United Airlines + O’Hare = Lost Luggage
17 Comments Published by Alex February 19th, 2007 in Travel. Share This
Like a lot of travelers, I have a few concerns that invariably affect the way I choose to fly. One of the foremost being that if I’m flying across country, I prefer not to fly United if at all possible, and especially if they want to route me through O’Hare. Horrors! Never again!
Every time I’ve flown United through O’Hare—and I’m not exaggerating, every single time!—they have lost my luggage. Surely this has something to do with the fact that O’Hare is United’s biggest hub, but one might expect that this would also mean that they would have the most efficient ground crews there as well. No dice.
A story of woe follows the jump.
Seven years ago I was heading from New York City to San Francisco by way of O’Hare. It was a three-day trip and I had one piece of checked luggage and my carry on bag. My luggage did not arrive with me but somehow ended up in Denver. After waiting an extra hour in the baggage claim office in SFO, the airline told me that they would put my bag on the very next flight out and they would deliver it to my hotel by that evening. Fair enough, mistakes happen, and I trusted that by dinnertime I’d have fresh clothes to change into. The overpriced convenience shop in the lobby provides me with basic toiletries and I freshen up for the night, expecting that I’ll have my PJ’s by the end of the day.
Fat chance; the bag wasn’t there by midnight and I called the airline to check up on things. They had me on hold for a half an hour, only to tell me that they didn’t know where my suitcase was at this point. I waited another twenty minutes to speak with a supervisor. He was able to tell me that it had to go back to O’Hare for the next available flight to Oakland, and that it would definitely be with me in the morning.
Come 9:00 AM the following day, it was still not there. I called again. Was put on hold again. Only fifteen minutes this time. I lose my cool when the nincompoop on the horn tells me that the flight had landed hours earlier and that the luggage should have been delivered by now. I’m positive that my luggage has found it’s way to Japan at this point, so I head out and go shopping for clean socks and underwear. By noon I assume it’s safe to inquire again. This time I’m on hold for twenty minutes and give up, I’m wasting my trip being on the phone, and realize that calling isn’t going to make my junk arrive any sooner. I head out for the day, have some great Mexican food in the Mission district, buy a nifty shirt at some vintage shop, and throw my two day old shirt in the bag.
There was a concert that night, the reason for my trip. I had a wildly freaky outfit I had planned to wear for it, and it involved articles too bulky for an overhead compartment bag, which is why I had checked luggage in the first place. Upon my return to the hotel, said luggage still had not arrived. I waste another half an hour with the airline, learning nothing, but being flipped empty promises and worthless apologies by a bored-sounding customer service agent.
Screw this, I decide. I head to the show and have a good time, but I feel horribly underdressed. My friends all looked fabulous, but I was like their boring hanger-on, the loser friend with the car who they’d suckered into driving that night or something. My resentment mounted. Cut scene to the end of the night. I arrive at my hotel, check in with the front desk – there’s a piece of luggage waiting for me…but it’s not mine. They had delivered someone else’s bag to my hotel!
I furiously call United again and bitch up a storm. The usual apologies ensue and I’m not having any of it. Empty promises fall on deaf ears. The next morning I awake to a knock on my door; it’s the bellhop with my bag, just in time for me to shave at last, change into a fresh pair of clothes…and head to the airport.
In all fairness, I’ve flown United once since then and had no problems. Maybe they’ve gotten their act together in that time. Maybe I was just lucky. But the bulk of my experiences with them have been so bad, I will always avoid that airline whenever possible.
Buy a starter pistol and your luggage will (allegedly) never be lost again:
Consumerist article
If you think your bag experience was bad check out the stories behind British Airways recent blunders which happened on a massive scale http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6230003.stm
[)amien
Yeah my lost luggage epicenter is definitely Gatwick with British Airways. Every freaking time, without failure. Lost.
I’m a lucky one.
