Kip Powick Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 Nothing personal, but have you seen your bag lately Lost bags Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newgirl Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Yeah , my husband says I'm still here!!!!! As a Dot.Com Cssa I still feel that the baggage connections times are pushed to the limit in the large bases throughout the world. Especially these days with the extra security checks on bags and passengers. All airlines would love to provide 1 hour connection time overseas for their passengers but in my mind a minimum of 2- 3 hours is more reasonable for baggage. It takes an hour for passengers to change terminals in LHR alone. When I worked ticketing, I would always give the passenger the choice of leaving early and ensuring they and their baggage would make the overseas connection or booking the legal but very tight connection. Most opted to sit in YYZ for 5 hours. When I worked check-in and a passenger commented " maybe you could manage this trip to have my bags arrive with me at the same destination". I always grinned and said " Yes isn't it a pity that your bags went to London , England and you only got to go to London , Ont.? Maybe this time we'll send you to England and your bags to Ont. ? or " Where would you like us to send your bags on this trip?" Most of the time just acknowleging with a bit of humour that we weren't perfect worked. Ya gots to do the best you can with what ya got to work with! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted March 22, 2006 Author Share Posted March 22, 2006 One fine evening (WD) we headed for Gatwick and after we made the enroute PA an FA came up and told us we had a lady on board who was supposed to be going to YVR. Don't ask me how she got on the UK plane but she was onboard. We had Crew Sked phone her husband and advise him that her bags would be in YVR on time but she would not be back for at least 24 hours as she was enjoying a "free" trip to the UK. The crew took her out for supper and all was well !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super 80 Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Some friends of mine lost a bag on AA returning from Miami via DFW, they were not impressed, especially as the bag had about $1100 worth of new clothing in it. AA was pretty useless from start to finish, they were eventually compensated, but not for anywhere near the replacement value of the lost bag. Their pretty upset, and they had a good four hours connection time at DFW. Apprently the bag was considered stolen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newgirl Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 Super80 Not that I worked Lost Baggage Claims but I have laughed at a lot of the claims. I had 2 fur coats in my bag worth 4000.00 each -mid July so why are you bringing mink coats here when it's 85f. Or I had 5 suits worth 1500.00 each and 3 leather jackets. Have you got the bills for them - NO. Anyone who has checked valuables over more than 750.00 has asked for extra insurance which we do supply at a cost. they must identify the contents on what they have checked. It does sadden me that within the airline world there are groups of employees who make another living off stealing bags and reselling the contents. It seems that the larger and poorer economical bases in the US employ contracted minimum wage baggage handlers and have a worse record of theft! MIA isn't a city I would check any valuables in my baggage. I've learned to travel with mid quality luggage and never pack anything of value in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super 80 Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 AA didn't dispute what they claimed to have lost, they had receipts and they declared and paid tax on the lost goods at customs. What they were more upset about is that they were forced to check the bag, which was no bigger than my rollaboard and just what a joke the AA procedures were. They don't want the money, they want their bag. I don't think AA was unfair to them, but losing the proceeds of what was basically a shopping trip is going to get on anyones nerves. But it isn't like they can replace the stuff in Calgary with what they were given. Personally, I traveled with the same luggage since I was 12 years old, I got new gear for Christmas on the condition my old stuff was thrown away. But I never had a thing stolen from it! Of course, as my girlfriend points out, my new luggage is worth 50x more than the contents usually are, and most owners of the same articles push them in a shopping cart. -------------------- The way the stuff often gets stolen is someone in security gets a check-in agent to print them destination tags for a certain city. When the bags go through screening, a bag identified as valuable will have its tags switched and the bag will be marked in some way. The screener will then call ahead to their accomplice at the bags destination who will retrieve the redirected bags. And the replacement baggage tags that are printed are in the names of actual pax on the flight. So Jane Doe might have a bag, and she is flying New York to L.A., John Smith might be flying New York to Dallas, when he checks in, the agent will print an extra tag. When the screener comes across Janes bag, they will put John Smiths tag on it, the bag goes to Dallas and is retrieved there. After the switch, as far as anyone is concerned its John Smiths bag, he boards his flight to Dallas and so does Janes bag. And when the check to make sure all the loaded suitcases have a loaded pax to go with them, nothing appears out of the ordinary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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