Holiday Travel Headaches: My Holiday Airline Woes

I took a cruise to the Caribbean, and it was great. As with any vacation, it was hard to return home, but the trek back to the cold, gray suburbs in Michigan were my final destination. The day started at 2:30 am, when I and my three travel companions woke up to our cell phone alarms. We had a 5:10 flight to New York, and a 9:30 flight to Detroit. I should have known from the very beginning that it would be a rough day. Our bags were hardly packed when this ear piercing alarm sounded. A voice came over the loudspeaker to announce "A fire has been reported in the building. Please evacuate immediately."

Wonderful. I peeked out the door, noticed other guests in the hotel doing the same. No heat, no smoke, no fire. We looked at each other, and it went without words that we weren't going to stop packing. Fire or not, we had a flight to catch. We hurriedly threw our bags together, and quickly made our exit through everyone else who had been woken up by the noise. The fire truck arrived and blocked in the driver the front desk had arranged to take us to the airport. Sure enough, they quickly left upon learning someone had pulled an alarm as a prank. Guests of the hotel were very irritated. Once the fire department cleared the way, we made our trip to the airport.

With all of the paranoia the government has as a result of 9-11, we knew it would be best to arrive at the mandated 2 hours early so we could check our bags and make it through security. I was the first of my group to get inside and see the circus at the baggage check. There wasn't a single airline staffer on hand. To make matters worse, there was not any designation for which line was for domestic versus international flight. Added to the confusion, the roped off areas weren't large enough to house everyone waiting. The porters were carrying bags to random places in the line, essentially cutting in front of patrons already waiting. It was completely disorganized. If this wasn't bad enough, people were being rude. A group of 10 decided to cut in line, splitting our group of four in half. One of my companions spoke out, and was told by the line jumper to "Mind your own business." I was at wits end, and snapped back. Security approached, and the line jumpers withdrew. Two of them were stubborn and refused to move out of the line. I won't name the airline, as I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt that this isn't a common way to treat their travelers.

After over an hour wait, we were getting extremely concerned that we would be late for our 5:10 flight. It was pushing 4:15, so you can imagine the mood in line. Once the airline staff arrived, they realized the issues they'd caused and tried to speed up baggage check for those traveling on the 5:10 flight. An irritating revelation came to light when virtually all of the people who had tried to jump places in line and cut others off were shown to be on the 7:30 flights. Why someone would feel they had the right to jump ahead of someone with an earlier and fast approaching flight escapes me. We were given our boarding passes and sent on our way.

Security was typical. Shoes off, scan this, scan that. Belt off, rescan. Repack everything you had to take out of your bags, shoes back on, run to gate. We boarded our plane 5 minutes before our scheduled take-off. There were still people trying to force carry-on luggage into the overhead compartments when the plane was taxiing to the runway. It probably wouldn't have been an issue, but this particular airline didn't seem to be focused on baggage size. I'm pretty sure a guitar case doesn't fit in the allotted overhead compartment. While I was trying to put my bag up, a stewardess snapped at me to hurry up. "If if doesn't fit, then you need to check it."

I was not happy. Check my bag? No, mine fits under the seat, but I'd rather put it up above. How about you check this guy's guitar, or that lady's stroller? It was disappointing. More disappointment came with the trip to the lavatory. Disgusting is an understatement. It made me wonder how many years ago it could have been since the last person made an effort to clean in there. The second flight was much the same. Hurriedly board because the staff was late, try to cram baggage into the overhead compartment alongside items that never should have been allowed as carry-on, and try to make the best of the flight home.

We finally arrived in Detroit, and were hit with the brutal change from a tropical 82 degrees to the typically cold 28 degree winter weather. We made our way through the terminal to the baggage claim, and sat there waiting to pick up our belongings so we could finally get as far away from the airport as possible. Bag after bag came out. One of ours, then another, and another. Then more and more bags, but all belonging to others. The flow of bags grew to a trickle, and then nothing. We watched the same bags go by twice, and then the door came to a sudden and noisy close. Surely they had more to unload. We waited a while, and nothing. Other passengers cleared, and it became obvious that we were the only ones left. Wonderful.

There was a single woman staffing the baggage information desk. She was apparently asleep in back, and woken up by our irritated chatter. None of us were too pleased with this turn of events. We're missing our baggage, is the plane done unloading? She said yes. There was nothing left to unload. Well, where's our luggage? She cocked her head to the side and looked off into the distance as if she could figure it out if she thought for a second, and asked "Well, were you late checking in?"

I wanted to scream at her. I was screaming at her inside, but kept my composure. No, we weren't late. Your staff was. She responded that she wasn't surprised, they were understaffed. Probably not something you want to admit to your customers. Well, where is our stuff then? One of several possibilities. It never made it on the initial flight, it was still on the initial flight, it was somewhere at our secondary location, or it was still on the plane from our second flight. She said not to worry, and that they would probably have it within the next several hours. "I'll give you a call by 1:00 if it comes on the next flight," she told us, hoping it was left behind in Florida. "If it's still in New York, that comes in at 7:00 tonight. Either way, I'll call to give you an update." We took down her number, and unhappily returned home.

A few days passed, and out of the blue there was a delivery from the airport. The TSA apparently had decided to take their time searching all of our bags, and weren't quick enough to get them back on the flight. Also a huge thanks to them for breaking zippers on my bag. Really disappointing experience.

We waited for the call. 1:00 came and went, as did 7:00. We attempted to call her. None of us had any luck. We've managed to get them twice, only to be brushed off that they're still looking and should have it back to us soon. I almost had to laugh at the representative I spoke with. She told me "Your baggage isn't lost, it's just been misplaced. It's probably just sitting at one of the terminals you visited, and we should have it back to you within no time." It's not lost? I don't have it, you don't have it, neither of us knows where it is, and you can't tell me when exactly you're going to be able to find it and return it. I'd call that lost.

I'm certainly glad they're liable for the amount they are. I'll never be able to replace some of the items in by bag. Hopefully I get everything back, in one piece, with nothing missing. Of course, with this experience, I don't want to get my hopes up.