How do they lose it?

[Kita]

Just came home MDW to EWR, straight shot, no stops. Checked in MDW over 2 hours early. Flight sat on the ground almost all day due to bad weather in EWR. But they lost my bag and here after 48 hours nobody still has any clue where it is, and from everything I've looked up online so far, its not going to be too hopeful to get full reimbursement unless maybe our renter's insurance will kick something in for us. I just hope they find my bag. :-(

How do they lose a bag when all they have to do is get it from curbside to ONE airplane? And then take it off again at destination?

 

[BoeingBoy]

Not an excuse, but what seems like a simple process really is not that simple. The person at the curb takes the bag to the ticket counter where it's sent to the TSA screeners. They screen the bag then transfer it to the baggage personnel. They sort all the bags from the TSA screening (all checked bags) and put it on a cart for transport to the airplane (hopefully the right plane). Someone else drives the tug to the plane (hopefully the bag doesn't fall off the cart on the way). At the plane a team transfers the bags from the cart to the cargo compartments (if WN loads bags by destination or separates connecting from terminating bags hopefully it's loaded in the right place in the cargo compartments).

At the destination (EWR) the terminating bags are loaded on carts for transportation to the baggage claim carousel and any connecting bags are loaded on other carts (hopefully your bag got on the right cart).

As you can see, a lot of human interaction with your bag. If they all do their job properly your bag ends up on the carousel at your destination. Unfortunately, humans do make mistakes and one mistake could mean your bag is in SEA.

Jim

 

[Kita]

Oh okay. (What is SEA? Sorry, newbie here.) I'm just kinda concerned since its been 48 hours and we keep calling and nobody knows where it is. I sure wish they had a tracking system! Oh well..... I would have traveled without checked luggage if possible, but due to the nature of my trip I had to pack lots of extra things/business tools/gifts and was not able to make it on just carry-on. Bummer. I loved Southwest, and this is my second time flying the airline, but out of all the times I've flown on all different airlines, I've never had a bag lost more than maybe 12 hours, and that only happened once. So now I'm getting a bit skeptical...there were a few other people from my same flight who had a lost bag, too.

 

[QA4Jet-A]

Oh okay. (What is SEA? Sorry, newbie here.) I'm just kinda concerned since its been 48 hours and we keep calling and nobody knows where it is. I sure wish they had a tracking system! Oh well..... I would have traveled without checked luggage if possible, but due to the nature of my trip I had to pack lots of extra things/business tools/gifts and was not able to make it on just carry-on. Bummer. I loved Southwest, and this is my second time flying the airline, but out of all the times I've flown on all different airlines, I've never had a bag lost more than maybe 12 hours, and that only happened once. So now I'm getting a bit skeptical...there were a few other people from my same flight who had a lost bag, too.

SEA is Seattle but I doubt your bag is there. As Jim said, there are a lot of ways bags can get lost and the TSA doesn't help matters. Just keep calling the Airline and ask. As Southwest and AirTran integrate, I bet the Lost Bags at Southwest will drop if they learn how AirTran works it so well. Then again, it's a matter of process, flights and turn time.
I wish you well and that you won't give up on Southwest! One thing I have learned is, never check your bag in with a Sky Cap. Always take to the Ticket Counter and if you can, 'Carry-On'. You may get lucky enough that your bag gets 'Gate Checked', so it is at least in the same city where you land.

Regards, QA

 

[num1bearsfan]

I'm real sorry to hear about your bag being mishandled. BoeingBoy is pretty right on about the process of baggage handling. Your bag will turn up, I assure you. Bags that are mishandled in a worst case scenario are sent off on the wrong plane and it takes time to have the bag rerouted and back tracked to where it should be, but they never go away forever. If what you say about multiple people having their bags mishandled on your flight is true that's actually a good thing because likely what happened was an entire cart was missed, and in that case the ramp will be WELL aware of the issue and is actively working on getting those bags to where they should be.

I'm sorry that one of your few experiences with bag checking had to be a negative one and I assure you that mishandled bags are not a common occurrence at Southwest airlines. According to the DOT, about 4 in 1,000 bags at Southwest Airlines are mishandled and I'm sorry you had to win that lottery..

-Current MDW Ramp Agent

 

[Kita]

Thanks for your reply! I haven't gotten it back yet and am waiting for the forms to come in the mail so that maybe they can find it in the Dallas warehouse after I send them a list of what's in it. Part of it is, I guess, my fault as it was a brand new suitcase and I had forgotten to label it well with my name and address. :-( I had never had a bad experience with luggage so it just didn't really cross my mind (well, it did, but after it was too late to do it.) So hopefully they can find it once I send them detailed information about the contents, some of which has my name and phone number in there...

I don't think an entire cart was missing....one lady had her bag come in on an earlier flight. One lady got 2 bags but missing one...and one man was missing a large bag...and then I was missing a large bag. I think that was about all from the flight.

At least it didn't happen while I was on my trip, and only on the way home.

 

[BoeingBoy]

According to the DOT, about 4 in 1,000 bags at Southwest Airlines are mishandled

Since it's actually about 4 bags per 1000 passengers that DOT reports (WN's average this year thru June is 3.85), it may be lower than 4 per 1000 bags depending on how many bags the average passenger checks. A businessman might not check any while a family of 4 going to Mickey World for a week might check 1.5-2 per person.

Jim

 

[Kita]

Still no luggage....they said they sent me a claim form on Monday but have not gotten that either...oh well....