Thanks for the bag, Air Canada - too bad it didn't come to me! (long)

The BBQ Pit
1

So I just got back from Europe on Saturday. I normally don’t check bags. Call it paranoia, call it foresight, call it whatever you want. Unfortunately, in Milan, Lufthansa (AC’s Star Alliance partner) will only allow one carry on per person. Hard choice - laptop bag or roll-aboard? OK, not so hard a choice. The laptop stays with me.

Connect through Frankfurt, and then Montreal back home to Ottawa. I have one and a half hours to connect in Frankfurt, and an hour 20 in Montreal. I make the connection in Frankfurt no problem, get into Montreal, and go to the baggage carousel to wait for the roll-aboard, since in Canada, you have to recheck when you’re coming from an international to a domestic flight. No problem. Wait. Wait. Wait. No bag. Finally, 45 minutes later, get paged, and informed that my bag didn’t make the connection in Frankfurt.

Excuse me? In this day and age of “positive bag match”, you drunk monkeys knew the second that plane left Frankfurt my bag wasn’t on it! You couldn’t let me know when I got to Montreal? Fuck. Lost bag form for AC, lost bag form for customs, stamp here, go there, get another stamp, 15 more minutes gone. Did I mention the hour 20 minute connection time in Montreal? Now it’s 20 minutes. Run through security for the next terminal, run through the tunnel to get there (moving walkway broken), get to the gate for my Ottawa flight, and find the flight’s delayed. Oh well, at least I made the connection.

It gets even better now. Arrive in Ottawa, and go to the lost baggage window. No one there. Bang the counter and yell “Hellllooooo!” a few times. Finally a guy comes to the counter and we fill out another lost bag form. I give my address, and try to explain that I live in a basement apartment, and the delivery person will need to go to the side door down the steps and knock loud, because the doorbell doesn’t work. He interrupts me, and says that the delivery company will ask that when they call. Fine. Just find the bag and get it to me, soon, please.

Sunday. No call, no bag. Monday, go to work, no shave, because my shaving stuff is in the lost bag. Get home, message from AC - they found it. Great. Call them back, and get informed that the delivery company has the bag and will call to set up a time to deliver. Again, I try to give directions to my door, and get told that the delivery company will ask about that. Fine.

7 PM, no call. 8 PM, no call. 9 PM, no call, 10 PM, no call, decide they’re not coming and go to bed. At 10:15 PM, the phone rings. It’s the guy who lives upstairs, on the third floor of the main part of the house. He has my bag. WTF?

Apparently, at around 7 PM, the delivery company arrived, and started ringing doorbells out front. Luckily they got my friend, and he was home. He comes downstairs, opens the door, gets handed my bag, and told “Air Canada, here’s your bag.” No signature required.

I ask you, what if I hadn’t known this guy, and my bag had been given to some random stranger?

Thanks again, Air Canada. Pig fuckers.

At least I have my bag back.

2

Welp, on the bright side, at least they handed it to SOMEONE.

The last time they lost my bag, I was travelling from Barcelona to Toronto, with transfers in Paris and Montreal. My bag didn’t make it out of Paris. From there, it was sent to Montreal, where it languished for several days until I called them to ask where the fuck my bag was… apparently, someone had misunderstood my statement of “You will FIND my bag, asshole, and BRING it to my DOOR with the contents intact and accounted for” to mean “Bringing my bag to me would be such a fuss for you… please don’t worry, I’ll drive 5 hours each way to pick it up myself instead”. Perfectly understandable, since the two sentences are really so similar.

So finally, a week after this wonderful customer service experience, my doorbell rings in the early evening. I guess I didn’t manage to get to the door as quickly as they’d liked, obviously, because by the time I opened the door (all of 2 minutes later) all I could see was a set of tail lights zipping towards the end of the block and my bag sitting on the front step.

Golly gee, I can’t wait to fly Air Canada with checked baggage again.

3

My sympathies. I traveled to Sydney, NS on Air Canada. They lost my bag on the way back, but I felt pretty grateful, because my colleagues’ bags (two different people) were lost both on the way to and from Sydney. They had to buy new clothes since it took days for the bags to finally show up.

4

On behalf of everyone who has ever been in the position of being the bearer of bad news, go fuck yourself. There’s no goddamn excuse for treating a baggage claim agent with such fucking contempt. He or she wasn’t the one who fucked up across the globe and failed to load your underwear.

5

I flew from Vancouver to Halifax on Air Canada last Christmas, with a plane change in Toronto. The flight was long, and with a delay in Toronto, we didn’t get to Halifax until close to midnight. I stood there waiting for the little carousel to bring my bag around - waited…waited…waited…no bag. Finally I went to the desk and asked about it, and the lady was like “oh yeah, we left some bags in Toronto”. Apparently they couldn’t fit all the luggage on the plane because so many passengers had large bags or two bags because of Christmas. So they just picked a bunch of random bags to leave behind.

