The thing I hate most American is they decline all non-US issued cards or non-US PayPal accounts for ticketing, but do so silently in the background while appearing to have gone through. When you get to the airport you find your booking wasn't ticketed, the flight has gone up and have to pay a fee for paying at the airport. To get around this I try to book AA tickets with another OneWorld carrier.
To their credit I took SFO->JFK->LHR this summer. The first flight was insanely delayed (in my experience many AA flights out of SFO are ridiculously delayed), and I had to sprint through JFK to make the connection. I knew my checked bag wouldn't have made it, so I didn't waste time waiting for it. I went straight to the counter and asked them if my bag was in London, it wasn't, it was still at JFK. They apologised profusely and a courier delivered it to my apartment the next day.
If you're wondering why I tolerate AA, it's because I have frequent flier status on BA, and get insane air miles (base plus 100% bonus, minimum) for flying on OneWorld carriers.
ah crap totally forgot about that: I spent a fair whack of points to send my partner back to the US in style. My non-us credit card was declined and they cancelled the booking only notifying us when we showed up at their airport and they told us that there was no ticket and couldn't issue a boarding pass. But then they took the points as a "penalty" for forfeiting the ticket because he didn't fly....
Weird. I've never bought an international AA ticket, but I've bought a few on United and Delta with a foreign CC, and never had a problem with that. I wonder why AA isn't just doing whatever the other US-based airlines do? At the very least, they could find a way to reject purchase attempts up front if they aren't going to let them through.
The baggage policy you agree to and pay for is basically, "if we lose your bag or smash it into very small pieces, we will pay you $20." Then when they lose your bag or smash it into small pieces, people want more than $20, and write angry blog posts when they don't get more than $20. I don't get it. Have these people never heard of FedEx or UPS? They will transport your bag on an aircraft and sell you insurance against loss or damage. Why choose the inferior product if you don't want inferior results? (I do know why: cost. Everyone wants a free lunch.)
Ultimately, I have to say that I'm a fan of the brave new world of air travel. I used to hate all the nickle-and-diming, but while doing all that hating, I didn't realize how cheaply one can move around the country. JFK-SFO is like $300 round-trip now. 5000 miles in a FLYING MACHINE for $300! But instead, people complain that their bags are not insured for $10,000 each, or that they have to pay $100 for more leg room. Well, yeah. If it was "free", then someone else would book their ticket earlier than you and you wouldn't even have the option of getting more leg room.
(Also, am I the only person that likes American Airlines? 400,000 miles, and I only have one experience that really made me mad.)
> The baggage policy you agree to and pay for is basically, "if we lose your bag or smash it into very small pieces, we will pay you $20."
Are there no customer protection laws in the US? I'm pretty sure that in most of Europe, it doesn't work that way, and for a good reason.
And if it really is like that, is that prominently advertised, or is that in fine print written in 8pt in light grey font on white background? From the customer's perspective, that makes a huge difference.
I for one (though mostly travelling from and to Germany, not the US) have never been told "we might lose your bag, and you'll get $20 in that case).
There are consumer protection laws in the US. That's why it's illegal to buy a bicycle without a bunch of useless reflectors stuck to it, for example, and why you have to file the "lawyer lips" off the front fork to have a working quick release mechanism.
1.2 million miles (hey hey lifetime gold!) and I have issues with them all the time.
Some are hilarious:
the flight attendant that threw the peanut packs from the galley to everyone in first class on a LAX-LAS seg;
not packing enough main course meals so that flagship first class passengers between Japan and the continental US have a choice of meals.
others not even close:
moving departure times by two hours (forward) and not bothering to call, email or text to inform.
closing the door then sitting at the gate for 3 hours so that you can say we departed "on time". Twice.
fun and games around rescheduling people on delayed flights: no, it's not acceptable to wait 39 hours for a flight between a major focus city and your home hub because you have mechanical issues with your aircraft.
There's the good and the bad. I've gotten more free upgrades than I can count, and flying first class domestically is at least affordable. (JFK-SFO is half the cost of Virgin, but with a fully-flat bed, for example.) I also miss flights with frightening regularity, it's never cost me anything but time.
The incident I refer above was a ridiculous delay. The 762 they had for my SFO-JFK flight was broken in some way that made the plane flyable, but only fixable in LAX. They didn't tell us this, and loaded us on and taxied us out to the runway. There they told us we would be going to LAX, where there may be a new plane. Two hours later, we're in LAX, and waiting for a new plane. 6 hours after the scheduled arrival time, we're finally in JFK. Just fucking incompetent. Fly the good plane to SFO and board us there.
