Lost Luggage and Magical Express

[Canadian_Princess]

Hey!
I just have a quick question. One of my biggest concerns when flying is that when we land my luggage doesn't (which is even a greater concern this year with all of the layovers we have). My main worry is that with the luggage tags you don't go pick up your luggage so you would have NO idea that your stuff is missing until SEVERAL HOURS later when everyone elses luggage arrives. Has this happened to anyone? If so what happened? I mean, your pretty far away as it is... does Disney deal with that or do you have to go back to the Airport??

Sorry, but I like to be prepared.

 

[CleveRocks]

Disney deals with it. They will track it down for you, as long as you checked in at the Disney Welcome Center at the airport (so they know you've arrived and that they're responsible for your luggage). The DME luggage tags have barcodes on them. When you check in, they ask how many bags you checked with your airline (and whether or not you'd put the DME tags on them). If all of your bags don't appear in Disney's computer system within a reasonable amount of time, they check around the likely spots at the airport, and then if necessary work with your airline to track down your luggage within the airline's system. Without DME, you have to deal with your airline, delaying yourself at their baggage office, etc. DME takes care of all of that for you.

If a bag has been misdirected by the airline, when it finally arrives at MCO it will be pulled by Disney and will be transported to your resort with the rest of the DME luggage that is going to resorts at that time.

EVen though it probably happens only rarely, it's a mthematic certainty that there've been at least a handful of occasions when it took someone 10 hours to get their suitcase, and they blamed and blasted DME for it when in reality it was DME who made the sure the person got the bag at all.

To my recollection, I haven't read any posts from someone who knows their bag was mishandled by the airline and had it tracked down by the airline and DME and sent to MCO where it belonged.

 

[Tissa]

I know of two different couples that used ME and didn't get their luggage for two days. Not sure if it was ME or the airlines fault. All they know is that the luggage finally showed up. They were both given credit in the gift shop to purchase some items so they would have some clothes to wear.

I have used ME twice in the past without any problems and probably will use ME again for my October trip.

 

[CleveRocks]

I know of two different couples that used ME and didn't get their luggage for two days. Not sure if it was ME or the airlines fault. All they know is that the luggage finally showed up. They were both given credit in the gift shop to purchase some items so they would have some clothes to wear.

I have used ME twice in the past without any problems and probably will use ME again for my October trip.

WHile none of us here can know for sure, it seems MUCH more probable that luggage MIA for 2 days was misdirected to a far away airport rather than sent to the wrong resort or something like that.

Forget DME for a second ... when your luggage doesn't appear on the baggage claim carousel, it's almost always because it wasn't on your flight and isn't in the same airport you're in right now. It's not exactly "common" for that to happen, but it does happen thousands if not hundreds of thousands of times each year (but still a very tiny percentage of total luggage handled by airlines). This seems a much more likely cause than DME fumbling it for two entire days.

But like I said, none of us here can know that for sure.

 

[Edd]

The deal is if you tag your luggage with the Disney tags they will eventually wind up at your resort. If a piece of luggage gets waylaid to another airport with the Disney tag on it, when it eventually gets into MCO you will get it into your room. You do not have to visit the Welcome Center for this to happen, it is automatic.

Those who do not use the Disney tags to automatically transfer the luggage to Disney are the ones who have to worry. Those people will usually find out their luggage is not with them when it does not show up on the carousels. At that time they should check with the airlines office and report it missing. The first thing the office will ask you if you tagged it with the Disney tags. If you say yes they will tell you it will appear at Disney. If you didn't they will get your information. Now they have two ways to get it to Disney when it does arrive. This is verified. They will either have their own contractor take the luggage to Disney or they will call the Disney people and have them deliver it to Disney using the information they picked up when you reported the bag missing. They tell me they use both ways, but generally the way they think it is faster.

If an airline office has a piece of luggage that has no Disney tag, maybe the tag was torn off, very rarely happens, on it and it is around the office for a quite a long time, the airline will question Disney with the name or the description, as well as checking out the name and address information on the piece of luggage, to resolve the situation. If you did not reserve the DME for your vacation than Disney will not have any information. Just remember you have to reserve the DME in advance of arrival in Orlando to qualify to use the DME. The information this reservation contains may be used to help locate the owner of lost luggage at Orlando International Airport.

 

[happymommy]

I know this is difficult, if not impossible, for those travelling with very small children, but to get by this possibility, we try to just pack simply and carry on.
Sometimes, yes, your luggage isn't on the same flight, but most often it's just on a later one. Happened to my friend when we went together last August (we HAD to check one bag as the liquid restriction was complete, now we can at least have our little amounts ).
I find even with us all having our little carry ons, we take more than we need. I like to do laundry every 2 - 3 days on vacation. Just a consideration.

 

[goofy4tink]

If someone is truly concerned about losing their luggage then perhpas they might want to consider shipping their things down before they depart. I know of a lot of people that do exactly that. Then they have just their carryon to deal with, their belongings are waiting for them at their resort when they check in.