And didn’t bother to tell anyone. No announcement, no nothing. They knew 2 hours ago that those bags weren’t going to Halifax, but they let us stand around an empty carousel for half an hour at midnight just 'cause they knew thats how we got our kicks.

They did deliver it the next day, but still. Fuckers. I fly WestJet whenever I can. If they lose your bag you get $50 - and you better believe they do it less often.

6

Surely not. It is never the fault of anyone that your bag doesn’t show up with you when you arrive at your destination. What nerve a person must have to expect that airlines will deliver them and their bags to the destination at the same time. Even though you’ve been up for 24 hours and had your genitals manipulated by complete strangers at multiple redundant security checks, and you’ve been sitting in a seat better fitted for toddlers with a screaming toddler kicking the back of your seat your entire trip, and are completely dehydrated because the airlines provide minimal water and you aren’t allowed to bring your own anymore, god forbid you are a little snarky with some nameless clerk (because the people who are actually responsible will never show their faces and are hiding thousands of miles away) when you find out that they can’t do the simple fucking task of making sure your bag ends up on the same bloody plane that you do. The nerve of some customers! Who the hell do they think they are paying money and expecting proper service in return?

7

Isn’t is somewhere in the fine print when you buy your ticket that weight and space restrictions on the aircraft may mean that your bag will be sent to your destination on a later flight? It’s pretty typical, especially on small planes. It was a factor in the Air Midwest Flight 5481 crash: Air Midwest Flight 5481 - Wikipedia **

Not that that makes things suck less when you don’t get your bag at the other end, though. A friend of mine had her bag lost on her way to England this past year (actually lost - it was sent to Germany or something, she got it back 2 weeks after her trip), then was pickpocketed in Belgium (unrelated to plane flight, but still shitty), then had her liquor, which she purchased in the Duty-Free zone, taken out of her bags by the TSA during her transfer in Philly, so she didn’t even have that to drink when she got home from the crappiest trip ever. Oh, and the reason she went on the trip? Her boyfriend of 8 years dumped her on their anniversary, and she wanted to see her mom.

Luckily, I’ve had nothing but good experiences with Air Canada, and with other airlines I’ve taken. I hope I’m lucky enough for that to continue! Security at Seattle airport, however…!
** I mean the plane was overweight due to faulty assumptions about passenger and luggage weight.

8

Well, on the plus side, my porn, cocaine and heroin were all still there :slight_smile:

9

Apparently the Frankfurt airport is notoriously bad for this problem - my boss travels through there often an always books at least a 3 hour stopover - it doesn’t matter which airline he’s flown on - I guess they all suck.

I find this surprising as I would have thought a German airport would be more efficent, but there you go.

Of course that has nothing to do with the doof that dropped of your bag (or the counter doof, or any of the other doofs. AirCanada sucks monkey balls.)

10

Excuse the fuck out of you for putting words in my mouth, first of all.

Second of all, yeah, what fucking nerve of some customers to take out their hostility on someone who had absolutely nothing to do with their plight. Nothing you describe even remotely justifies being such a blatant asshole to a baggage claim agent.

Were I the manager on duty witnessing you treating one of my front line staff in this manner, I’d gladly tell you so, and kindly suggest you take your pompous ass and all its future business elsewhere.

11

Here’s a hint: Don’t lose the bag then there won’t be any hostility. Another hint: People won’t take so much carry-on if the damn airlines won’t lose your bags. So, another problem would be solved. It is a simple thing to do. Person has a barcode on their ticket. That ticket is associated with X amount of bags who have tags with barcodes. The database should match up the passenger and the bags on the plane. Doesn’t match? Find out why. Fix. Done. Happy customer. Case closed and no bitching at nameless clerks.
Pompous ass for being upset after flying all night and being bitchy? Yeah, right. It should be anticipated that people will be upset if this happens and steps should be taken to ensure the customer is not unduly put out by the airline’s fuckup.

12

Uzi, I think his point was that it’s not possible to scream at anyone even remotely culpable for the loss of your baggage once you’re dealing with clerk-level employees at the destination airport, and maybe just maybe those clerks don’t deserve to be screamed at for something that’s not remotely their fault even though they happen to wear the same uniform as the people whose fault it is.

13

Here’s a hint: the baggage claim clerk was in no way, shape or form personally responsible for the loss of your bag. Ergo, he/she deserves ZERO hostility. Clearly, you are upset about it. No one’s happy about losing their luggage. But that person was neither the idiot who failed to load it onto the flight or your therapist. Yelling at them like a toddler who can’t have a sucker isn’t going to do jack shit to help the problem, and only makes you look like a jackass.

