They Lost My Luggage!!!

You know, thus far in my little life, I've had my fair share of problems related to air travel. I rarely fly to and from a destination without something unfortunate happening. Usually, I have to contend with inconvenient flight delays/cancellations, but every once in a while, I get to enjoy the pleasure of having my luggage lost. Tonight falls into that category.

I must say that, even though lost luggage is the ultimate crappiness at the end of the already taxing journey that is air travel, I've been generally pleased with the technological advances made by the major airlines. I mean, I know I'm not that old, but I do remember a time not too long ago when airline reps knew nothing about the location of one's bag until it eventually found its way to the right place. The notion of "tracking" a bag was unheardof.

So, when I walked up to the American Airlines help desk in Memphis, I confidently handed the agent my baggage claim ticket (with the handy-dandy bar code that points to the exact location of my bag). Imagine my confusion when the lady said that she had no way of knowing where my bag was! I asked her if she could verify at least that my bag made it to Chicago, the intermediate destination; she couldn't say either way. It turns out that, for American Airlines, those "handy-dandy" bar codes only get scanned in two places: 1) as the bag goes through security at the very beginning of its journey, and 2) right before the bag is put on the carousel at the very end of its journey. So, did my bag ever make in onto my first flight? Or did it just miss my second flight? Or did my bag get routed to the wrong airport? What flight(s) did my bag travel on? The answer to all those questions is "I don't know."

Now, if this level of service, or lack there of, was the industry norm, I wouldn't be so miffed. However, this is not 1994. I know for a fact that Northwest, Continental, and Delta all make real use of their baggage bar codes to know where each bag is located. (Yes, that means that I've had my luggage lost by each of those airlines, but let's not focus on that point.) So, for American, the largest U.S. airline, as well as one of the most successful, to not do that puts it squarely behind the curve.

So, for all of you out there (especially the ones of you living in American's hub cities), you may have several reasons for you to travel on American, but this is one reason not to.

UPDATE: My bag did arrive!! All's well that ends well! :D