Tag Archives for checked baggage.
There are times when American Airlines systems do not recognize these bag benefits even though the passenger is entitled to them.
An August 8, 2023 memo to the airline’s customer care agents outlines “a few known scenarios” where American’s computers fail to recognize free checked bags that customers are entitled to.
Venus Williams flew American Airlines to Canada, but American sent her bags to the Bahamas. When she was supposed to be preparing for a tennis match, she was instead focused as her “full time job day and night” for three days calling the airline, hoping to get her bags back. She really doesn’t have people to do that for her?
Even though marijuana is legal in many states, it remains against federal law. You can’t take it on interstate flights. Still, some people apparently pack their pot in checked luggage. And United Airlines baggage handlers steal it.
American Airlines loses and delays more checked bags than competitors – at times up to 1% of bags. The airline has 3 changes to make baggage reliability better, according to Julie Rath who is American’s Senior Vice President of Airport Operations (and had a brief tenure running the AAdvantage program). She offered these comments during an employee meeting following the airline’s first quarter earnings call on Thursday.
When you check a bag with an airline, the airline is responsible for the bag even though they aren’t the only one that touches it. You may have seen the slips that TSA sometimes sticks into bags saying that they’ve opened and inspected it.
One woman shared her story of flying Delta from New York JFK to Los Angeles, only to discover that her bag had been opened and one of her packing cubes removed.
Normally we think about two kinds of luggage: carry on and lost. But there’s actually a third kind, damaged.
Just watch these American Airlines baggage handlers fight over a passenger’s luggage being unloaded from a plane on Saturday.
Aircraft manufacturer Airbus tweeted on Wednesday evening that American Airlines lost their luggage. Someone had flown into Washington, D.C. where Airbus has its headquarters, and the airline failed to deliver their bags – or to send the bags out to the customer when they said to expect them. American Airlines is the largest operator of Airbus aircraft.
For anyone who ever thought, “I’d like my whiskey to smell like cake,” Glenmorangie makes a $100 single malt aged in ex-bourbon barrels and finished in a Tokaji dessert wine cask.
Christopher Ambler packed a bottle in his checked luggage and entrusted it to United. Then, he says, it was returned to him one-third empty.
Jameel Reid flew from Los Angeles to Atlanta and waited for his luggage at baggage claim. Atlanta residents aren’t used to waiting half an hour for bags – Delta offers a 20 minute guarantee – so after 30 minutes he pulled out this phone and tracked the location of the missing bag which he’d left an Apple Airtag in. The bag was already outside the airport.
Two days later he saw his bag’s airtag location returned to the airport, so he went back himself and contacted airport police.
Sometimes damaged bags work out in a customer’s favor. If you’re mid-trip the airline may have a replacement bag to offer you at the baggage office, to at least keep you going. They may also be willing to replace the bag, instead of paying out compensation. And maybe they’ll just keep sending you new luggage?
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
