Airlines never cease to amaze

[UncleMike101]

Ugh I swear Charlotte has been some of the WORST experiences with American for me. I don't know what it is about that airport, but everytime I'm there I feel like I encounter American staff who all have cases of the mondays....

Yes.......
I've had sad experiences at Charlotte and with American.
On my flight from NC to Orlando last year I departed from, and returned to, Raleigh-Durham and flew Delta.

 

[JimMIA]

American
We have to gate check all rolling bags with both them and Delta when flying to and from my home airport so I'm used to it but this was a first in that it wasn't there and it wasn't a rolling bag.
I realize it's a rare thing to happen but doesn't make it any better

Where are you flying out of, and what type of aircraft, that rolling carryons can't go in an overhead? Are you flying a regional connection to a hub?

 

[AngiTN]

Where are you flying out of, and what type of aircraft, that rolling carryons can't go in an overhead? Are you flying a regional connection to a hub?

Sorry no idea what type of aircraft. But yes our home airport is a very small regional airport. 5 gates. Many of the planes are so small we have to use stairs to board, no jet bridge. Sometimes we have them, sometimes were don't. But never can rolling bags fit on board. The overhead didn't have doors in most cases. No first class section either

 

[StarSeven7]

It happened to us about 12 years ago! We volunteered to gate check our carry on because they said the overhead bins were too full. There was nothing we needed for the flight so we figured it would be fine. The bag never made it on the plane. We arrived at our destination (visiting family and friends at Christmas) late at night and I had my contacts in but no glasses (I'm super blind without them!), no contact solution or case so I had to sleep in my contacts. Bag didn't make it on the next flight, they weren't even sure what happened to it, it had my mom's Christmas present in it, we were supposed to be driving several hours in the opposite direction to visit family. It finally made it on a flight I think 24 hours later and we had to drive an hour back to the airport to collect it (I think they did offer to deliver it to us but we were not planning on staying in the area so we figured it was best if we picked it up ourselves). After that we're super wary about gate checking bags and I ALWAYS make sure I have a bag with my contacts and glasses with me!

 

[AngiTN]

To update
My bag did make it
Not sure what time, it was on my room when we got back from DS
Interesting note for future reference and for learning on case this happens to someone else
The agent at American had told me to tell the resort what happened so they knew to watch for the bag
I told them when I arrived and they noted it in the system. They did mention that it was possible that it could be passed on to ME to be delivered. They weren't sure how it would arrive. At least I think that's who told me that. Some one did, it was either here at the resort or the agent at the airport. But I'm pretty sure it was at the resort.
We did not use ME last night. Not us or the bag service. We never even ordered bag tags for this trip. We got our own bags and called Uber since it was so late.
Anyway, ME did bring this bag over. That probably delayed it getting to me but just a guess. Interestingly there is a green tag on it from ME that says Priority. I've never seen one before. Not sure in what normal circumstance they'd usually use them for.
Still highly annoyed with American but complaints with them are pointless

 

[JimMIA]

Luggage issues are a pain.

The only problem I've ever had with American (in a million miles) was one lost suitcase. I flew from a ski trip in Colorado to Miami via DFW and one bag didn't make the connection. We got to Miami and I filed the lost bag claim at MIA. I wrote on the claim for them NOT to deliver it, but to call me and I'd set up a delivery time. We were HOME, I didn't need the SKI PARKAS in Miami...so no rush.

They pounded on my door at 4 AM...all proud of themselves for getting the bag to me ASAP!

 

[sndral]

I flew American for the first time in years in Dec/Jan, going was fine. Coming back, not so much - first the small plane in ROC had a mechanical issue (the chimes were dinging non stop) took an hour to fix, then had to de ice again. I sprinted to my connection in Chicago (others missed theirs) off we took, then about 40 minutes into the flight the pilot announced “flight attendants prepare for landing in Chicago” - so back we went to Chicago, turned out to be an issue with the air speed indicator. They assigned us to an arriving plane, but the flight crew had timed out so there we sat at our gate in the terminal w/ our replacement plane parked at our gate for about 6 hours ‘till they rounded up another flight crew.
Not sure I’ll be in a hurry to fly American again for awhile.

 

[emmabelle]

@AngiTN - you're at Disney now right? I thought I saw you walking out of Epcot International Gateway on Valentine's Day.

 

[AngiTN]

We are and you probably did. We entered back there. Today is our last full day. Heading home tomorrow. Hopefully with no luggage issues!

 

[reluctantredhead]

Wow, Angi, that is terrible! So sorry that happened to you...I would've been furious! Years ago I too was once made to gate check a small tote bag that had easily fit under the seat many, many times -- but you're right, there's no winning an argument with them, so what choice do you have? Man, I thought I was being smart all these years never checking luggage (did once 20 years ago and my suitcase was lost for a week so I said never again)...but now I see even carrying on isn't a sure thing! Hope you had a wonderful trip despite the luggage problem.

