[gapreach]

I guess I don't feel as badly about my experience after reading some of the other ones on this Board.

My basic story is that I had a two-leg trip from Houston thru Dallas and on to San Angelo, Texas. I checked in with plenty of advance time in Houston. The weather was poor with a lot of rain. We sat in our plan for 1:15 before pushing off and arriving in Dallas an hour late.

My next leg from Dallas to San Angelo was to depart 45 minutes later. I arrived at the gate, however, to learn that they were running late and that the plane wasn't there yet. The plane showed up an hour late too. We finally push off from the gate about an hour later than scheduled after the captain having noted that they just placed the baggage.

We arrived in San Angelo with 30 degree weather. The baggage carousel was being replaced, so I was told that they just left the baggage in front of the airport by the curb. They did have an AA person watching this. However, my bag wasn't there. The person told me, "Just come back at 5:30 pm when the next plane comes in, and it (the bag) should be here." I said, "No, I need to file a missing baggage claim." So she told me that she couldn't help me for 20 minutes until she helped the next plane leave. I waited at the ticketing counter for 1.5 hours. Finally someone else returned and gave me a missing baggage claim.

I went to my friends house with whom I'm staying the weekend. No calls from anyone for 6 hours. So I called the AA baggage service. They are extremely complacent and try to do as little as possible. You have to ask them to check on where the bag is, when it is expected to be moved from A to B, what the policy is for the airport at B once the bag arrives, what you should expect, and what to do if it doesn't happen. They fight you on every question.

So the baggage was supposed to come in on the "next flight", but evidently that flight was canceled. The next morning I have called the AA baggage claim again, and they again fought me on every question. Finally, the lady claimed to issue me a $150 voucher to replace items for my trip. However, there is no written proof from AA about this. She claims that it is in my AA Baggage file but that I can't see it. I complained and demanded that she send me an email to document this allowance. Grudgingly, she finally agreed. She also took care to note that I must submit my baggage receipt, airline ticket vouchers, and lost baggage claim along with the receipt for the items and explanation of how they relate to my lost baggage. That has to be received by them within 30 days.

So you see, if I had not gotten the original lost baggage claim (instead of coming back after the next flight after the rude San Angelo AA person advised), I would not have been able to get a voucher. And based on what I have read on this line, the AA headquarters probably would fight my compensation claim if I didn't have confirmation of some sort that the concession had been made. The lady on the telephone claimed that I could "trust her" on that. Really?!! After the rude and bad service for 24 hours most people's level of trust does tend to drop a few degrees.

I guess what I learned is that you need to carry your bag with you instead of paying $25 to checking it, that bad weather increases chances of bags not getting moved correctly, and that the central baggage complaint handling personnel of AA is cranky, arrogant, insincere, and devious. Their goal is to get you off the phone with as little information as possible. Probably there is some value out there for a better consumer protection group against the airlines' handling of baggage. I'm surprised it has never happened given the many stories I have read and see within about mishandled, damaged, and stolen baggage for which passengers are now paying quite a bit of additional fees to check.