American Airlines - lost luggage
 

Hi All

Due to all the recent bad weather, I had to change weekend flights from UK to US, and my direct flight was replaced with 3 flights..... my luggage was left/ lost in Raleigh rather than accompanying me to JFK.

I'm really struggling trying to find out from AA why they cant find my luggage (3 bags, all brand new and well packed), there doesnt seem to be any email address I can contact, the phone line is in a 90 minute queue and although they did call back yesterday to say the bags would be on the next flight to JFK, they then called again later to say they couldnt find the bags.

Can anyone offer any suggestions, or am i just at the mercy of AA? I was thinking I could maybe fly back to Raleigh and just search through all the luggage that is piled up there (I'm assuming its all in a big lock-up at the airport).... would they let me do that? At what stage do I give up hope of ever getting the bags back (I arrived Sunday, it's now Tuesday)?

Thanks in advance.

Re: American Airlines - lost luggage
 

Are they fully labelled with address etc? They should turn up. I would give it a week before you give up hope. Make sure you file a claim with the airline for losing your luggage at that point and with your insurance company (although they may claim that because your luggage was in transit they aren't responsible, so be aware).

Hoffage

Re: American Airlines - lost luggage
 

http://www.aa.com/travelInformation/...itle=bagstatus

Were you not given a file reference number to check online? In my experience with BA, the phone line will only tell you what you can find out for yourself online anyhow.

Re: American Airlines - lost luggage
 

Its likely sitting in an airport somewhere, and I can't say for AA, but when I did delayed baggage and passengers wanted to come to the airport and look through all the bags I had, I would certainly allow them.

I'd have days during times of bad weather, where I literally had hundreds of bags to sort through, and it could take a considerable amount of time to research each bag that was there, find out where it needed to go, write up the delivery tag, and get it out, sometimes a bag would sit a few days before someone got to it.

If after a week and no bag, ask AA to escalate it up to their central baggage department, most airlines handle it locally for the first week, then they let central claim handle if from there.

On the upside, it was very rare for a bag to just never show up anywhere, I can only recall in 2 years of doing it 3 or 4 occasions of a bag just disappearing never to be seen again.

Re: American Airlines - lost luggage
 

Thank you, that is encouraging..... we do have a file locator number, when i checked on-line they had entered our cell phone number incorrectly and although there were 'edit' options for me to amend/ add tel nos/ address/ fax etc, it just kept saying error when i tried to change anything (it wasnt just my PC as we had people try this for us both in US and UK, website just didnt work).

I did try to phone the incorrect mobile number, and a man answered to say AA had called him to deliver luggage 3 or 4 hours earlier.... and of course he just told him he had no idea what they were talking about (and he was a bit cross to have me call him at work). So that led us to believe that our bags must have been found, but the website (the one that doesnt seem to work!) still says the bags are still not found.

I will enquire about me just going to search for them on saturday, though, if they are still missing.

Re: American Airlines - lost luggage
 

Bit late for this advice now, but these GPS luggage tags always intrigued me. Haven't bought one, but if I was a traveller who frequently checked a bag I probably would.

Re: American Airlines - lost luggage
 

WOW, that looks fantastic, I will investigate (just in case we are unlucky enough to have this happen twice!).

Still no luggage as yet, although they seem confident that they aren't actually lost!

Re: American Airlines - lost luggage
 

That is neat. If I traveled frequently its something I'd consider. Nothing like being able to tell the airline where they can find the bag...lol

I once found a delayed bag for a passenger in Moscow, it was checked in at JFK bound for San Diego via Phoenix.

Happened a few times actually, found bags in London and France as well.

The issue was in JFK our flight departed from the same terminal as some international airlines, and the baggage area for checked bags was shared, and sometimes one of the other airlines would accidentally end up loading one of our bags on their flight.

It was easy getting bags back from London and France, but Moscow was frustrating, took me a good 2 weeks to get the bag back.

I had another passengers bag stuck in Phoenix and I needed it in San Diego and for some reason the agents in Phoenix could not get the back to me, so the next day was my day off, so I hopped a flight to Phoenix and picked up the bag myself to get it to San Diego....

Re: American Airlines - lost luggage
 

Great idea for Christmas/birthday presents. Thanks.