Anyone ever lose or get their luggage stolen?

[sweetp267]

The jury is still out but I think that my golf clubs were jacked somewhere between Philadelphia and Orlando. I got my three suitcases right away at baggage claim at MCO but no clubs. All the other clubs on my flight came out and my flight only had 44 or so people on board. I used curbside at PHL, got my luggage tags and watched the skycap tag all four pieces but did not hang around to watch them go on the belt into the building. However, my wife was out there for about five minutes having a smoke, but did not take notice if they sat there. I did tip the guy like I always do, but because it was slow outside and not alot of people doing curbside there might have been an opportunity to somehow put them aside even though golf clubs are pretty big to hide.

Now I will tell you that this happend with Southwest and with my 33 years of travel, this is the very first time I have ever had a luggage problem with any airline let alone a possible theft. They helped me all they could in MCO and were very nice but there is only so much they can do. The did say it might have missed the flight due to security reasons and to wait for the next flight. Well obviously that didn't happen. It is now more than 24 hours after my initial arrival and still no clubs. I called the MCO office a few times to ask if there was any news but their trace is still coming up empty. They said that they will pay for a club rental while I am here but only up to $50. The two courses I planned to play charge more than that, I think. I did talk to someone who had the same thing happen and said that he was paid the $1500 that he said was the value of the clubs and bag and carrier etc. If that is the case my clubs easily add up to about $2000. So if they give me that, great a whole new set! If they limit their dollar amount then I'm screwed. I have to wait 5 days after the loss to file a claim and that has to be through the main office and it all has to be in writing through the mail. So it might take some time.

If any of you have had similar experiences, Southwest or other let me know what happened.

I am not knocking Southwest. YET! If this is going on regularly in PHL, then BEWARE! I automatically go to curbside because it takes less time. Well on the day I left, the counter was completely empty. If I went inside, I might not be typing this now.

I will update when I get more news for those who are curious.


PS I just got a call from Southwest on Thursday and they still cant find them, but they did up the amount of money they would pay for a set of rentals to $100 since I have two rounds scheduled. There is only so much they can do here in MCO since it probably happened in PHL.
More info when it becomes available.

 

[ducklite]

I've had things go missing for a couple of days, but always turn up in the long run. I did catch a girl trying to steal my bag off the carousel in Orlando. She was in the process of taking it when I saw her and literally jumped over the curve in the carousel to stop her. I knew it was my bag due to some bright colored and uniquely shaped luggage tags, she would have absolutely known it wasn't hers. The clincher was when I yelled at her to put my bag down, she dropped it and walked away. no "I'm sorry" or anything. And she didn't wait around for "her" bag. She was absolutely trying to take my bag. I've heard over and over that MCO has a big problem with baggage theft by rings that work the airport.

Anne

 

[goaliewife]

I actually did lose a suitcase with SW. Several years ago, from Las Vegas to San Jose. On this one particular trip, I did not take a carry-on and lost all medications, toiletries, etc.

Never showed up........well sort of.......

They were as helpful as they could be. Sent me the forms to fill out for our claim. What a process. You have to list every item, what it looked like, (if it is clothing, what fabric it is made of) when you bought it and the price that you purchased it for and then a depreciation value. But even then, they will only give you a percentage of the depreciation value. A lot of it is a guessing game because some things you can't remember (but in the case of your clubs, this may not be as big of a problem). After almost a year, we were reimbursed by SW.

The saga continues. Right after we were reimbursed, Amex called me saying that they had received a call from someone in Mexico claiming that a friend of his had my bag and there was an Amex receipt in my suitcase. They asked if they could give my number to this person who claimed to have my bag.

Okay, so now what do I do. I have already going through the process and it has taken this person a year to claim that he has my bag.......lol. The third party person called me and it turned out that it was a priest who had my bag. We apparently had the same type of luggage and he picked mine up by mistake......but again....a year???? He asked if I wanted it back and I replied NO. I did not want to go through the process of them returning it and having to contact SW again and return the money that they had reimbursed me. I had replaced many of the lost items in this year time period and I was satisfied that the situation was over.......

Not sure to this day that I did the right thing, but that is my story and I am sticking to it.

And yes, I have flown with SW since then, but I do take a carry-on when I fly.

Good luck with your "process."

 

[goaliewife]

I actually did lose a suitcase with SW. Several years ago, from Las Vegas to San Jose. On this one particular trip, I did not take a carry-on and lost all medications, toiletries, etc.

Never showed up........well sort of.......

They were as helpful as they could be. Sent me the forms to fill out for our claim. What a process. You have to list every item, what it looked like, (if it is clothing, what fabric it is made of) when you bought it and the price that you purchased it for and then a depreciation value. But even then, they will only give you a percentage of the depreciation value. A lot of it is a guessing game because some things you can't remember (but in the case of your clubs, this may not be as big of a problem). After almost a year, we were reimbursed by SW.

The saga continues. Right after we were reimbursed, Amex called me saying that they had received a call from someone in Mexico claiming that a friend of his had my bag and there was an Amex receipt in my suitcase. They asked if they could give my number to this person who claimed to have my bag.

Okay, so now what do I do. I have already going through the process and it has taken this person a year to claim that he has my bag.......lol. The third party person called me and it turned out that it was a priest who had my bag. We apparently had the same type of luggage and he picked mine up by mistake......but again....a year???? He asked if I wanted it back and I replied NO. I did not want to go through the process of them returning it and having to contact SW again and return the money that they had reimbursed me. I had replaced many of the lost items in this year time period and I was satisfied that the situation was over.......

Not sure to this day that I did the right thing, but that is my story and I am sticking to it.

And yes, I have flown with SW since then, but I do take a carry-on when I fly.

Good luck with your "process."

 

[CTtwins]

I haven't had a problem with Southwest.. but did want to share this

Our friends had their camera bag stolen while waiting at the carousel in MCO. (May 2006) Seems they had their backs turned for just a moment, and someone took their bag with their video camera and digital camera... I don't think there was any remedy for it.

I have had my luggage ransacked by Delta (LGA to MCO July 2003)... someone went through my suitcase and opened all of the cards I had inside. Of course, they took the money that was in them...!!

My lesson was learned !!

I hope your golf bag shows up!!

 

[sweetp267]

Well it is now Friday and still no word. I have now convinced myself that they are gone and never coming back. I just hope that they repay me what I need to replace everything. Most of my equipment is fairly new, less than 3 years, but they are all discontinued. So I need the comparable items that are available now we are looking at about $1500-2000 to replace everything.

There are only two places that they could have easily been taken. One is curbside in PHilly before they went inside on the belt and the other is in Orlando at the baggage claim and they came out quickly and were picked up before I made it there from the gate.

Either way I will say again BEWARE!!!

 

[jemiaule]

We had our car seat stolen off the baggage carousel at MCO our last trip (weekend after Thanksgiving). We saw it come out and we waited for it to make it's way to us while we grabbed our suitcases. It never made it to us; someone snagged it.

Flew Southwest earlier this month for a trip to Las Vegas. On the return it was obvious someone in baggage handling had gone thru my suitcase. Some of my M.A.C. makeup was missing and in their hurry to shove stuff back into my cosmetic bag they snapped a few teeth off of my comb.