Southwest -- Soaking Wet Luggage!
 

Flight from Orlando to Chicago (Flight 750 on Feb 2, 2009). Suitcases arrived completely soaking wet. All contents (including winter coat) drenched all the way through. Try putting on a wet coat in 16 degree weather!

These were fairly new bags that are 'water repellent', so for this amount of wetness, they had to have been exposed to rain for a long period of time in Orlando.

How could the airline let this happen? Why would the crew not cover customers' personal belongings?? These two bags could not have been more wet if they had been thrown into a lake!

New blouse ruined. About 12 items need to be dry cleaned. Business document soaked through and will need to be re-ordered. Thanks Southwest Orlando ground crew. Your attentiveness to the obvious (Rain + Bags sitting outdoors uncovered) shows that apparently hiring monkeys would have been a better decision.

I'm so angry at their lack of respect that I can't put it into words. All I can do is be grateful that JetBlue has added new locations so I can fly with them instead.

Bags are transported from the terminal building to the aircraft and vice-versa in open baggage carts and loaded onto the aircraft on conveyor belts all exposed to the elements. To expect that your bags will be sheltered from rain or snow at all times is absurd. The forecast for Orlando today called for rain with the possibility of thunderstorms which indicates that the rain might have been heavy at times. I doubt the baggage handlers intentionally left your bags where they would be inundated with water.

Hiring monkeys would have been a better decision? Really? Do you have the same disdain and prejudice for all service employees? I think you should take the matter to the manufacturer of your "water repellent" bags. Do you know what the Denier count of your bags is? The name of the manufacturer? I can assure you if you purchased them at Target or Wal~Mart you got what you paid for!

Don't forget about the unions.
 

The luggage is designed to "protect" the contents of the luggage for period of time. But when that are exposed to the elements for so long the contents will get wet. If their is lightning around the area, you can bet your rear that the union worker is obligated to drop all work activities to protect themselves. it is in the contract.

That means your luggage is not as important as their lives. It would be nice if the ramp was covered and no luggage got wet. Those bags have to travel in the elements from one airplane to the next and sit in a pile while the other bags are being unloaded or weights are being figured. An important task to be sure. I do wish their was a better way but until someone figures it out, commercial airline travel is a joke. Oh yeah, some airlines do have covered carts but the rain still seeps in through the openings of the tarps. It sucks I know!

I would address my concerns with the manufacturer of the bag. If its supposed to be water reppellant, how did all your clothes get sopping wet? The bag itself should offer some degree of protection from the elements, even if exposed, that's what it's designed for.

Oh and if monkeys were handling your bags... water would be the VERY LEAST of your concerns.

i dont even know why im asking this....why weren't your business documents with you if they were so important?? carry those on!!! if your luggage would have been delayed or lost the airline isnt responisble for those.

"Negotiable papers; securities; business or personal documents" are specifically excluded from liability in carrier's Contract of Carriage.

i450009

Hold on a moment everyone. Southwest is somewhat to blame here. I will agree with PHX in that the bags to have to go outside, afterall, the plane is not parked in a garage. However the carts that Southwest uses have tarps to go over them for the rain. So durring the rain the bag will get wet going from the cart to the plane, but if the contents were soaked, then it was left out way too long.

I will agree with the others thought, that if the papers were that important they should have been carried on with you.

Barbarino, that really sucks for you. Just a helpful suggestion for anyone, I have put large "hefty" bags in my luggage and put everything in it and sealed it in suitcase. Sure, it should not have to come to that, and I know nothing about the equip. that SW uses. but it should not have been out there in the rain so long as to get that saturated. Did you file a complaint and try to get them to pay for drycleaning? I know very little about SW policies. I have worked for a few airlines, and know its always better to talk to someone directly at the airport rather than on the phone. As mad as you may be try and be polite and always ask for a manager first. Most reps will not authorize anything like that, because they are not allowed to make those decisions. (unfortunatly) Good Luck.

Here goes...

a) The bags are both new Samsonites, at over $300 each. So I'm sure the material is of adequate quality. No PHXFlyer, I did not buy them at Walmart.

b) I fly at least two dozen times a year. I have seen airports all over the world. And I see baggage carts with tarps over the all the time. Or, they are enclosed with a metal roof, and a pull-down door or tarp on one side. But neither could have been the case here in Orlando for everyone's bags on our flight to get this drenched.

PHXFlyer: Do you really think it is acceptable for luggage to sit in the open air during a rainstorm? You can't seriously be defending that. And I don't think it is beyond reason to hope that someone on the staff might say, "Hey, maybe we should throw a tarp on our customers' luggage while its waiting to be loaded".

