Screwed by United - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**mbo108** · 03-26-2007, 08:11 AM

So this past weekend I took my wife and sister to Columbia, SC so my sis could look at the University of South Carolina for college next year. I found a pretty reasonable rate from United.com from Philly to DC (Dulles) to Columbia for last Thursday. We had the sign plan for the way home.

Since we have contact solution, hair gel, shaving cream, toothpaste, makeup, etc, etc, my wife and i decided to share one larger bag and check it. I mean, its not like this is US Airways, who always loses luggage in philly, it was United.

We get to the airport two hours early just like we're supposed to, my wife checks the bag while i park the car. no big deal. We get to DC, change plans, there is about an hour and a half in between flights, thats fine, we grab pizza and a beer, looking forward to the warm weather of South Khaki-laki.

Needless to say, when we get to Columbia, no bag. Of course, its about 12:30 AM now, and the united baggage office is closed, so a generic airport employee enters our baggage claim into the United system and sends us on our way with virtually no information. I immediately call their 24 hr support line. I figure that the bag was lost in between at Dulles. No, I was told the bag never left Philly. no reason why of course, it just didnt make the plane. Awesome. the next flight is at 6am and the bag would reach us about 10:30 AM in Columbia. Of course, we have a university tour at 8:30 so i guess i'm wearing my dress clothes in work from the previous day (and so would my wife) but whateves, we'll come back and change at 11am before lunch.

Oh, wouldn't it be sweet if life worked this way. At 10 AM friday I call united to make sure the bag left Philly. Naturally it did not. No reason was given why not, but it didnt. So now they tell me its going to be on the 2pm flight and we'll have it around 5pm. Fine, at least I'll have fresh clothes for our dinner out and the rest of that night, and all day Saturday. So i'm walking around Columbia, SC in 85 degree weather sweating in my long sleeve shirt, long pants, socks, and dress shoes when i finally break down and just start buying USC gear (sidenote: my sister better go there since i own 8 pieces of south carolina gamecock clothing). at least i have a t-shirt and some crappy flipflops. i call United again, because all trust is lost at this point. the bag "missed" the 2pm flight. they tell me they'll send it on the 6pm flight and I'll have it around 11pm. Yeah, no thanks at this point. I'm coming home Saturday afternoon and I dont trust they'll get it to me anymore, so i tell them to leave it in philly, i'll buy more clothes (underwear) and send them the receipt. I'm told i'll get reimbursed 50%. I flip the f*** out. we go back and forth. finally talk to a "supervisor". SHe admits they have no idea where the bag is because its no longer showing up on the computer as in Philadelphia. its basically disappeared from United's system. Awesome. i become confident the world hates me.

so saturday comes and goes. I'm laying out in SC in jeans. not so much fun. its finally time to head to the airport and return to philly. My wife, the real brains of our whole operation, says to me when we arrive at the Columbia airport, "Since its not showing up in Philly, and United has no idea what happened to it, lets just check to see if somehow it did get to Columbia, but they never delivered it to our hotel." I'm not so certain, but sure, lets check. After all, confidence in United is basically zero right now. Yeah, its there, lying in a pile at the Columbia airport, clearly marked with our name and baggage claim number and everything. SO now we have to recheck it and hope it gets back to philly (it does). WHo knows how long it was actually there? Maybe it did arrive friday morning and we coulda had our stuff all along? Maybe it just got there. BUt if we (my wife) didn't think to check columbia and we got back to philly expecting to find it but then not, yeah, you probably woulda heard about a man going berserk in the philadelphia airport and stuff a couple of united employees into x-ray machine. but there's no way we ever would have gotten that thing back if we didnt find it ourselves. They didnt send it when we needed it, and they probably did send it when we told them not too. IDIOTS!

Sorry this post was so long. I'm sure no one is still reading, but i had to share that.

**buzzingtalk** · 03-26-2007, 08:20 AM

are you still trying to get reimbursment?? what utter piss poor organisation and control over the situation they had. i would try and milk them for the money you spent!! good luck!!

**mbo108** · 03-26-2007, 11:22 AM

Yeah, i have to send in all my receipts. I'm sure this will go really smoothly though...

**Slacker** · 03-26-2007, 12:33 PM

Airlines suck.

Love travelling. Love flying, but airlines just suck. Ask Misschick:D

**Diorama** · 03-26-2007, 08:52 PM

Quote:

its not like this is US Airways, who always loses luggage in philly

That's not what happens in Columbus right WorldWideMike!

Back to topic...glad you got that off your chest! Yeah i work in a hotel so almost daily I find myself calling airlines on behalf of guests. It's definately a frusterating situation for all involved. Lost luggage happens so much. We always have a steady stream of lost luggage arriving at our hotel. I don't think i will ever go on an airplane again without a backup supply of underwear!

I wish you luck getting your cashola back

**worldwidemike** · 03-29-2007, 06:13 PM

Speaking as an America West Airlines employee who is now forced to say he works for USAirways (god, that was hard to type...), Philly does indeed suck. The louts who work on the ramp there are a bunch of gangsters, basically. They routinely leave off huge amounts of bags for no discernible reason. The best thing the airline could do would be to downgrade the city to a field station. No flights to any cities except Charlotte, Phoenix or Vegas -- the only hubs we should have. Either that, or close the station down entirely. Let someone else go in there and lose money.

worldwidemike

**LiveFreeorDie** · 03-30-2007, 05:54 AM

^You guys should write a book for travelers on what airports to avoid if you want to keep your luggage. Based on these comments I will certainly avoid Philly like the plague!!

**mbo108** · 03-30-2007, 07:31 AM

I think what i hate the most is that you never get to take out your frustrations on the people that really did screw you. In a situation like mine, or anyone who's been there, you want to scream at the Customer Service people, but they're not the ones who lost your bag really...and the people that did, who knows if they ever find out how much pain and grief and time and money they've cost people? does it really impact their lives?

And WWM, sorry for draggin US Airways into it, this was all United's fault this time, but i've had so many problems in the past i just started lumping all these guys together.

And yes, the philly airport sucks, its too small so flights are always stuck in holding patterns, departures and arrivals are always late...its basically like the rest of the city, horrible in just about every way except its restaurants and beer scene.

**joe7f** · 03-31-2007, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiveFreeorDie

^You guys should write a book for travelers on what airports to avoid if you want to keep your luggage. Based on these comments I will certainly avoid Philly like the plague!!

This may affect Americans headed to Oktoberfest (Philly to Munich was usually the cheapest fare I could find)

On the other end of the spectrum, the airport in my hometown of Tampa is consistently regarded as among the best in the country. I certainly like it

--Joey