Tag Archives for checked baggage.
Delta and Alaska Airlines commit to delivering checked bags within 20 minutes of each flight arriving. If they fail to meet that, you’re entitled to miles or a credit towards a future trip as compensation. Neither United nor American offer this.
A brief moment of honesty from an American Airlines manager explains why they can’t do it.
American Airlines sent out a memo to all of its agents reminding them about all of the reasons they should use to deny or limit passenger claims for delayed, lost or damaged luggage, especially after international trips.
It was all probably right, of course, but it’s more important to train agents and baggage handlers on proper care for luggage to minimize damage to the items entrusted to them.
One American Airlines employee out on the ramp stopped to comfort animals as they were being loaded onto an aircraft. It’s the little gestures when you think nobody is looking that make all the difference in the world.
When I was a kid growing up in New York, baggage claim checks were required when leaving the airport with your luggage. I used to only see this at New York-area airports. I helped prevent people from picking up the wrong bag, and also prevent someone from intentionally taking a bag that didn’t belong to them. I haven’t seen that process in a U.S. airport in many years, and of course New York isn’t the city that it used to be when Ed Koch was mayor where this really was necessary.
Maybe that would have stopped two men who have been charged with stealing over $550,000 from U.S. airlines by making false lost luggage claims since 2015.
American Airlines now outsources curbside check-in at the limited number of airports where it’s still available, and it’s no longer offered free (plus tips) where provided. Instead it’ll cost $3 per bag to use the service.
Even hubs like Phoenix, New York JFK, Los Angeles, and Charlotte don’t have American Airlines curbside check-in at this point.
It’s a new test at some airports where customers checking in at self-service machines get offered to check their carry-on for free. According to an internal memo on the project, “Offers will be random and may not apply to every customer.”
Sunday morning 185 baby turtles were found wrapped in plastic inside a red suitcase at the Baltra airport in the Galapagos Islands. The passenger and his luggage were bound for Guayaquil, Ecaudor.
These animals were declared as ‘souvenirs’ but were discovered going through x-ray. Sadly, 10 of the tortoises had already died. An additional five died on Monday. The rest “were not in good health.”
American Airlines has a wide variety of policies for how many checked bags are offered free to customers. They’re simplifying their policies, which in a couple of cases means more free bags but in other cases means fewer.
They’re also adding basic economy fares to transpacific and Israel/India flights, but those fares will include a checked bag. So the major restriction is that these fares will not allow changes.
Here’s a story for anyone that’s ever had an airline lose their luggage and then had to deal with indifferent customer service, or layers of bureaucracy just trying to get an answer. A man won a $1.74 million court judgment over lost baggage. The case took 13 years.
The Department of Transportation has finalized its rule increasing the minimum amount of cash an airline has to pay a passenger for involuntarily denying them boarding, and banning airlines from denying boarding to passengers that have already boarded. The rule increases the maximum amount airlines can be on the hook for when they mishandle domestic checked baggage as well. These changes go into effect April 13, 2021.
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 »
