ME and lost luggage

[jp02]

I have read several posts that stated if the airline loses your luggage and you put the yellow tags on the bags then it is Disney's responsibility to find the luggage. Just curious how this works because it would be nice if this scenario happened to not have to fill out the paperwork at the airport. Does Disney know how many bags each family checks? Any info would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

[OKW Lover]

As you suspect, this isn't really what happens.

Disney has no way of knowing how many bags you checked or what they look like. If you find that not all your bags got to WDW you'll need to tell Disney what is missing. Then they need to figure out if it was the airline that misdirected your bag or Disney did.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

If the airline has misdirected your bag, I can't imagine why you wouldn't file a missing bag claim with your airline rather than ME.

 

[OKW Lover]

If the airline has misdirected your bag, I can't imagine why you wouldn't file a missing bag claim with your airline rather than ME.

I think the problem is that you have no way of knowing if the airline lost your bag when using DME. Its only once your bags get to your room will you know if any are missing.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I think the problem is that you have no way of knowing if the airline lost your bag when using DME. Its only once your bags get to your room will you know if any are missing.

Yes, this makes sense, but it also makes sense to file a missing bag report with your airline.

 

[bumbershoot]

I would have sworn that DME asks how many bags you checked when you get to the DME CMs at the airport. (I've never checked in at a counter, just went to the freestanding kiosk-ish sort of person, and I swear we were asked that)

 

[Alesia]

I would have sworn that DME asks how many bags you checked when you get to the DME CMs at the airport. (I've never checked in at a counter, just went to the freestanding kiosk-ish sort of person, and I swear we were asked that)

That's been my experience as well.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

If you use Disney's Magical Express and your bags are not delivered to your room within 3 hours of checking in at the hotel, you won't know if (A) your bags were not on your flight or (B) your resort is backed up in their deliveries.

So, first, you would call bell services at your resort to see if they have your bags. If they don't have your bags yet, your airline probably failed to load your bags at your home airport or connecting airport.

Keep in mind that it's very rare for an airline to LOSE bags, but it's fairly common for an airline to DELAY bags and load them on a later flight.

One of the great features of Disney's Magical Express is that if your bags are delayed by your airline, they will still be delivered to your resort room. You don't need to do anything. If you're out all day and evening having fun at a Disney park, and your bags are in your room when you return, you might not even know that your airline had you and your bags on different flights.

Disney's Magical Express has a sophisticated tracking system, so they'll know if they received your bags from your airline and where they are now.

You should always have a carry-on with anything you need the first day or even the first 24 hours.

If it turns out that my bags are actually lost (or damaged), I would file a claim with Disney, which should take care of it from there. According to the Terms and Conditions in the Magical Express booklet that's mailed several weeks before travel, Disney provides exactly the same liability for loss as the airlines. In fact, the paragraph even starts off, "Consistent with airline baggage policies, Disney's liability for loss or damage..."

If you get a poorly trained cast member who tells you Disney can do nothing and you need to call contact your airline, escalate to someone higher up.

In a way, it's like being on a connecting flight involving two or more different airlines. You work with the final airline.

The advice in this thread to file a claim with your airline is good if you are NOT using Disney's Magical Express and your bags fail to appear at baggage claim after you arrive at MCO. You fill out a claim form so that the airline can deliver your bags to you after they arrive at MCO. But it's not advice that's applicable if you're using Disney's Magical Express.

 

[seashoreCM]

Magical Express baggage claims dealing with yellow tagged bags are initially filed at your resort only.

In rare instances (I have never heard of any) you may have to go back to the airport. But, not having a car and having taken DME to get to the resort in the first place, you are entitled to use DME with no further reservations for this extra trip and you are still entitled to use DME to go home. This is something that the CMs need to coordinate, not for you to do on your own.

I believe that Disney's obligation to pay you for airline lost or damaged bags is only when the airline refuses to pay with the reason being failure to make the claim within 4 hours (or whatever) of landing.

 

[BabiesDaddy]

When my luggage was delivered to my room, they delivered only one bag. I was suppose to have two. The guy who delivered it was even surprised. He said he only had the one, " but it may be on another truck". So I went to the front desk, they didn't have a record of me ever having a second bag. I told them I put a yellow tag on both of them. He said he would call them ( this was the guy it got escalated to). Within minutes of me walking away, he left a message on my room phone saying the airline must have lost it. So I went to the front desk and told them my wife said they had left a message and what was the status. He said, " I can't get ahold of them, so here's southwest's 800 number". Well at this point, it's about the 6 hour mark and no sign of my luggage. I'd kept my cool at this point since it was my first day and I didn't want to start flying off the handle, but I was getting close. Every minute I was on hold with southwest, I was getting hotter. Luckily, while I was on hold, my bag was delivered to my room. This told me a few things,

1)Disney hasn't got as much of a clue about ME luggage as people think, obviously they already had my bag somewhere, but no record of it.
2)Your on your own if they lose your luggage ( I was going to test this theory more if my bag hadn't showed up)
3)Make sure I pack anything I definitely need in my carry on next time

 

[BabiesDaddy]

I also thought it was odd I never received a follow up from the front staff at the hotel. I figured they knew I got my bag, but I would have thought a follow up would have been appropriate. The handing me an 800 number to the airline still burned a little bit.