 

[Koolau]

During my 36 years on the airline, I learned the following rule:

"There are two kinds of airline baggage- CarryOn, and Lost."

We use carryon when possible, otherwise use a carryon with the important stuff and check the things we can survive without.

While I agree with your baggage vs CarryOn, I've only had my baggage lost once. We were heading to Hawaii and our luggage ended up someplace in the Carolinas IIRC. About 12 hours later, it showed up at our hotel.

One of our funniest travel stories revolves around this particular baggage loss: We went to the little room where one lets the airline know that their baggage did not show up. Ahead of us was a young man. He was quite well dressed. He was describing his lost luggage in exquisite detail. He kept saying that the luggage itself was very expensive as were the items inside. He must have spent 5 minutes trying to impress the man behind the desk that this was the most important luggage he would deal with that day.

When the young man was finally finished, DW and I stepped up and answered the official's questions. When it got to the description, we told him: Our luggage is a matched set of old, ratty, battered, cheap Sears & Roebuck luggage with broken and repaired locks, latches, handles and filled with used aloha wear we'd bought on our last trip at Goodwill. By the time we finished, the guy was in stitches. After finishing the report. The guy thanked us for making his day.