 

[emmabelle]

We are and you probably did. We entered back there. Today is our last full day. Heading home tomorrow. Hopefully with no luggage issues!

We came home yesterday and I miss it already. Lol

 

[k_hase]

10 years ago this happened to me, on the way to a wedding. I was flying into San Jose from Detroit, driving to Santa Cruz, attending a wedding the next day and flying back home the following morning. All I had was a small bag with my wedding clothes and toiletries. One tiny bag. Plane was full, not room, according to flight attendants, for a bag. So I gate checked it plane side and went on my way. In San Jose at 11PM, no bag. And no employees of the discount airline I flew either. Their phone number was little help and finally a guy from another airline was able to find out they'd left my bag on the jetway. They promised to get it to me in Santa Cruz, but I reminded them that they'd failed to get it 50 feet on to a plane before it took off, I wasn't sure they could get it 100 miles from the airport before the wedding. So I waited for the next flight. On the way home, the same discount airline canceled my original flight and rebooked me on one three hours earlier, sending me an email, while I was far enough away from the airport that I could not get there in time. Months and months and months of letters with the airline and fighting with my credit card company and I got all my money back. But you'll never catch me on a discount airline again.

 

[sam_gordon]

even carrying on isn't a sure thing!

Only "sure thing" is death and taxes.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

If it involves human beings, mistakes will be made.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Hope ur visit was good

despite the
American Airlines Debacle

 

[jec6613]

One trick I've used to keep them from gate checking, besides being an elite passenger so I get on first, is to put things in that need to be removed before they can gate check. The FAA now requires Li-Ion batteries not be placed in the hold, and since I travel with a DSLR normally, that means the entire DSLR kit comes out (all newer cameras have a non-removable Li-Ion battery in them), as well as laptop or tablet, my charger bag, the works. Prescription medications as well, so my glasses, meds, and the works all come out. Ditto any food, reading material, et cetera. And if you tell them that it's packed full of Lithium batteries and medication and such, they usually will grab somebody else because otherwise you're on the jet bridge taking 5-10 minutes to re-pack, and asking for a plastic bag that still goes into the overhead, and they hold up the entire flight for it. On time performance is king for them.

The one time they tried to make me do it, at the end they end up with a bag with a pair of underwear and socks at the bottom, otherwise empty, and told me not to bother and had me re-pack and found space for it (I checked most of everything).

 

[galaxygirl76]

That sucks but I'm happy it all got resolved in the end.

On our most recent trip to Europe one of our bags got left behind on our layover in Dublin, we were connecting there to go to Amsterdam. The KLM people were very helpful and had the bag delivered to my parents house a day later. The bag in question was all my husband's stuff so he was not amused to miss his bag on top of a decent sized jetlag.

 

[Viking7641]

Can we not insult the people who do the work? They handle tens/hundreds of thousands of bags a day. Mistakes happen.

The things people stuff into overhead bins however to avoid paying for a checked bag.......no wonder there isn't space for everyone.

Service for US airlines in general is trash IMO with this, the only exception I've found is JetBlue, and will fly them whenever possible.

Flying abroad I will fly basically any foreign airline (except Alitalia NEVER) over an American one.

 

[jec6613]

Service for US airlines in general is trash IMO with this, the only exception I've found is JetBlue, and will fly them whenever possible.

Flying abroad I will fly basically any foreign airline (except Alitalia NEVER) over an American one.

For elite passengers, service tends to be very good for US airlines - which makes it even sadder than it's not good for everybody else, but that's what competitive pressures downwards from the likes of WN and NK have done to the industry - service cuts abound. B6 is definitely not my favorite airline at all, partly because of route network and partly because they're really not much better than anybody else. Alaska can be pretty good though, and they recognize my AA elite status. Also, MCO was one of the first Admirals Clubs to get the Coke Freestyle machines - yum!

Because of the industry consolidation you also end up with differing ground crew policies at hubs - CLT and PHX I avoid even with my elite status, and MSP is a bad one for Delta. Fortunately I'm close enough to NYC that I rarely take a non-direct flight.

For foreign airlines Finnair and Lufthansa are my favorites, and I avoid Emirates like the plague because of seat geometry, but also Alitalia (which may be Delta soon) and Air France are on my no-go list because of crew training and maintenance policies - and I'll fly on little African airlines without issue. BA is a bit funky, but once you read and understand their policies quite nice as well, except for that whole Heathrow thing. For a tall person with some dietary restrictions, Finnair is my absolute favorite - the seats fit and the food is nutritious and tasty, and there are beer and wine spigots in their lounge in Helsinki.

 

[Woodview]

Do other people know what /where is WN NK & B6 AND CLT , PHX & MSP are ?