(Incidentally, I flew this route today, and sure enough, mechanical problem! We had to downgrade from a 763 to a 762, which was not appreciated, but at least we didn't have to fly all over the country looking for a better plane. And since I hadn't actually flown first class on a 762 before, it was nice to check it off my list. The seat was fine. Looking forward to the A321 on this route, though.)
As for flying to Japan, AA is a lot cheaper than JAL or Cathay. You get what you pay for. (AA is about $3000-$5000, Cathay is always $10,000+. JAL floats between the two extremes.)
Shipping luggage via FedEx or UPS is a good idea, but the costs can be prohibitive. I haven't looked recently, but the last time a coworker checked FedEx, it would have cost her more than her ticket price to ship her bag to her destination.
Plus I think you're missing the larger issue. The airline is charging for this service, and they didn't deliver. Just because their terms of service are crappy doesn't mean that the OP should have to endure bad service like this.
Is it possible to ship stuff (laptops, cellphone maybe) via FedEX or UPS, internationally, and have it arrive at or near the same time/place as your destination w/o having to wait for it to clear customs?
I had considered this but eliminated it as a dependable method because I assume that most countries have their own customs procedures for items shipped via FedEx/UPS and in some cases items might be tied up for days or weeks.
You're correct; to take advantage of the personal customs exemption for travelers you must carry the items in your luggage with you, not ship them separately. If you ship them, you might be deemed to be importing them, depending on the country's customs procedures (and even if you qualify for another exemption, they may be held in customs until you go fill out some paperwork to claim them).
I have been considering giving LuggageForward[1] a try. They seem to handle the customs aspect in a way that works the same as if you carried the bag with you. Their rates are quite attractive as well.
Well for Domestic flights, at American, it is actually $3300. Unfortunately it looks like international is about half that.
And the main reason people don't ship is convenience (cost is also a factor)
Of course the blog post really wasn't complaining about the lost bag or the cost of the log bag. It was complaining about how customer service handled the situation.
American lost my bag on the way back from Italy a few years back, wouldn't answer the phone, called security when I went back to the baggage claim at the airport to ask them what was going on, and when they found the bag, they sent it to San Jose Costa Rica on a boat, instead of San Jose California. Of course I never saw that bag again.
I learned that baggage losses are balanced against the cost of paying for more reliable and trustworthy baggage handlers, and customer service is subject to a similar balancing act.
I also started travelling lighter, and keeping an extra day's clothing in my carry-on bag. It's much more difficult to be prepared for baggage loss with a kid, but it was worth it. Try running out of diapers because planes are delayed. When was the last time you saw diapers for sale in an airport?
My solution: I never check a bag. I started this practice 6 or 7 years ago, and it's great. I have a fantastic carry-on bag that fits everything I need, plus usually a small laptop bag, and I never let them out of my sight. I've gone on trips 2 weeks long with no trouble, and could easily go longer. The one possible annoyance is staying below the carry-on liquid requirements, but I haven't had a problem with that yet. (You can always purchase things like toothpaste and shampoo at your destination if the travel-size containers aren't enough.)
Fringe benefits: since I'm not checking a bag, I can get to the airport a little later. And I also get to leave the airport earlier at my destination since I don't have to wait at baggage claim.
Of course, those of you traveling with kids have it a bit harder, but given the passenger mix on most planes I've flown on, most people could likely follow this advice.
I survived a month in Europe shortly after with carry-ons. It was doable, pleasant even, but I had to make some sacrifices: one pair of shoes, no laptop, no heavy jacket. It's obviously not ideal and possibly not feasible for someone traveling with a non-ticketed baby to travel this way.
It depends on a lot of things (climate, specific personal requirements, etc). My wife & I took our two young children -- 2 and 4 -- to California & Hawaii this summer without checking any bags. It was a 17 day trip. This is way more challenging on business trips when you usually need to pack nicer clothing.
I'm at the end of a 3.5 week trip across Japan and South Korea. One carry-on suitcase, one satchel as my day bag. I can't imagine carrying anything more (though, like you, no kids).
I spent five weeks in India for work last year, one of my coworkers brought an entire suitcase of shoes. He was nothing compared to the guy who brought two overweight suitcases. Our company policy would paid for extra bag fees but not overweight fees. He was pretty pissed when he got hit with those fees by Lufthansa. North of $300 each way out of his own pocket. For the life of me I don't know why he needed so much.