I lost my bag at Schipol airport in Amsterdam on a flight back to the UK. Arrived at Cardiff to an empty carousel. This wouldn’t freak me out, except that the large bag had my PC in it (Not a Laptop, but an actual PC box, sans monitors. Yes, I went internationally for a Lanparty…), and so I felt quite worried at the loss of so much personal data (My GTA game saves meant more to me back then…)
Stayed in Swansea overnight at a friend’s house, then headed back home to Carmarthenshire the next morning. Got home around Midday, and a courier was there awaiting my signature for the bag.
I don’t really count it as lost luggage, more “home delivery”…
As this is Dethroner, we really should re-inforce the #1 rule of male air travel:
NEVER CHECK BAGS.
I have flown cross-country exclusively from SFO through O’Hare for over 11 years as a frequently flyer on United, and have never lost my bags, cause I dont check em.
Even when I did check bags MANY moons ago, there was never anything in the checked bag that I wouldnt mind having delivered to my destination 3 days late. You should be able to live out of your carryon wheelie for 4-5 days at least.
Amen! I flew via O’hare with United last Nov. and my two bags didn’t arrive until two weeks later. They told me it was no big deal as it happened all the time. But thank goodness, I got them finally and received two $200 coupons from United.
It’s unbelievable. If I’d known this ahead of time I would have flown Air Azerbaijan on my recent flight from (you guessed) Chicago to Dallas, with (yep) United. Have now returned home to Europe, and bags still no where to be seen.
I left Philadelphia, for Milwaukee on Saturday, with my wife. got 2 the baggage claim only to find her’s…YES we made a stop @ Ohare.Its been 72 hours and I’ve just been lied to, empty promises, by customer service reps who can barely even speak english. the most annoying thing was being told my baggage had been scheduled for delivery by a delivery service, Executive Delivery Serives 24hrs ago! Even worse they refuse to give me information about EDS concerning my bag. For some strange reason none of the agents , about 15 of them I’ve spoken to since this mishap hasn’t been able to get through to the delivery service. How then do I get info regarding the location of my bag, when its going to be delivered etc. I’ve just been left hanging. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE TO SAY,
FUCK UNITED, FUCK EXECUTIVE DELIVERY SERVICES, N FUCK OUTSOURCING CUSTOMER SERVICE RELATIONS TO NEW DEHLI, PHILLIPINES, ETC…FUCKERS CAN’T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH HOW IN THE HELL CAN THEY PROVIDE ANY HELP….ITS LIKE THEY’RE PLACED THERE JUST TO KEEP U HANGING!!!!! N FILL U WITH FALSE HOPES!!!!!!!
Common people, do you really believe that a suitcase can be lost with all the checks going on?
I’m currently having problems with United Airlines at O’Hare: luggage delayed and soon to be declared lost. Nobody seems to know nothing about them. The call centre in the Philippines (very handy) leaves voice messages, sends emails and faxes to O’Hare and they get no answer… Last news: the luggage was loaded on a plane to Montreal, but Montreal did not recieve it. It might have been parachuted in Lake Michigan…
All that is pure horse shit! I’m convinced there is a ring of thieves, maybe descendents of Al Capone, in O’Hare who have total liberty to steal luggage, sneek it out the airport and sell clothes, etc. to people in Chicago. I can bet that if I go to Chicago I’ll find people wearing my clothes.
I departed a United Flight out of Los Angeles, thru Dulles to Montreal on Sept. 4. Several of us were directed to a particular place to check in even though no ticket attendant was near. We all checked in to different places and had to wait 8-10 minutes for a ticketing agent to check our ID’s and attach our claim tags to our bags. We had to beg someone to come and help us and the guy wasn’t very happy at being called away from his area. Guess what. He put my tag on someone else’s bag. It is now a week and I still haven’t received my bag. It totally ruined a trip in many ways. Even more frustrating, is that United sent a bag (via Air Canada) saying they had found my bag and would bring it up. Well, it arrived the next morning. It was the mistaken bag with my claim check- different color and definitely belonging to someone else. I asked the complaint center (which I understand is in India or Phillapines) to notify Montreal, Dulles and LA regarding the location of my still missing bag. It has orange and white survey ribbon as a big bow on the handle- and is black if anyone sees it. I also asked them to pick up the bag mistakenly taken to my hotel in Montreal. It took them 40 hours to pick up that bag, after repeated calls and a call to the owner of the bag (which I had found by looking at all the tags.) So, I am still searching for my bag. It could be anywhere, but it seems like it should be easy to find who else got the wrong bag who traveled out of LA, during that same time period. That person got my bag.