 

[LisaInNc]

My luggage was lost. We had a very late flight and didn't get to the hotel until after midnight. When the luggage had not arrived by the next morning I called ME. I called the airlines and they said that ME picked it up. I somehow think that Disney verified this because they could not have been nicer about it. They told us to go into the gift shops and charge to the room anything we needed. They took all the charges off once the luggage had been found and I mean ALL the charges. I told them which ones were extra stuff we bought and they said they would take it all off. They picked up breakfast, at the theme parks we had to rent a stroller because ours didn't make it and they paid for that too. They also comped me a night at the Poly and it was in the middle of summer at a very high rate so that was realy nice. All in all Disney comped us around 1,000 between the hotel, the food, the clothes and all the other stuff. You know how expensive those little toiletries are in the gift shops

18 hours after I arrived they delivered our luggage.

Now I have a carry on with the basics we will need for one night of lost luggage just in case.

I should also mention that we have never used ME again, it just wasn't for me. Waiting for the bus, going to several resorts before ours when we were dog tired, waiting for the busses any time we wanted to go anywhere. I do a priceline rental car and we are a lot happier. It is now my Disney splurge!

I don't hold the lost luggage against them, we found out later it had been delivered to the wrong hotel and it took them a while to find it. Disney we so gracious about it how could we be upset? They went beyond anything I would have expected.

 

[kapoof]

we used the ME twice and had no issues. its is very hard to leave your luggage at the airport check in and then hope it gets to your room at wdw, but it seems to work out. however i always pack a carry on with pj's and an extra set of clothes just in case.

 

[CleveRocks]

Thanks for that report, Lisa. It helps us understand how the system works when things do go wrong.

It's also nice to hear that you had CMs who, when it comes to making the customer happy, realize they work for Disney and not the DMV.

 

[seashoreCM]

My luggage was lost. ...When the luggage had not arrived by the next morning I called ME. I called the airlines and they said that ME picked it up. I somehow think that Disney verified this because they could not have been nicer about it. They told us to go into the gift shops and charge to the room anything we needed. They took all the charges off once the luggage had been found and I mean ALL the charges.

18 hours after I arrived they delivered our luggage.ours .

Luggage is scanned at various times within the Magical Express system. So they can verify that baggage has actually arrived at the airport and been taken into the ME system.

Meanwhile if baggage was delayed or lost by the airline, chances are this will not be noticed by ME until the guest reports at the hotel desk that the baggage was not received. While ME does try to track down this baggage, the guest has to provide airline claim check information and/or give a pictorial description (such as pick out the shape from a chart) at the resort at the time of reporting non-delivery.

 

[Canadian_Princess]

Thanks everyone for the reply!

Its good to know that at least Disney will take care of it, and that they are really nice about it (not that I would expect any differently).

I was just always curious how it works...


Thanks again!

 

[Skroops]

My luggage was lost. We had a very late flight and didn't get to the hotel until after midnight. When the luggage had not arrived by the next morning I called ME. I called the airlines and they said that ME picked it up. I somehow think that Disney verified this because they could not have been nicer about it. They told us to go into the gift shops and charge to the room anything we needed. They took all the charges off once the luggage had been found and I mean ALL the charges. I told them which ones were extra stuff we bought and they said they would take it all off. They picked up breakfast, at the theme parks we had to rent a stroller because ours didn't make it and they paid for that too. They also comped me a night at the Poly and it was in the middle of summer at a very high rate so that was realy nice. All in all Disney comped us around 1,000 between the hotel, the food, the clothes and all the other stuff. You know how expensive those little toiletries are in the gift shops

18 hours after I arrived they delivered our luggage.

Now I have a carry on with the basics we will need for one night of lost luggage just in case.

I should also mention that we have never used ME again, it just wasn't for me. Waiting for the bus, going to several resorts before ours when we were dog tired, waiting for the busses any time we wanted to go anywhere. I do a priceline rental car and we are a lot happier. It is now my Disney splurge!

I don't hold the lost luggage against them, we found out later it had been delivered to the wrong hotel and it took them a while to find it. Disney we so gracious about it how could we be upset? They went beyond anything I would have expected.

Here's to hoping my luggage gets lost!! I'd love to have a free gift shop wardrobe for a day or two!!

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

The deal is if you tag your luggage with the Disney tags they will eventually wind up at your resort. If a piece of luggage gets waylaid to another airport with the Disney tag on it, when it eventually gets into MCO you will get it into your room. You do not have to visit the Welcome Center for this to happen, it is automatic.

Actually, you DO need to visit the Welcome Center. That is where they find out how many bags you have, and what style they are.

Without the bag count, they have no idea how many bags you have. So when a bag goes missing, Disney doesn't have any clue, and cannot file the appropriate paperwork with the airline.

 

[Edd]

I am sure if they asked everyone how many bags they have, to point out the style of each bag and to collect the baggage numbers the process at the Welcome Center would take much longer. Especially if the husband went to the counter and answered the questions and the wife, who is sitting 40 feet away with the kids, packed the particular bags.

