USeless Air and lost bags

INfamily · Post by **INfamily** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 9:08 pm

We just spent a great week on St John - left on US Air Saturday at 2:20 pm. When we arrived at the airport, we knew something was up when the check-in line was a mile long. Their computer system was out, causing all tickets and baggage tags to be written by hand. I had a bad feeling when they put the little handwritten tag on our bags, secured by a tiny little string...... When the 7 of us reached Louisville last night, none of our bags appeared. It's been nearly 24 hours and the airline has no idea where the bags went. Anyone have any expertise on this issue?

DELETED · Post by **DELETED** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 9:16 pm

DELETED

mbw1024 · Post by **mbw1024** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 10:05 pm

SJ, I have a non stop coming home on 12/2, which is a Sunday. Heading down on Friday and it's a connecting flight.

waterguy · Post by **waterguy** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 10:26 pm

They lost my Bags on Jan 20th and I'm still waiting for my check.

ScubaGirl · Post by **ScubaGirl** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:06 am

Last month, they lost one of our bags, the one with all our Scuba gear in it. They said it just didn't get on the plane in Charlotte, to Boston. When we went to the baggage counter in Boston, they were very helpful. Becuase we were driving to Saint John, home, the next day, they said they would fly it to Canada. It took 2 weeks to get the bag, we figure it got held up in customs in Toronto, but we got it.
We were able to track it, but had to call the baggage counter in Boston, once to find out where it was, and where it went.

Sydney

INfamily · Post by **INfamily** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:22 am

As of this morning, they still haven't found any of the 7 bags. Apparently USAir upgraded their computer system 4 months ago, and it has been "down" many times since. Right now, we're totally at their mercy.
I seem to vaguely remember someone on the forum saying that they always insure their bags because the airline doesn't lose insured bags - too bad I failed to remember that trick!

GlitterGirlPA · Post by **GlitterGirlPA** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:00 am

There is still a non-stop from Philly to St Thomas - just flew it 2 weeks ago. However, I would NEVER recommend flying them. Our plane was delayed 5 hours going down ( and we missed the last car ferry over to St John's) because they couldn't "find" our plane. Then on the way back it was delayed 4.5 hours because they couldn't "find" our co-pilot. They are the worst-run business I have ever seen, it is a shame because they are just everywhere in PA and sometimes you don't even have a choice but to fly this scam of an airline.

Ksea · Post by **Ksea** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:11 am

Sorry about your luggage. I guess I'd rather lose it on the way home than on the way to vacay though. Ours was lost coming home from a cruise but it was delivered the next day at 2 in the morning.

Anyone had any experiences with Delta Airlines they would like to share?

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 10:23 am

US Air lost part of our luggage on the way down, which was more of a hassle than it should have been. As luck would have it, it was the two most important (in the minds of the owners') bags.

The worst part was that we could get no information from the baggage agents, the customer service was really terrible. We learned a valuable lesson that trip and will not have a repeat experience. I know it can happen with any airline but still, the US Air customer service could not have been worse.

I am also curious about Delta through Atlanta. Delta has good flight times for our next trip, leaving from our prefered airport. The cost is way high right now but I am watching....

cptnkirk · Post by **cptnkirk** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:17 am

Sorry about your lost bags. I guess we have been really lucky with U.S AIR no real problems in at least a dozen trips. We seem to usually get the best deals from them. I really do recommend carry on only, for us its the only way to go. We have it down to an art went for two weeks and took a bunch of food and still had a little room left.Really if ya think about it how much stuff do ya need for a beach vacation.

sea-nile · Post by **sea-nile** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:18 am

Now I am getting nervous. I booked through United and now they changed my flight and are calling it US Airways. I can't convince the family to only do carry on, but you can guarantee I am not putting anything I really care about too much in the checked luggage!

JJShaw · Post by **JJShaw** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:28 am

We Also booked with United and ended up on UsAir...but we have a non stop flight to STT and back...so Im curious, are they loosing luggage only on the flights with a stop over ?

INfamily · Post by **INfamily** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:36 am

Our bags were apparently lost on the STT - charlotte leg. The really scary part is that their computers keep going down - it happened to my brother-in-law in San Juan last month - and no one seems to know how to get it up and running again. We could have carried on, but I've always been annoyed by people shoving heavy bags over my head on flights.....we will now carry on, no matter what. And no, we definitely don't overpack! Travelling in Europe has cured me of that forever. And on customer service? They are in need of a company-wide makeover. I've only talked to one person in 3 days who acted like they cared. And we're talking 7 passenger's luggage.

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:52 am

Over 12 years, we flew US Air the majority of our trips, all without serious incident until Feb 2007. We will continue to consider US Air solely because the cost and convience has so far exceeded other options.

We never had a problem with the direct flights and baggage. While our last trip was direct, it started out as a San Juan/Cape Air conneciton. We were switched by US Air to the direct flight. Our luggage was not. Part of it made our original phl-san juan-stt flight while the rest sat in Philly until the following day, it was delivered in two seperate trips the following evening.

90% of my aggravation related to my husband's reluctance to cross-pack. He didn't think it was necessary to split up his clothes between our other checked luggage. He also refused to take a proper carry-on. Of course, his was one of the two bags lost. (the other was my mom's snorkel stuff and weeks supply of speciality food items that she absolutely can't live without - chocolate) He wears size 15 shoes, which are not available on the island.

Blah, Blah, Blah... the moral of my rant is don't sweat it too much but do prepare for the possibility. Had we taken 10 minutes to split up our clothes, it would not have caused nearly the stress.

The chocolate, on the other hand, is another story.

SRT · Post by **SRT** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:17 pm

I am going to show this post to my family of 10 because I have been trying to convince them to take only carry-on for our trip in August. My husband and I make 3-4 trips a year to the Caribbean and never check bags even for two weeks. I tell them it is going to be hot and humid and they will be in bathing suits the whole time.

We have taken Delta from Atlanta many times without a single problem. The ten of us are doing it in August on frequent flyer seats. Couldn't believe I was able to secure seats on the same flights from Minnesota and South Dakota. This will be the first time to St. John for our daughters, their husbands, and our four grandchildren. I highly recommend Delta.

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