Please United, I really want my bag. I am sure its the only one out there now with an orange and white bow. This was really incompetence.
United Airlines are racist. Their customer service is so rude to black, asians and other non white people. Fuck you all from your president down to your janitors.
When the United Airline lost my suitcase, what they said was if I cannot prove all the receipts of the properties that my suitcase had, they will not charge anything!!! I lost my suitcase on 14 Nov. 2008. I took United airline to go to Cancun from New Wark, one stop at Washington on 14th. But, when I arrived at Cancun, I received a delayed baggage report, and the United Airline kept saying for three days that my bag was in Washington and they would send it next day. But, after 3days later when my vacation was over (which is today), they change their words that the bag is actually missing! Also, what the United Airline said was if I do not have all the receipts of the properties that my suitcase had, they will not charge anything!!! How can I prove all the receipts that i received as gifts, all the memories with my properties and the metal demage that I had from this horrible trip! please help me if there is anyone knows how to fight with this big monster.. I am so desperated…
I packed my suitcase with all the gifts that I received from my fiance..
Yeah, United sucks bad. We’re on our trip to Boston for Christmas to see my family before I leave for Iraq. All of our shit is in the luggage. Stupid, gullible me assumed that we would just get our things on time. Now, it’s been over 24 hours and and Punjab- Bakahari doesn’t know where the crap my bags are. He actually asked me, “Are you sure they’re not at the front desk? Maybe the last person’s shift ended, and they didn’t check with the next person…” Yes, asshole, I’ve checked five times with the front desk, thank you very much. I’m sure our stuff will get here after Christmas, when we’re ready to leave. Hoo rah!
Really, I second all your comments. The employees at United have stolen my Digital Camera. When I report this to the Customer Support, I’m getting a reply back saying “United is not responsible for any items in the checked in baggage”. What a “crazy” policy the airline has…???
Chicago-OHare nightmare. United Airlines doesn’t care about their passengers. I have been waiting for my bags for FOUR days and have been given the runaround. I have spoken to two reps in India who have no idea where my bags are. I have been lied to. I have been told my bags would arrive on the next flight and I would have them the next day. I have checked at my final destination in Canada, and nobody was willing to help. It is the Christmas season and probably all of the gifts from my family are now in the hands of the United Bagage handlers. They and the company they work for are common criminals.
United airlines sucks!!
They do not have a clue on how to run an airline business. Right from dealing with the winter weather to getting a handle on the baggage, they are a bunch of clowns!
I have been waiting for my bag for over a WEEK now and all they can say it that it will be put on the next flight. I am NEVER going to fly UNITED again.
Yep, same story here,, sux when i was one of only two persons watching the carasol go round and round with my suitcase no where to be seen. At the counter, no problem, so she made it seem.. a quick computer check and she happily determines my bag made it from Toronto to O’hare but never got to my final destination in Houston… but lucky for me there were 3 flights later on and my bag would be delivered to my home… for free.. that was over 24 hours and several flights come and gone.. with no further info being discovered.. and the website not much help either… i picture some goon (unionized for their professionalism and work ethic) sneaking into my bag and discovering the cordless drill i got for xmas, a bottle of wine, new cologne and hence thought he would be a better suitor for such things…. of course that leaves some smaller things and the rest of my stuff in a dumpster.. hope thats not the case.. my favorite shirts! and only two good pair of jeans! dammit… they tell me theres 3 more flights today and call back in another 24 hours if i dont hear from them… need to decide if i should go buy a new toothbrush, electric razor, and if i can resort to doing another day without deodorant.. hmmm im sure i can fill out more United Airlines forms.. but maybe a police report would be better served, if only on principal .. has anyone ever gone that route… or better yet .. if they could just give me the email addresses of those valuedable employees working the ground crew that day.. im sure i could get them to help me… or at least harrass them.. Well it is Chicago.. maybe this is how they are going to spread the wealth