Suitcase Destroyed
 

Air Tran literally destroyed my entire suitcase. I flew into SD to visit my husband for a weekend on a Friday, and my single suitcase was nowhere to be found. I filled out the claim form, and they assured me that someone would be in contact with me later that evening. After not hearing a peep, I called back to be told that they still had not been able to track down my suitcase; they would call me back before the end of the evening to update me. When I still hadnt heard from them Saturday morning, I called to be told that they had my suitcase and would be delivering it before 4pm, but I had to be there to sign for it. This ruined my only full day in town with my husband. At about 4:30, the courier shows up with a giant box, wrapped in Air Tran packing tape.

This is strange, I think to myself, becuase I definitely checked in a suitcase, not a box. When I asked him, the delivery guy said he know nothing about it - he was just the courier. So I open the box....

....to find what at one point had been my suitcase. It was literally torn to shreds. All of the clothes were torn and embedded with melted black plastic. At least, the items that were still in the suitcase. I'm not sure what happened to several missing items. I had packed brand new gourmet pots and pans (a gift from my mother-in-law), which were completely crushed. My suitcase was also full of broken glass from the lids of the pots and pans, which I had wrapped extremely carefully.

I was in shock. I called the airline, and the woman I spoke to sounded completely surpised by the reported damage, and tried to deny that Air Tran had any thing to do with the destruction (despite the fact that the box was wrapped in their packing tape). She told me to go to the airport and talk to the supervisor at the Air Tran desk.

So I did. I wish I had gotten this guys name, because he treated me like a piece of gum on the bottom of his shoe. He told me that if I didn't have receipts for the items, there was nothing that Air Tran could do. No apology, no concern, no customer service, even though I was almost in tears at that point:mad:.

It was a horrible experience. I have never been treated so terribly in my life. I will never fly Air Tran again, and I will continue to warn everyone I know against using them. I have pictures if anyone wants to see them; I couldn't figure out how to post them on here.

You might consider filing a DOT complaint, there is a link at the top of the page. I would also consider small claims for this.. their conduct is outrageous.

What a horrible experience. I can't believe something like this actually happened. I just took my first flight ever with Airtran back in November of 2010 and didn't experience any issues with it. You should look into whatever complaint you can file, and please let us know what happens because of it. I'll hope for the best.

If I may ask - what city did you fly into?