What they did was the equivalent of taking your car to a dealership to be fixed, and having the staff park it in the lot with the windows left down during a storm. In a word: Negligent.

c) As for the business paper, it was purchased online and printed at Kinkos (for a cost). Not confidential stuff, I just feel like lugging a 250 page printout with me. So I packed it. Big deal. I didn't foresee it getting destroyed by rain, so I guess shame on me.


Pattis: Thanks for the constructive idea to pack your suitcase contents in a hefty bag. I will do that going forward after these two Southwest experiences.

If there is a container store in your area they also sell the heavy plastic bags that you pack your cloths in and then use the vacumn to pull the air out to make it smaller and able to fit in suitcase, but it also adds extra protection for cloths and things in your bag

Hi - the same thing happened to me on a flight from Tampa to Midway in December. Brand new luggage was ruined because they left it in dirty water and it was soaked through. The contents were also ruined. Most were new Christmas gifts (including the luggage!) from family and had tags on (no price tages, but identifying info) Southwest baggage promised to reimburse me, but first had to send all items to Dallas. They told me that they would do research to assess fair value of items and reimburse me. After 4 weeks the sent a letter telling me that they needed reciepts for all items. I wrote back reminding them many items still had tags, and that they had told me I did not need reciepts 4 weeks ago. They wrote again telling me they would reimburse me and then sent a check for $200. The luggage alone cost more than $400! They did not detail out how they came up with this amount. Besides the horrible customer service on the luggage, the whole trip from Tampa was the worst experience in my life. The jet had some mechanical issue and so flight was delayed out of Tampa and so missed my connection in Midway by 10 minutes. Southwest did not hold the flight at Midway even though they knew we would be late as they had overbooked that flight. I ended up standing in lines for 5 hours trying to get standby to San Jose (or any airport nearby). In the end I had to stay overnight and Southwest refused to compensate me (still have a claim for that). Southwest advised me to NOT get my luggage at Midway as that would take an additional 2 hours and that it would be safe if left with them. Ha! Considering how callous they had been with people up to that point, I guess it would be just like them to leave the luggage out to be soaked and ruined and then put me though lots of time and headaches trying to get a fair settlement. I will NEVER fly that airline again.

That same would go here - the bags should not have gotten that wet.

As to them not holding the flight, it depends how many people are making the connection. If there are only a few, they are not going to hold up possibly 100 or more people for the sake of a handful.

I don't feel alone anymore: we flew from San Antonio to Providence, RI this past May arriving late on a Saturday night. My wife's luggage was fine, mine looked as if it had been pitched overboard. I filled out a damage report, but there was no place to dry or press my clothes that night nor Sunday. Two items were stained, and three hard-bound books were waterlogged. My wife attended a conference in Newport while my agenda had me traveling up to the Cape and down to Hartford. I wrote a letter to baggage claims noting that we were involved in a research project in Mexico, and to please respond by email. Weeks later [what appeared to be] a form letter was forwarded from our San Antonio address informing us we had 21 days to respond. Never an apology, nothing about time lost, inconvenience, or discomfort not to mention damage incurred. I am surprised because I have never had a negative incident with Southwest and use the carrier frequently. I'm responding to the lame response with copies to several agencies, including the DOT's Aviation Consumer Protection Division, as well as a lawyer back home. I'm disappointed, and don't have time for any more nonsense.

As far as I've seen, only Southwest uses open, flatbed type carts to convey baggage. They have tarps that should be thrown over the bags if it's raining, but they frequently fail to use the tarps, especially when they've got the bags piled sky high. So, in most cases, if the bags are soaking wet it's negligence, not nature.

more wet luggage
 

Currently sitting at Gate 125 at Orlando International in a thunderstorm, watching unprotected luggage and a few cardboard boxes get soaked out on the tarmac. Don't know what's in the boxes, but whatever it is is soaking wet now.

I too experienced issue with soaking wet clothes on a flight from Orlando to New Orleans. SW now informs me that to be compensated I need to send them the original receipts from ALL of the items that were damaged. Seriously, they think I have receipts from a dress I bought for a formal event two years ago.

Florida is a right to work state hence no unions

You should complain to the DOT. I don't think Southwest can enforce their ridiculous rule of receipts. If they accept they are liable, asking fr receipts is unreasonable.

You are absolutely WRONG. Florida may be a right to work state, but airlines are covered under the railway labor act, which supercedes state laws. So in other words, even though I worked in Florida, I still had to be part of the union, and had to pay union dues.