> AA fulfilled their duty to get the bags to the baggage carousel. Not their fault that most airports rely on the honor system.AA fulfilled their duty to get the bags to the baggage carousel. Not their fault that most airports rely on the honor system.
I don't think that is the way the legal system defines duty and fault.
I used to travel a lot and if you choose to make an enemy out of an airline over a lost bag, it won't take long until all the airlines are your enemy ... then you'll either quit flying or pay your enemy.
Here are a few tips:
- Travel lighter! I was very careful to keep track of what I did and didn't use on each trip. There were very few things that went back into the suitcase if they weren't used (a brief-case umbrella and a tiny sewing kit are all I can think of).
- If you're traveling for several weeks, pack 5-7 days of clothes. Often they can be worn more than once without washing, and most hotels have laundry services.
- Traveling with kids is hard (I have four) ... especially infants. If you paid for a ticket for your child, they get a carry-on and a personal item too - even if they can't carry it.
- Rollie's are great but you can make them better. You can strap the handles together so that a whole set of rollies can be pulled via one handle. Some matching sets of luggage include these straps.
- If you do check a bag, make sure you can afford to lose what's in the bag. You will NEVER get the value of that bags contents back from the airline, so keep the value low.
- Keep your toothbrush, deodorant and at least a set of underwear in your laptop/personal bag (unless you also carry on your allowed piece of baggage.
Finally, the whole travel process can be irritating. Ticketing can earn an enemy quickly if they can't deal with missed flights, delays and cancellations in a reasonable way. So the real tip here is to not stress about it too much (hard for type A personalities). If you let a poor travel experience ruin your trip, you've lost more than a bag.
I think you missed the point of the post - it's not about losing a bag, it's about the customer service failure that ensued. I had bags lost on a couple of occasions, and usually they are delivered on the same day or the next to the address I stay at. If I'd had such an experience, I wouldn't be flying the same airline either.
Nope ... when I read the post, I read that he'd declared himself to be an enemy of a large group of minimum-wage, overworked employees of a company who's executives are simply maximizing profit. I'd be willing to bet they calculate how many people will be angry enough to quit flying and account for this churn in their projections.
These people have a high turn-over rate and absolutely no incentive to go beyond the company policy. My point was that "the best way to win is to not play the game".
EDIT: As I thought about this, I realized we're a bit insulated from the problem, but consider this scenario:
"I tried to call SnapChat the other day to have them delete an embarrassing photo before it got to the recipient - Can you believe there's a company without a phone number? THEY'RE MY NUMBER ONE ENEMY!"
Airlines depend on loyalty, that's why they have significant loyalty programs.
Also that is a crazy comparison, an airline is responsible for getting you to your destination alive and with your bags, it's not acceptable for them to have ineffective customer service. Even if what they offered wasn't so important the fact is you pay money for their services, the deal has to be two sided.
I agree that it's a crazy comparison ... but I've heard non-technical people say very similar things. I was trying to point out that our perception of our industry's practices may not be the way others perceive us. Other misunderstandings are:
"I can't believe they just shut down my favorite application for doing X" - spoken by people without paid accounts.
"That company has so much money you think they'd do X" - (most commonly this one is "add my requested but obscure feature) - spoken by someone who doesn't realize that a company can be well-funded but "burning through cash" unprofitable.
Umm.. When I pay 1200$ for a plane ticket, I expect a minimum of customer service, and that's how those companies differentiate. The comparison to a free web service is not really relevant.
A lot of people in this thread are forgetting that there are services that guarantees your luggage arrives intact and on time. They are private jet charter, private jet ownership, and fractional ownership. Airlines are dealing with a historical brand image that they have extended from the early days of their industry. Back when airlines started, only rich people regularly used them, they were quite literally once-in-a-lifetime experiences for the middle class, and they practically were private jets. Relative to that high bar, they have gone down market. Something always gives when that happens. Your checked-in luggage is one factor that gave way during this commoditization of air passenger travel.
Until the basic technology of moving around people improves beyond adaptations of 19th century passenger train processes and assumptions, the situation is not likely to improve. There are lots of ways the entire passenger flying process could be automated and service dramatically improved, but many of them involve rip-and-replacement of infrastructure that no one wants to abandon (and thence pay for new infrastructure, when they can barely afford just the maintenance on the current infrastructure). This is similar to the obstacles to change the shipping industry went through to get to the containerized state we recognize today (and even for them, there still remain massive loss problems).
