[esfield]

Flying through Frankfurt to somewhere else via a United-Lufthansa connection? Don't leave anything important in checked baggage.

I left San Francisco on UAL five days ago and traveled via a change in Frankfurt to Milan, where I arrive four days ago. My bag remained in Frankfurt until yesterday morning. Why? UAL checked it through to Frankfurt as a final termination. Lufthansa recorded the UAL baggage number when I checked in for my second flight but could not find the bag because it was sent to German customs.

The mismanagement of the bag follows from the fact that UAL also would not issue a boarding pass from Frankfurt to Milan because "our software only manages United flights." I'm really tired of UAL software, which is mostly outsourced to India and wherever it is, is incapable of correction and extension.

The saddest part of the baggage story (apart from the two workdays it cost me) is that half the people on our Transatlantic 747 (booked as a 777) also were making connections through Frankfurt, also had no boarding passes issued at SFO, and probably also waited days for their bags. The second saddest thing is that Lufthansa is being blamed.

I don't personally EVER expect to travel internationally with United.