United Airlines + O’Hare = Lost Luggage

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.