I'm with some of the commentators who point out that being able to fly on budget tickets and counting the trip in hours or at most days around the entire frickin' world, for the cost of at most a year's gross wages of a working class person in any of the G10 developed nations, is an amazing feat of combined technologies and processes by itself. The carefully-budgeted yet still prodigious energy expenditure alone used to accomplish this feat is amazing. To complain about checked luggage when people are paying way below shipping values per unit weight and volume is to not keep the situation in perspective. Companies like FedEx and UPS can afford to continuously improve and upgrade their package handling facilities precisely because customers are paying these companies far more than they are willing to pay airlines for handling packages with worse attributes (FedEx won't allow you to ship most suitcases without additional securing, for example). If customers ponied up for the actual cost of the capital improvements to the shipping facilities at airports to keep them on par with the likes of FedEx, and sent through luggage that had the characteristics the freight companies demand, then the check-in luggage experience would improve to the expected levels.
In the meantime, there are tactics and technologies that help mitigate the experience today. Parent post hit a lot of these, and I want to expand upon them. A lot of these tactics are simply throwing more money at the situation. For example, most families with very young (and sometimes not-so-young) children just ride with the children in their lap. Even for entire trans-continental or oceanic flights. The reality is outside of the (mythical?) archetypal HN demographic of affluent youngsters, most airline customers do not have frequent flyer status or money to spend on a full ticket for a six-month old, for example. So the following tips are aimed at HN readers who I suspect might have the means to implement them, but this list is obviously out of reach for the general airline customer population.
* There are now socks and underwear that pack super flat, are antimicrobial, and fast drip-dry. They are really expensive (like as much as $30 retail for a boxer shorts), but you can actually get away with packing just a pair for a month. Wear one, hand wash it, hang it to dry while wearing the other; I've had them dry in as fast as three hours. The antimicrobial treatment gives way after a set number of washings. ExOfficio is one such brand supplying these.
* Pack with an eye to flattening anything you can if possible. It is worth it to get travel gear if it will save weight/volume/time. For example, I see lots of people run around with water bottles; I use a collapsible water bottle (just don't fold these up, only flatten them, and they will last a long time).
* If you get elite frequent flyer status, one of the perquisites is special tagging to prioritize your check-in luggage. Check in early and get this tagging, and you increase the odds your check-in luggage will arrive with you.
* If you travel enough, pay for the annual airline lounge subscription. I have found their ticketing agents are generally more experienced with working the reservations system than your average gate agent. Plus, the lounge makes it practical to arrive even half a day early if a client meeting goes better and faster than you thought, for example. This happens to me a lot, and I just get a lunch/dinner and work from the lounge. The lounges are very much worth it for wrangling children on long layovers. Bring anti-microbial wipes and fluids, wipe down the toys before and after letting the tykes pick them up and play with them, and you can pleasantly pass hours in the children's play area in the lounges. Tip very generously, and I suspect you can even get food delivered to you (though I've been generally satisfied with the lounge options). Lounges at major hubs usually have shower facilities, which are optimal for international itineraries.
* Attitude and timing is everything. If you are using airlines, even with elite frequent flyer status, just don't pack your schedule so tightly and expect problems, then try to get some work or play done in the given context to make up for the extra time spent around the traveling. If your situation is valuable and important enough to warrant super-tight scheduling and Type A douche canoe behavior if anything goes awry with the timing, then someone will pay up for that ride in the Gulfstream. Otherwise, many times I've gotten preferential treatment simply because I was laid back and chill after a flight cancellation, for example.
* Get the smartphone app for the airline(s) you are flying for your trip, and keep your airline's number on speed dial. Many times a gate change or schedule change shows up on the app sooner than it is announced at the gate. Being first to notice confers a large advantage when there are changes. This is one of the few tips I have that anyone, not just elite travelers, can use. When there is a gate change and if you are not a preferred boarding group, gather your belongings and head over to the new gate before it is announced to get a gate lounge seat that lets you get in the front of the boarding line. When there is a scheduling change (cancellation, long delay, etc.), speed-dial the reservations line and inquire about an alternate itinerary. Stall the reservations agent with booking the change until the gate agent announces the delay/cancellation (but not for longer than a few minutes, give the reservations agents a break), because on rare occasions a mechanical problem is resolved soon after it is reported, and the gate agent will know that before the central system that updates the app knows it.
