Southwest baggage woes

[andrews_dad]

Just landed last night into BWI from MCO. Two familes traveling. Between all of us we had 3 checked bags plus one car seat. Of that total only one made it back to BWI in tact. The car seat is MIA, as well as one bag. Another bag made it back but was ripped open with contents brought to us in a clear plastic bag.

We were given a "I'm sorry speech" and a loaner car seat to get the baby home (thank goodness for that loaner). They took my cell number with some form. Anyone know what else we can expect or do? Literally dozens of folks had things missing so the customer service at the airport was a zoo and we had no time to stay and fight the good fight since their was an hour drive in front of us and baby bedtime looming after standing in line for sooo long. They were too busy to listen anyway.

Can you get anything from teh airline for the destroyed bag? Unsure yet if all contents were recovered. Maybe lost a few clothing items....

 

[disneyfaninaz]

There should be some sort of claim you can make with Southwest Airlines regarding your belongings.

You want to check out SWA Limitation of Liability under Section 75 of their Contract of Carrige.

http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/coc.pdf

 

[firsttimemom]

As far as the missing bag and car seat go- did you fill out a claim form for thhose? There should be a phone number on where you can call and see what the status of your claim is. It's likely that your bag/seat just missed the flight and will come on a later flight and then SWA will deliver it to you. This happened to me twice a couple years ago (once going to MCO from BWI). It took about 12 hrs for the bag to show up.

Good luck!

 

[Missytara]

This happened to myself, my friend, and her daughter flying from PHL to BWI, after returning overseas. We were on a US Airways puddle jumper and they took off every hour, on the hour. We arrived at BWI at around 9:00 pm that night. They were backed up with luggage and keep bumping it up to the next plane. We didn't know it until we landed at BWI.

My luggage and her daughter's luggage came off the carousel, but not my friend's. To add to the angst of the entire situation, we had been called on the ship while we were away that my friend's mom was ill in the hospital. She was trying to get back home to DE, to then drive to VA to see her mom.

They were very understanding at the claims counter, and after hearing her story, they located her luggage and drove it directly to her home about 6:00 am the next morning.

 

[NotUrsula]

Just landed last night into BWI from MCO. Two familes traveling. Between all of us we had 3 checked bags plus one car seat. Of that total only one made it back to BWI in tact. The car seat is MIA, as well as one bag. Another bag made it back but was ripped open with contents brought to us in a clear plastic bag.

We were given a "I'm sorry speech" and a loaner car seat to get the baby home (thank goodness for that loaner). They took my cell number with some form. Anyone know what else we can expect or do? Literally dozens of folks had things missing so the customer service at the airport was a zoo and we had no time to stay and fight the good fight since their was an hour drive in front of us and baby bedtime looming after standing in line for sooo long. They were too busy to listen anyway.

Can you get anything from teh airline for the destroyed bag? Unsure yet if all contents were recovered. Maybe lost a few clothing items....

It is a universal airline rule that any claims for lost or damaged baggage MUST be filed before you leave the airport. If you just took the claim form for the damaged bag, but did not complete it and turn it in, then you will not get compensation for the damaged bag or any missing items that should have been in it.

I'm assuming that you must have filed the claim for the missing bags/carseat, since you got a loaner carseat, so those are on track.

In the future, you should always gate-check your carseat to avoid even the possibility of this sort of situation. (It also will cut down the probability of damage to the carseat from going through the sorting machinery in the bag room. As you have seen, those machines can be brutal if something gets snagged.)

 

[Lewisc]

It is a universal airline rule that any claims for lost or damaged baggage MUST be filed before you leave the airport. If you just took the claim form for the damaged bag, but did not complete it and turn it in, then you will not get compensation for the damaged bag or any missing items that should have been in it.

A preliminary notice has to be filed prior to leaving the airport. Many (most?) airlines don't require a complete claim form at that time. Most lost luggage winds up arriving on a later flight.

You're probably right with respect with damaged baggage. Other posters have said SW gave them a similar replacement bag on the spot. A lot of the cheap luggage sold at stores like WalMart won't even last one flight. It's possible the damaged bag was normal for the luggage used by the OP.

 

[andrews_dad]

I gate checked the stroller. Are you allowed to gate check a stroller and a car seat? I might do that next time if allowed. We filled out all sorts of paperwork. I am thinking SW is giving us nada for the bag they killed.

Anyhoo, new update.... got a call from SW who thought they had found my car seat in Pheonix.... hmm, on a direct flight from MCO to Baltimore they think it is in Pheonix? The lady gave me the details on what it looked like and it was not ours. Still on the hunt. Still no update on the bag that is lost. Landed on Tuesday night and this is Thursday AM. We'll see.....

 

[NotUrsula]

A preliminary notice has to be filed prior to leaving the airport. Many (most?) airlines don't require a complete claim form at that time. Most lost luggage winds up arriving on a later flight.

