[Betty S. Paulson]

In November I flew out to Pasco, Washinton and one wheel was busted totally off of my suitcase. On the way home, the other wheel was busted off. I have had this suitcase for 5 years and it has traveled as far away as Bahrain in the Middle East. Customer service could of cared less. I think the airline is being paid by the luggage manufacturers to break luggage! I like nice luggage but I am ready to buy "beaters" now. GRRRR !!

[The_Judge]

Buy beaters. You won't like my answer but to be blunt, the purpose of luggage is to protect the contents. Wheels, handles, straps, etc. are not covered under any airline's damage policy. That info is in the information never read by passengers but published by the airline.

[Betty S. Paulson]

I will and thank you for your reply. I indeed have read all that, but I nevertheless expect a modicum of care with my luggage. Call it courtesy, call it good customer relations, call it thoughtful and considerate if you will, but don't toss it through the air or slam it around. At this point in my life, having wheels on my luggage is pretty important, heading into my senior years with bad knees buying new luggage because of damaged wheels is no fun. Maybe I'll check out places that sell used and see if I can find ones with the wheels more protected. I just don't feel its too much to expect that airline employees would respect our possessions. As soon as we retire we will be more than happy to go back to road trips for U.S. travel.

[Helomaniac]

I agree with Betty that it is only common courtesy to pay for what you damage but when airlines didn't charge for baggage transport you really couldn't complain much. Now that they are charging so much to handle your bags I think they have bought the responsibility to handle them with care and pay if they don't. They are charging for a service, we have a right to get what we pay for. We are all still seeing the careless handling on the tarmac outside of our windows, so they are obviously not giving us anything more for our money!

[Mrs.J Airline Employee]

Handles, wheels, and straps simply break through normal wear and tear and frankly, usually break when a bag is overloaded ... it happens all-the-time. Hey, put 50 pounds in a bag rated for 30 and disaster will happen.

If you want wear and tear to be covered, take out travelers insurance that will cover that kind of damage for your trip ... or I personally recommend purchasing a bag that comes with a lifetime warrantee. I have met passengers with such bags and they say .. hey, It's rare, but when a wheel pops off, the luggage company will replace the bag or repair it.

We want to make sure that you get your items when you arrive and the sortation system used to make that happen is rough on luggage as well as equiptment used to load the flight, and simply shift during flight can cause minor damage to bags. By the way ... last year all airlines had the best on time baggage statistics in the history of air travel. Yes, ALL major airlines.

We love our passengers, really we do and we do our best to make sure that you get your bag in one piece ... and most of the time, the bags arrive on time and in tact.

[The_Judge]

Please don't include all airline employees in the "we" that you used. I personally have no love for any passenger I dealt with.

[AADFW]

That explains a lot.