This might make for a teachable moment on HN. If what you offer is actually lower-grade, perhaps you should set expectations appropriately, even if comparing to historical standards you take a hit on brand image by going down market (or spin off a new brand to go down market).
The airlines could probably introduce an upscale service for valet check-in luggage handling that comes with a high ($5K USD?) insurance coverage and a money-back arrives-when-you-do guarantee, and guarantees personalized (as opposed to bulk) attention to your check-in luggage that is hand-carried into a separate combination-lockable container with RFID tags plastered all over the outside instead of sent through the conveyor system by itself, or at airports with particularly antiquated or unreliable conveyor systems, actually hand-carried directly onto the aircraft itself. As much as it costs to ship luggage next day, they could probably cover their costs and turn a profit on the service by charging only half or 2/3 of that freight charge. Give the employees a healthy cut of the action and noticeable bonuses for a 100% success rate each month to cut down theft, and the airlines could address a vocal, unhappy segment of the customer base while adding an additional revenue stream at the same time.
In closing, my hypothesis is the airlines will not be able to offer a better experience at budget price points until the majority of the staffing on the ground is replaced by automation and some drastic changes are made in the basic materials and people movement infrastructure.
"First, trying to find out what actually happened since London won't call us back (no doubt ashamed of their gross negligence not recording any information on the passenger who called and their following inability to recover the now-considered stolen bag)."
Nope, just minimum wage and very busy people. The 'miracle' the OA refers to is based on 'driving out cost' at every possible point in the chain.
Erm, I think it's more likely that the laptop showed up in X-ray scan and a baggage handler availed themselves of the contents. I had the same thing happen to me at Heathrow; I spent about 5 minutes to locate it in Lost & Found a few days later, stripped of any identifying information and of course the laptop.
American Airlines sucks, but I don't see their fault here.
The customer left their bag with AA. AA was now responsible for the bag, until they gave it back to the customer. The fact that TSA or similar people are thieves, or there are thieves at the carousel does not remove responsibility from AA.
In a lot of countries (but oddly not the US), there are people at the baggage claim exits checking claim tags with bags to prevent precisely this scenario of bags taken by mistake.
I was young and naive, and I thought that giving hundreds of dollars to an airline meant that they hold up their end of the bargain (deliver your bag). I lost my wife's 18 year old teddy bear. They stalled and stalled and 2 months later finally reimbursed us for clothes (but as the fine print says: "no electronics or jewelry or anything valuable! What kind of idiot trusts us with that anyway?"). It was AA too, but they're all the same. I've distrusted airlines since and go to extreme lengths to deny them my money or at least never check in anything.
The sad and unfortunate thing is that this doesn't only occur with American Airlines. It's basically the same with most airlines. I've had a similar issue with the customer service with Delta airlines. I know a co-worker that struggled to find a lost bag from US Airways. If you search "baggage lost" on twitter, you'll see plenty of people in the same boat. I'm surprised no one has attempted to fix this problem... huge market opportunity right here...
I have recently researched this field out of a personal need and there is a few companies that do fast, inexpensive and insured luggage transport. They even do it door to door, picking up at your home and delivering at your hotel (before you arrive if you send the bags early). They might just need to do more advertising.
In the end I did not try any of them but was pleasantly surprised that there are people working on fixing this.
What if this is not just an American Airlines problem?
What if it is a general problem with society as people become more and more absorbed in their virtual Internet lives and no longer care to do a good job at whatever company they work for?
I can't wait for robots to replace baggage handlers, who seem to be the weak link in the chain. You put a laptop in your bag, and it vanished? Statistically that's most likely. It doesn't take a smart criminal to invent the "other tourist" who "accidentally" took the bag, called a week later, and no one managed to write down their name and phone number.
To their credit I took SFO->JFK->LHR this summer. The first flight was insanely delayed (in my experience many AA flights out of SFO are ridiculously delayed), and I had to sprint through JFK to make the connection. I knew my checked bag wouldn't have made it, so I didn't waste time waiting for it. I went straight to the counter and asked them if my bag was in London, it wasn't, it was still at JFK. They apologised profusely and a courier delivered it to my apartment the next day.
If you're wondering why I tolerate AA, it's because I have frequent flier status on BA, and get insane air miles (base plus 100% bonus, minimum) for flying on OneWorld carriers.