No, pompous ass for shooting the messenger. Pompous ass for feeling like you have the right to say things like “You will FIND my bag, asshole, and BRING it to my DOOR with the contents intact and accounted for.” It’s anticipated that people will be upset. But you know what? Even when you’re upset, you have no right to act like a condescending dick to the guy whose job is to help you solve the problem.

14

Clearly, you’ve never flown Air Canada. They have no interest in helping you solve the problem. I went to university out east and had lots of opportunity to fly with them. (I preferred Canadian, back when they still existed) They’re jerks. All of them.
Okay, quite possibly not all of them. But I would say 90% of the ticketing agents, counter agents and flight attendents that I encountered were surly and nasty.
So now I fly WestJet. I will pay MORE to fly WestJet. Their staff are friendly and helpful. That’s not to say I’ve never encountered a problem with them - stuff happens. But when it does - a smiling face that’s willing to help goes a very, very long way.

15

The baggage claim clerk is the representative of the company that lost your bag. Ergo, they certainly do deserve your hostility. If the clerk doesn’t want to continue to receive your hostility he should transfer the message up the line until someone who can do something about it actually does do something about it. If you don’t like taking abuse because your company doesn’t care about its customers, then get another job. I personally wouldn’t want to work for such people.

16

The problem is, you’re the exception rather than the rule, and most people are civil when they’re upset.

And no, they certainly don’t deserve your hostility. You can make it clear how upset you are without being a condescending jackass.

17

I can tell you who I wouldn’t want to work for: You. It is stupid – and massively meanspirited and ultimately counterproductive to operations – to contend that that anyone who is an agent for the monolithic corporation you are pissed at should be the mute and willing receptacle for your abuse, with complete disregard as to whether (a) they bear any personal responsibility for your problem or (b) they personally can do anything about your problem.

The customer is not always right. Specifically, the customer is not right at any time they are swearing at or otherwise abusing your employees. I agree with the management of Southwest Air, who quite bluntly inform abusive customers that they can take their business elsewhere. There is no inalienable right to be an asshole.

18

Is there a right to expect my luggage to arrive the same week I do, with all contents intact? Is there a right to expect something more from the only company representative I’ll get to meet face to face than “Sorry, I don’t know what to tell you?” If you are an agent of a “monolithic corporation” you represent said “monolithic corporation”, which means that you get the smiles and thank yous when things go right, and the angry customers when things go wrong. Unless you tell everyone that says “Good job, thanks!” that you certainly don’t deserve it, suck it up. You are up there to act as a buffer for those who screw up and don’t want to face the customer-the sooner you realize this, the better off you’ll be.

19

No one is saying that you shouldn’t expect your luggage to arrive with you (even though most airlines will point out in their policies that this is not a guarantee). No one is saying that you shouldn’t be upset.

I’m saying that if you can’t be upset in a civil manner towards a person who had little to nothing to do with the actual loss of your bag, then you’re a jackass. If you can’t refrain from treating frontline employees like shit just because the company they work for made a mistake, then you’re an asshole.

99% of the time, your bags will arrive with you, and you won’t think anything of it. For those whose luggage doesn’t arrive with them, the vast majority are understanding that “shit happens,” and don’t cause a scene, because they know better than to check anything that they might have to go without for a short period. Even the majority of those who are upset know how to remain civil and understand that the baggage claim agent is there to help them solve the problem.*

But the asses who feel the need to be condescending, rude, and treat frontline employees as if they were dirt? Those are the people who get laughed about once they leave. And, barring any legal obligations, the ones who suddenly take the lowest priority. As most of us who have survived for a long time in the service industry will tell you, the best way to get good customer service is to be a good customer.

*This is not to say that some front line employees aren’t idiots. Some are. You should treat them with the same level of intelligence and respect as they treat you. This also applies to anyone who says “I don’t know what to tell you?” That’s always a cop-out, and if someone wants to cop-out, then feel free to be a dick. But you shouldn’t go into the situation assuming “they lost my goddamn bag, they’re too stupid to find it, and me yelling like an idiot is going to be at all productive.”

20

What’s it called when the only person available to complain to is not responsible for your problem and has no power to fix it? Oh, yeah-“Customer Service”.
If my luggage arrives late, with clothes tossed and items missing, what I want is the name of someone with the power to do something as soon as possible, not “I’m sorry, sir-but we are not responsible for your luggage. Would you like to fill out this form?” I know where that damn form is going to end up, just like I know that the low-level employee is not going to go to his supervisor and say “Gee boss, I’ve got a bunch of reports of luggage not arriving intact, and some of them look like they’ve been broken into. Maybe someone should check to see if we’ve got some dishonest luggage handlers.”