Chicago nightmare with losing baggage!

[Disbabe]

Its been such a long day! Won't ever be booking the way we did again. We checked in at Manchester all the way through Heathrow, Chicago to Jacksonville. They couldn't print the last boarding cards until we got to Heathrow, which was a bit fidly. When we got to Chicago only 2 suitcases turned up. Got told that half the cases on our flight were for people who had travelled the day before and hadn't got luggage. It was utter fiasco, so many on our flight didn't get their luggage. To top it all off no-one apologised, kept telling us to get our flight and put claim in at final destination. We almost didn't get on our last leg of the flight due to the length of time took waiting for the luggage that never arrived. We then handed back the 2 suitcases only to find that when we got to Jax they too weren't there. Still in Chicago and unable, at present to locate the last 4 cases. Been allowed $300 for 6 of us to buy what we need in meantime. In 10 visits to the USA have never once not got our luggage. To not get all 6 cases is absolute failure on the airlines part. What a good start to our holiday! I'm guessing quite a large number of people have been affected by this in the last day or so!

 

[tinkerpea]

Oh my god!!
I'm so so sorry what a nightmare for you!nothing worse then not having your belongings.
I always carry a swimsuit and spare set of clothes with me in handluggage and the same for the kids as I learned this the hard way,except it was to turkey at Xmas and their was hardly any shops "x boyfriend was deployed for Xmas to a hotel in the sticks" I had nothing for 5 days and had travelled 1st class lmao.

Thank god the airlines given you 300 to sort yourselves,you can dress pretty cheaply in the US but it doesn't add up to much pp!
I hope you get your things delivered to you tomorrow xx

 

[wayneg]

Hope they turn up. Something seriously wrong if they lose them all like that.

 

[disneyholic family]

i am soooooooooooo sorry for all the trouble you're going through now!!

what airline did you fly?

we've lost luggage a few times - the reason i now carry so much in my carry on after experiencing that nightmare first hand!!

in our experience they also had us file the lost luggage claim only at our final destination (MCO) , not at the intermediate airport (JFK in our case).
both times that it happened on the way to orlando, our luggage arrived on the following day (at night)....

the first time it happened, all of our luggage went missing - but made it to the resort the following day (we got the message when we returned from the park the next day)...
more recently, only DD's suitcase didn't arrive - it took about 36 hours i think....it arrived some time in the middle of the night but they didn't want to wake us up....when i called the bell captain in the morning, he had it waiting for us.

i hope your luggage shows up soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by the way, my luggage has gone missing even more times on the way back home. One time, i arrived on one airline together with 3 of my 4 suitcases. I went to lost luggage and she said "run over to delta - they have your suitcase"
That was curious, since i hadn't flown the transatlantic portion of my flight on delta!!! but i guess my suitcase decided delta was the nicer airline!!

 

[Kath2003]

That really sucks, hope they turn up soon

We try our best to not check luggage but the best tips are:

- Keep what you'll need for 2-3 days in your hand luggage.
- Split your party's belongings across all the bags you check - so if a bag goes missing you are both without half your stuff, rather than one being without everything.

 

[scoobydooby]

How horrible I would cope badly with that happening. I hope it arrives today. $300 is not enough and steals a day off what you planned to do as well. Let us know how it works out. Good luck.

 

[flortlebap]

In so sorry, that's so awful, my worst nightmare!

Hopefully you will get your luggage in the best 48 hours and you can manage in the meantime. What an awful start to the trip

 

[Elise79]

I am so sorry they lost all your baggage - who did you fly with?

This again makes me grateful for our Owners Lockers - we have all the essentials in there and could happily survive several days before our luggage arrived.

 

[pampat]

We've lost our luggage sooo many times and it's always stressful, but my husband has taught me to be laid back about it and realise that in the scheme of things, it's not tooo bad. We once lost our luggage, in winter through storms and closed airports, for 5 days out of a 7 day trip!

Pam

 

[DLPDreams]

OMG what a nightmare (been there but it was in the sticks in Morocco many years back and it was a total nightmare - I couldn't even buy a hairbrush and DH didn't have one as had short hair, it was that bad!!). So, I feel your pain, only consolation as others have said is at least in the US you can get most stuff to get by.

I learnt the hard way - never again would I travel without splitting across cases, taking medication and a few essentials in hand luggage, and wherever possible fly direct!

Hope you manage to get sorted soon - I know it spoiled the first 6 days of my holiday and looking back I regret it having such an affect on me as it rubbed off on my DH .

Please try and enjoy until they turn up. You will get them soon I'm sure.

 

[irenep]

Who did you fly with?

We were without our luggage for 5 days on our recent trip to CA/HI so I can understand how annoyed you must be.

We flew BA and put in a claim when we returned for $850 (2 of us lost bags) and it was paid back within a week.

I have also since found out if you pay for your flights with an Amex card they include cover for delayed baggage. My Ba amex pays £750 for 6 hours plus another £1000 after that - wish I had known that then - would have bought nicer stuff

Other major credit cards might do similar.

Hope your bags turn up soon.

 

[Disbabe]

Update - we received 1 suitcase yesterday evening. 2 days after travelling. Another was dropped off this morning. 2 are sat in Orlando airport waiting to be couriered so hopefully we should have them later. The last 2 finally made it across from Heathrow yesterday to Chicago. They've now got to be flown to Jacksonville and then flown to Orlando via Miami!
We flew with British Airways from Manchester to Heathrow and then American Airlines from Heathrow to Jacksonville through Chicago.
It's not ruining the holiday as we're managing. American Airlines have told us that there isn't an upper limit for claims, it's just what is "reasonable costs".
Have had a shopping day, been to Busch Gardens yesterday and we're off to Seaworld today. It's been an inconvenience but at least you can get on with it.

 

[DLPDreams]

Update - we received 1 suitcase yesterday evening. 2 days after travelling. Another was dropped off this morning. 2 are sat in Orlando airport waiting to be couriered so hopefully we should have them later. The last 2 finally made it across from Heathrow yesterday to Chicago. They've now got to be flown to Jacksonville and then flown to Orlando via Miami!
We flew with British Airways from Manchester to Heathrow and then American Airlines from Heathrow to Jacksonville through Chicago.
It's not ruining the holiday as we're managing. American Airlines have told us that there isn't an upper limit for claims, it's just what is "reasonable costs".
Have had a shopping day, been to Busch Gardens yesterday and we're off to Seaworld today. It's been an inconvenience but at least you can get on with it.

Yay - at least they are on their way. It was BA I had lost luggage with . Glad to hear you are managing .

Enjoy!

 

[disneyholic family]

that crossing between airlines is where our luggage usually goes astray..

 

[Cyrano]

Hope the cases turn up.

Reminded us of our first visit to WDW when Virgin lost our luggage. We were allowed $50 ($10 dollars each) and needed to keep receipts to claim it when we flew home.