Comments

1. AA has had this baggage mishandling for like a decade at this point.

   Not sure if this was a pre or post merger but it certainly isn’t new.

   Wasn’t this the same US Airways that fixed the horrific baggage problem at Philly?

2. If there was an emergency evacuation , George Costanza would trample all the FAs and dive out the door , ( as he did at the party ) .

3. Congratulations!!

   AA can now lose luggage in ALL 50 states!

4. As a silver lining to lost baggage saga, they do reimburse reasonable costs and at least in my case ultimately find and deliver the lost luggage. I got a nice new suit to keep all paid by American and my “lost” luggage was found and delivered the next day. Make sure you log a complaint before you exit the airport.
   The process wasn’t too painful. I had it reimbursed within a week.
   In this process, I learnt that it is a common thing in DC. The Macy’s in downtown DC on Sunday afternoon had 4 to 5 other people like me looking for suits. They had a nice gentlemen who was helping folks like us pick ties and suits that fit well. I was very pleased with the outcome and wouldn’t mind going back to this location for their excellent service.

5. I hate misleading DOT data. Lets compare apples to apples.

   Southwest, Hawaiian airlines have mostly One Leg trips
   Southwest Spirt and Frontier have many pax who fly without Luggage
   United , alaska and american have more segment Pax and those with luggage .

   DOT needs to break it down: by flight , airport…..

   Is it being lost of of PHL, DEN BWI?

   Luggage is “Lost” when there is a plane change, connection or delay.
   There are no snow storms in January in MIA nor Hurricanes at ORD in January

6. George Costanza made sure that exit was clear! Just as I would if I were an FA.

7. Re: AA lost luggage…

   Add this as well: since they outsourced their “Lost & Found” process, you can kiss anything left onboard goodbye.

   Want to talk to someone? Nope, file an online claim, call back to an IVR. They will humor you with this for 30 days, until they drop the “search”.

   Harrumph.

8. Well I’ve had the same experience w/ United. No one to talk to. Fill out form online. Get emails saying we can’t find it for a period, then that’s it.

9. Makes me so glad to have given all my flying business to AA of late. There is officially no domestic US carrier that isn’t garbage. Jetblue just doesn’t cut it, unless you live where they fly.

10. I was a baggage service office (BSO) manager for American. It was dreadful. However, in fairness I will make a few points to push back on some of the comments.

    1. If your checked bag did not make it to your destination but we know where it is (in most cases), it’s not “lost”, it’s just delayed. The majority of delayed bags will be routed on the next available flight and delivered the same day. Believe it or not, most of us genuinely do our best to get your bags as soon as possible with the tools/resources/routes we are given. We understand it’s frustrating. If you scream and threaten us, however, employees are less likely to go out of their way to help you (beyond what is required).

    2. American actually has better technical tracking systems (and app) than several rival airlines. I also work for B6 BSO, which has very little tracking ability, less communication between stations, and NO corporate baggage services training for employees. AA on the other hand, flies every BSO employee to DFW HQ for intensive training.

    3. Airlines and baggage handlers are at the mercy of the AIRPORT baggage system. Certain airports were notorious for broken down or faulty systems. I dreaded the routes coming from JFK for instance, which is notorious for bags getting caught, jammed/clogged or just falling off the conveyor systems. Baggage handling systems are also where bags are most often damaged, not by baggage handlers themselves. So keep in mind, the airport you are departing from or transiting through is often to blame, not the airline itself.

    4. Baggage handlers are low paid and work long hours in very tough conditions. Most do their jobs very well but they can become overworked, burnt out and indifferent/sloppy. Those employees are usually identified and appropriately disciplined. Every station gets monthly rankings in various categories, including BSO. Station management takes these very seriously and takes action whenever possible to improve. It’s not that AA doesn’t care. The system is insanely challenging complex, especially with record travel numbers at our airports.

11. AA carries far more passengers than any other airline in the world, so it naturally has a lot more baggage to handle. To be fair and more accurate, airlines should be judged by number of delayed/lost/damaged bags per flight, not overall totals. Baggage recovery time would also be an interesting metric to reveal among airlines. Some are much better than others.

    Millions of passengers carried (2022):
    Rank Airline Group
    1 American Airlines 199.3
    2 Delta Air Lines 175.0
    3 Ryanair 168.6
    4 Southwest Airlines 157.0
    5 United Airlines 144.3
    6 Lufthansa Group 101.8
    7 IAG UK/ Spain 94.7
    8 Air France–KLM 83.3

12. AA developed one of the first “real time” tracing” systems back in the 1970’s. This eliminated the old way of “pencil whipping” the actual performance to make the stats seem much better. Truth be known, my guess is at the time of the merger USAir was still in the stone ages in mishandling reporting. They either dumped the automated AA system like they did several others AA applications or when their operations finally got integrated their decades old miserable performance got included in the AA numbers making any comparisons squeed.