One minute I was rolling my carry-on bag along the concourse floor at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The next, I was arguing with a useless box on wheels — and dreading what would happen to my back if I had to carry it.
Posts tagged as:
LUGGAGE
After my recent luggage standoff with an American Airlines gate agent in Orlando, which ended with her threatening to charge me $100 to check my regulation-size bags on my return flight, a lot of you have asked me how the journey home went.
A word of warning to anyone taking a cruse: Don’t trust anyone with your valuables.
Outraged? No, those of us who fly suspect this kind of thing is happening at every major airport in the country. It’s the only explanation.
The Transportation Department has warned airlines against limiting compensation for passengers who purchase necessities because their baggage is lost or delayed.
A legacy airline with outstanding customer service? Give me a time machine, and I’ll show you one.
A few days ago, a Transportation Department official bristled when I suggested that its recent fines against airlines were little more than warning shots. It turns out the DOT isn’t done making its point.
Airlines are really getting carried away with these luggage fees. Last week, I noted that carriers are effectively demanding a ransom in exchange for transporting our personal property. I suggested they might try being more upfront about their fares.
US Airways raised its baggage fees yesterday, setting off what’s sure to be another round of me-toos from its competitors. Luggage fees are almost pure profit, and because there’s almost no pushback from passengers, carriers are getting away with these new surcharges.
Has the airline industry won the luggage fee war? Consider the following facts.
Sidestepping this year-old airline rule was pretty easy up to this point. Flight attendants and gate agents routinely waved passengers with too much luggage through, hoping to avoid a confrontation. But now that baggage fees are generating serious money — they accounted for $1.5 billion in 2008, according to the Transportation Department — airlines are less likely to let the surplus bags slide.
Vivian Rouleau missed her connecting flight to Akron, Ohio, because of baggage. Not hers, but everyone else’s. Worse, her airline didn’t seem to care about the resulting connection problem, even though it seemed to be entirely preventable.
That would be American Airlines, according to the latest government-reported numbers for 2009. The rest of the list may surprise you even more.
Seen the hilarious new music video “United Breaks Guitars” yet? United Airlines has done a mea culpa on the luggage-vaulting incident, and even asked the Canadian country music group Sons of Maxwell for permission to use the clip as a training video. The song “struck a chord with us” an airline spokeswoman said. But good customer service isn’t about responding to a viral video with a sense of humor, as United did. It’s about the little things, like Irena Temple’s ruined photos.
When Pina Belfiore-Benvenuto’s bags were lost on a recent flight from New York to Paris, the missing contents included a digital camera and a watch — two items that her airline’s contract of carriage exclude from liability. And to absolutely no one’s surprise, her carrier told her she was out of luck. Maybe it shouldn’t have.
Sign up for my 