Actually if you followed the DME procedure you wouldn't even know that bags were lost until they didn't show up in your room. If I am correct the Welcome Center does not ask you to provide a description of the bags unless you request Disney to go to the carousels and pick the bags up for you. Anyone else giving this information, size of bags, description, etc., it seems like it would be a waste of time especially on a busy day.

Disney certainly does not match a count against the Welcome Center and the bags that are in processing. Not unless they work on a huge + or - error percentage. I will certainly find out if this is true or not.

 

[Lewisc]

The CM at the DME desk just asks for the total number of bags that are checked. Disney doesn't need the bag description or airline tag numbers unless the bags don't show up and a claim has to be filed. Probably a lot easier to just leave a voice mail at the resort for the guests in those few cases. The count is off the first thing Disney can do is go to the unclaimed luggage office and look at the names on the airline tags. You've already said some skycaps have been removing the DME tags.

Ed all incoming bags are scanned. It wouldn't be very hard to have the computer kick out a report if the number of bags scanned, under a reservation code, doesn't match the number of bags that the CM at the DME desk types into the computer.

I am sure if they asked everyone how many bags they have, to point out the style of each bag and to collect the baggage numbers the process at the Welcome Center would take much longer. Especially if the husband went to the counter and answered the questions and the wife, who is sitting 40 feet away with the kids, packed the particular bags.

Actually if you followed the DME procedure you wouldn't even know that bags were lost until they didn't show up in your room. If I am correct the Welcome Center does not ask you to provide a description of the bags unless you request Disney to go to the carousels and pick the bags up for you. Anyone else giving this information, size of bags, description, etc., it seems like it would be a waste of time especially on a busy day.

Disney certainly does not match a count against the Welcome Center and the bags that are in processing. Not unless they work on a huge + or - error percentage. I will certainly find out if this is true or not.

 

[Edd]

Lewis,

My computer can do a million things with all the software I have loaded, but guess what percentage of those million things I use. I would bet 2% would be a good figure.

What I am saying the computers may have the capabilities to do all those things, but I would bet not much of all those things are done because it takes time and know how to do it. Personally I cannot see where that type of comparison would work. To many don't report to the Disney desk and probably to many don't give an accurate count of luggage. It seems to me to be a whole lot easier to wait for someone to report they have luggage missing.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Seems to me that might indeed be easier. But that's not the point. Disney takes care of thier guests. One of Disney's guiding philosphies is to remove hassles and inconveniences from the guest.

As for Disney's computer system... that's great that you just use 2% of your computer. Disney uses more. They're always adding features, and using new technology.

 

[Lewisc]

Ed don't take this the wrong way but you've always been skeptical regarding the technology being used by DME.

You didn't believe the buses had speed governors or GPS. You initially didn't believe the bags were scanned or were sent to a sorting center at MCO.

The percentage of bags that are lost is low BUT DME handles a lot of bags. They have to a system to determine if bags are missing so they can check in the airlines unclaimed baggage office and put in a claim.

I'll suspect the other luggage delivery systems either track the tags that are issued, DME can't they give out far too many tags that are never used, or ask at the hotel when the guest checks in.

Normally a passenger has to file a claim with the airline, before leaving the airport, to report missing luggage. Southwest requires a preliminary notification of claim within 4 hours of landing. I don't know what happens if the passenger didn't check in at the Disney desk and the first notification isn't made for 24 hours. Most bags are on the same flight as the passenger and most of those bags that are initially missing will show up on a later flight. Some bags are lost and it's not clear if the passenger is out of luck if a claim isn't filed on time.

Lewis,

What I am saying the computers may have the capabilities to do all those things, but I would bet not much of all those things are done because it takes time and know how to do it. Personally I cannot see where that type of comparison would work. To many don't report to the Disney desk and probably to many don't give an accurate count of luggage. It seems to me to be a whole lot easier to wait for someone to report they have luggage missing.

 

[Edd]

Lewis,

You are right I am always skeptical of information, especially on this forum, much of the information is given out by those not even close to the source and formulated on assumptions. So I am skeptical anywhere that I can go and get the information myself and verify it.

GPS has not been answered, but there are still drivers who don't know whether they have GPS or not. If the drivers or employees of the companies cannot verify it, to me it is still skeptical.

As far as the governors on the busses are concerned, there have been many times I am doing 65 to 70 on the highway and I am passed by a DME or cruise line bus. There are some bus drivers that tell me they can get 72 mph on the busses. So the 65 miles speed limit that is supposed to be the governed speed can be broken. Although not by much.

I did find out the sorting facility is located at MCO by quizzing the right people.

Now I am skeptical that Disney keeps information and matches it against the passengers who check in at the Welcome Center. Mainly because I have transported many passengers whose bags went on the DME luggage transfer. I remember asking them if Disney quizzed a couple of them about not riding the DME and they the bags were in the room and no questions were asked.

So until I talk to Amy at Disney I guess I will question some of the answers given on the situation.