anyone else have luggage missing on your return?

[bltpoppins]

Checked our luggage with RAC at Old Key West and, when arriving in Chicago, it was a no-show. The Southwest baggage claim asked if I had come from Disney. When I said yes she replied that there have been problems with the service not getting baggage to flights on time. We checked ours at 10:30a.m. for a 6:40 p.m. flight! Anyone else having this experience?
This was our 4th trip in 7 months (one stay at Old Key West) and never had a glitch.

 

[Gracie09]

My guess is it's likely an airline issue as opposed to a rac issue. As in rac delivered the luggage and the airline neglected to put it on the plane. The airline should be able to tell ou whether it was scanned in at the airport when they took possession.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

granted it was not Disney but brother in law had one piece not make it back with their flight. of course it was the one he put the carkeys in, so he could fly with nothing in pocket because of security, put his wallet in wife's purse. we got the call at 10pm to come and get them an hour and half away at the airport. 5 cases made it and one did not, all were checked at same time and same place

 

[JanaDee]

granted it was not Disney but brother in law had one piece not make it back with their flight. of course it was the one he put the carkeys in, so he could fly with nothing in pocket because of security, put his wallet in wife's purse. we got the call at 10pm to come and get them an hour and half away at the airport. 5 cases made it and one did not, all were checked at same time and same place

You always ALWAYS put car keys either in your carry-on or in your pockets.

 

[Gracie09]

You always ALWAYS put car keys either in your carry-on or in your pockets.

Ok glad I wasn't the only one to think that. We actually take two sets just in case one is lost. There is no rules against keys in a carryon. There are some rules about pocket knives that may be attached to the key ring, but not the actual keys

 

[Alesia]

My husband's luggage gets delayed a lot - literally half of the flights he's taken one piece of luggage has gotten lost. When we got back from our honeymoon, one of our bags was missing for 2 weeks.

Putting anything important in your checked luggage, such as keys or medication, isusing shockingly poor judgement.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

When a bag doesn't show up at baggage claim, it will normally be on the next flight. The bag is delayed, not "missing" or "lost."

The airline will usually have a courier deliver the bag after it arrives.

In the case of a bag that was checked-in at RAC, the delay could be due to RAC or to the airline. If the itinerary involves a connecting flight, the bag could have missed the connection.

As others have noted, anything that would be a big problem or concern if delayed (medication, keys, valuables, anything you need at your destination the first day) should go in carry-on luggage (of course, within TSA rules).

 

[goofy4tink]

Here's my issue. You dropped your bags at 10:30, for a 6:40 flight. RAC closes around 1-1:30. I find it hard to believe that no one noticed a tagged bag sitting there for hours! I'm going to assume that all the bags were dealt with, before they closed down for the day. So.....the fault is more than likely at the airport.

I've used RAC for my checked bags more times than I can remember. I have never had an issue with my bags getting to me when I arrive at my home airport.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Checked our luggage with RAC at Old Key West and, when arriving in Chicago, it was a no-show. The Southwest baggage claim asked if I had come from Disney. When I said yes she replied that there have been problems with the service not getting baggage to flights on time. We checked ours at 10:30a.m. for a 6:40 p.m. flight! Anyone else having this experience?
This was our 4th trip in 7 months (one stay at Old Key West) and never had a glitch.

Another way SW has become just like all the other mainstream airlines... Blame someone else is their rule.

I agree with an earlier poster, this luggage was delivered on time.

What is more likely to have happened is it got there around noon and got "set aside" since it was 6 hours before your flight and then... "opps we forgot"

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

What is more likely to have happened is it got there around noon and got "set aside" since it was 6 hours before your flight and then... "opps we forgot"

I agree that that's the most likely explanation.

Passengers usually check their bags 90-120 minutes before departure. Their bags are staged to be loaded on the aircraft around 20 minutes before departure.

But with RAC, the airline could get bags in the morning for a flight that evening. That should mean that the airline has PLENTY of time to deal with those bags. However, because it's way too early, the bags are set aside. If they are not reintroduced into the process at the right time, they could be delayed.

I've never had this problem with RAC, but there have been other reports of it on this forum.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

granted it was not Disney but brother in law had one piece not make it back with their flight. of course it was the one he put the carkeys in, so he could fly with nothing in pocket because of security, put his wallet in wife's purse. we got the call at 10pm to come and get them an hour and half away at the airport. 5 cases made it and one did not, all were checked at same time and same place

Putting car keys in a checked bag is crazy! There is no reason these couldn't go through security. Also, if your bag is delayed or temporarily missing, the airline is responsible for delivering it to you. No need to drive back to the airport.

OP didn't indicate if the bag was actually checked in at Southwest. Hard to know what happened, but it should eventually show up. It has been my experience that when you check a bag early, it is sometimes sent to your destination on an earlier flight; it's not left sitting around the airport.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

did not go back to airport for bag, we got to go and pick up brother in law and his family as they had no keys to drive car home. we had only van large enough to carry their family and luggage home. he had to put keys in his checked bag and he had no carry on, just his wallet. he could not believe that his case would not make it with them. do not remember who got to take him back to get car after bag was delivered to their house

 

[bltpoppins]

By noon I received a call that our luggage was found and would be delivered to our house within two hours (I live 20 minutes from the airport). It was delivered 90 minutes later.
I agree that I think it just never was put on the flight.
Thanks for all the thoughts.

 

[bumbershoot]

It has been my experience that when you check a bag early, it is sometimes sent to your destination on an earlier flight; it's not left sitting around the airport.

And then it's sitting around at the destination airport in a back room somewhere...



OP got your bags were just delayed!

 

[JanaDee]

did not go back to airport for bag, we got to go and pick up brother in law and his family as they had no keys to drive car home. we had only van large enough to carry their family and luggage home. he had to put keys in his checked bag and he had no carry on, just his wallet. he could not believe that his case would not make it with them. do not remember who got to take him back to get car after bag was delivered to their house

He should have put the keys in his pocket.

Hopefully he won't make the same mistake twice.

 

[JanaDee]

By noon I received a call that our luggage was found and would be delivered to our house within two hours (I live 20 minutes from the airport). It was delivered 90 minutes later.
I agree that I think it just never was put on the flight.
Thanks for all the thoughts.

 

[Alesia]

did not go back to airport for bag, we got to go and pick up brother in law and his family as they had no keys to drive car home. we had only van large enough to carry their family and luggage home. he had to put keys in his checked bag and he had no carry on, just his wallet. he could not believe that his case would not make it with them. do not remember who got to take him back to get car after bag was delivered to their house

I can't help but wonder why he didn't just put them in his pocket or in his wife's purse with his wallet.

 

[Lewisc]

Airlines won't let you check luggage more then 3 or 4 hours before your flight. I've read Southwest wouldn't sign on with RAC until RAC agreed not to dump luggage too early.

A handful of posters shared similar experiences, SW telling a passenger the luggage wasn't on the flight because Disney waited too long to deliver the luggage to SW.

It doesn't happen very often.

 

[mmouse50]

It happened to me in May - Checked my bags at WL around 9:30 for a 1:30 flight - when I got home my bags were no where to be found - there were 4 other families with me in the lost baggage claim at Southwest - all had used RAC but we were all staying in separate resorts. They bags came in on the next non-stop flight from MCO.

 

[Starshine]

Reading this made me wonder. We live 2.5 hours from the airport, would they actually deliver our bags all the way to us if they got delayed?