You're probably right with respect with damaged baggage. Other posters have said SW gave them a similar replacement bag on the spot. A lot of the cheap luggage sold at stores like WalMart won't even last one flight. It's possible the damaged bag was normal for the luggage used by the OP.

Yes, there is an assumption that missing baggage will show up within a few days, so there is no need to claim for the contents before leaving the airport. However, a damaged bag (everything in a plastic baggie) scenario is a different story. You DO have to do a full claim for bag and contents before you leave the airport -- they don't want you to to have time to create an itemized list of various expensive designer goods that were never in it in the first place.

Even if the OP's bag was old and beat up, or cheap in the first place, they were still entitled to fair value for it as long as the damage was more extensive than normal wear and tear. Normal wear and tear is things like broken handles, broken wheels, broken zipper tabs, grease smears, etc. -- not gaping holes slashed badly enough to spill the contents and not be recloseable, or completely mangled frames.

If your bag gets caught in the sorting machinery, it will be obvious. I had my carseat satchel mangled some years ago by a UK airline, though by some miracle the carseat inside seemingly came through fine (it was padded with a couple of blankets). There were multiple slashes in it and the straps were shredded. The bag had cost $40 new, and by that time it had about 40K miles on it, but they insisted that I couldn't replace it in the UK for so little, and paid me L50 (Sterling) cash on the spot for the damages (about $110 at the exchange rate at that time.) They also let me keep it (we didn't need it on the last leg because that was a US carrier and DS sat in it on the flight.) It turned out that I was able to use a heat-seal vinyl repair kit to seal the slashes, and put on new straps that I took off a couple of $2 thrift-store duffel bags. Ten years later, we're still using the thing. It has well over 100K miles on it now, but it's still in good shape, really, and if it gets chewed up again, I'll file a claim on it again. (If anyone is wondering, it's a Prince Lionheart.)

I don't know of any US-based air carriers that will not let you gate-check a carseat. Just act as though you are planning to use it on board until you reach the gate, then gate-check it; it will be allowed through security but it will have to go through the scanner. It's a bit of a PITA to haul it through the airport if you are not using it on the flight, but gate-checking guarantees that you and the carseat board the same aircraft, and to me, that's worth the hassle, especially on the way TO your destination. (For us it is not such an issue on the way home, because we travel with our "Grandma seat" and keep our regular one strapped in the car.)

OP, best of luck with your claim.

 

[bumbershoot]

...gate-checking guarantees that you and the carseat board the same aircraft, and to me, that's worth the hassle, especially on the way TO your destination.

Yep!

Just checking things doesn't guarantee that the items will be on the plane you are sitting on. But gate-checking does.

 

[kenny]

Had this happen to us last April. When we arrived on Long Island, one of the bags was missing.

Then they come out with the "clear plastic bag" and all of the contents completely destroyed.

We got the "I'm sorry" speech as well, and they took down all the information of the contents of the bag. We were told to go through the plastic bag and decide what was salvagable. They were a little annoyed that we said nothing (except 1 item). They tried arguing that my wife's contacts, medications etc were still ok, just need to be "cleaned off". Sorry but not taking any meds or putting something in her eyes that was run over and drag by the baggage cart.

When they input all the data into the computer, they asked for prices which at 1 am in the morning, I could not come up with. The rep told us to just put anything down (just needed something for the computer to take item) because once the contents go to headquarters they look up the price of each item in some HUGE database.

Get a check a month later for a LOT less than I was happy with. Upon calling them I was told that the prices I gave was what was used, and there is no database to verify prices.

Also told that they factor depreciation into the values and my wifes cosmetics were only partially covered since they should not have to buy a whole new item if it was partially used.

Also, since they gave us a black SW duffel bag to bring the 1 item we salvaged home, they were not going to replace the bag that was destroyed. Sorry but a black duffel bag is not luggage and is certainly not my daughter's Hello Kitty luggage.

After several calls to managers over several weeks, etc I was able to get almost all of the money that I wanted. From what I estimated the value at I think we ended up about $75 short. Had to argue that it was BS, that if I had a shirt that I paid $100 for and only get $50 replacement, to repurchase the shirt will now cost me $150! ($100 both times minus the $50 back from SW). Since Southwest was liable, it is unacceptable that I have to pay more than something is worth.

I also wrote a complaint letter about the experience and received a $300 voucher.

All in all it was a P.I.T.A (pain in the ....).

Hope your experience is better.

 

[andrews_dad]

update... no warning, no call ... nothing. but the bag and car seat arrived on my front porch via fed ex last night. this AM i got a message that they think the found my car seat in another airport ... um, it was delivered 12 hours ago!! Obviously the left hand has NO clue what the right is doing.

so, i still have the loaner car seat.

 

[MusicMouse]

I'm glad they found your baggage and your seat! I often gate check our car seats with SW and they are fine with that. You can also take the car seat right onto the plane for your kids to ride in if they have their own seat. I found this makes rding in the plane a lot easier for toddlers!