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<p>yeah, and they can have a photo of him dressed entirely in clothes from the school bookstore</p>
<p>Weenie, I’m so sorry, this is certainly not funny, but, I’m reading the latest and just sitting here laughing. I am so sorry to be in such hysterics, collapsed in spasms actually, at your expense.</p>
<p>Maybe in he should just have some clothes for home, and leave everything at school. Perhaps any new clothes should be sent by ups where you can track everything. This is just not to be believed! OMG!</p>
<p>The idea of him dressed entirely in clothes from the bookstore for the photo is really funny! 
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<p>The ironic thing is that I’ve been sort of a “nervous-nelly” about this flying thing. Maybe I can relax now that pretty much everything has gone wrong. At least he’s safe.</p>
<p>By the way - the guy at US Air called Philadelphia the “black hole of US Air luggage.” Might be something handy to keep in mind. (Although it is not clear that either one of his suitcase went through Philly - but they might have.)</p>
<p>Son said he went down to security to alert them about his suitcase and he said there was a truck there from the airport dropping off luggage. His wasn’t on there, but it was probably too soon. (Hope…)</p>
<p>Weenie:</p>
<p>Oh, your poor son! If he can keep his temper through all this, he’ll be equipped for any mishap later on!</p>
<p>So after all of this does your son have a digital image of his luggage and the ID tag to use in your searching?</p>
<p>I live in Philly and we have hassles every time we are forced to fly on THAT airline. Nothing has ever been lost though.</p>
<p>Yay! Suitcase #2 was just delivered to college. :)</p>
<p>Weenie, I am so relieved for you, it is as if he were my own kid! YAY!</p>
<p>Weenie is doing the happy dance right about now. Thanks for the update. This has been a compelling saga. Take some digitals of your luggage and your ID tags…NOW.</p>
<p>Yay! Now there won’t be a naked weenie s on campus :)</p>
<p>Please let us know if the first one ever shows up!</p>
<p>andi,</p>
<p>OH MY GOSH that was funny!</p>
<p>Summer 2004 I went to Germany alone. On the way back, my British Airways flight from Hamburg to London was cancelled. They were able to put me on a Lufthansa flight to Dusseldorf about an hour later. From Dusseldorf I would wait another hour for my flight to London.</p>
<p>For anyone who has done connections in London, you know it can be a pretty crazy experience. Get off the plane, take the bus to the terminal, run through the terminal, go through security, take another bus to international departures, go through security (again)run to your gate. I had about 45 minutes to do all of this. As a 16 year old travelling alone, it was a pretty interesting experience. I managed to get it done with about 5 minutes to spare, and by the time I got on the plane I was exhausted, fell right asleep.</p>
<p>I got back to Detroit and waited…and waited…and waited for my bag. It never came. I filed a claim, and it turned out that when Lufthansa went to transfer the bags from Dusseldorf to the flights in London, they put them all under a single person’s name. So about 30 bags were tagged under one person’s name, and none of these bags ever made it from the airport.</p>
<p>British Airways managed to group these bags by country and ship them back to the U.S. But when they gave them to FedEx, they just stuck any old sticker on the bag, so I ended up getting a bag from someone else and having to send it back. This happened two or three times before I was finally able to get my bag back about 1.5 weeks later.</p>
<p>I looked into it quite a bit when I got home. British Airways paid x international money units per pound in your bag, and they had a chart on their site telling conversion rates from their international money unit to every kind of currency. You should really look into this and see what the airline pays per pound. $150 sounds extremely low for all of a person’s clothes.</p>
<p>dsmo:
International reimbursement does go by the pound. Domestic travel is supposed to be up to $2800/bag (at least on US Air). When I filled out the claim it was for $2100. </p>
<p>I have no idea why they sent me $150. It seemed to be in response to my demanding that they pay me immediately to replace his ski jacket, hat, and mittens (all on a $260 reciept that I faxed to them). How they arrived at $150 I have no idea.</p>
<p>Anyway, I haven’t cashed the check as I am fully anticipating some kind of better settlement than that! But who knows? Since I never can talk to anyone who knows anything!!! </p>
<p>I’ve sent them numerous letters, the last one demanding that in addition to my claim they refund me for the whole screwed up ticket too. Ha! Fat chance.</p>
<p>Sounds like your bag had quite an adventure - and all in a week and a half!</p>
<p>The saga continues…</p>
<p>I just got a call from some guy at America West. For some reason, they’ve taken over all of US Air’s stuff. He wants me to start the claims process all over again!!!</p>
<p>9 weeks. Wow.</p>
<p>weenie…that is just ludicrous. so sorry…oy!</p>
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<p>All the more reason to pack a textbook!</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>I just received a check from US Air for $1633. My claim was $2120, but due to “insurance depreciation” and items they won’t cover, that’s what I get. It took 10 weeks!!!</p>
<p>No one ever thinks that an airline is going to permanently LOSE their stuff. But, believe me, it happens. Anyway, here is what I’ve learned from the incident, maybe it will help someone else:</p>
<p>1) Barge right in, and LOOK at the tracking thing that has been attached to your suitcase. Is it going to the right place? Does it have your name on it? Especially important for checking in at kiosks - and the employee comes out with a hand full of tickets to attach to several different people’s luggage.</p>
<p>2) Make sure you could re-create a complete list of what is in your bag.</p>
<p>3) Be aware of what things they will not cover on a claim. For starters: money, documents, jewelry, furs, antiques, medications (!), glasses, electronic equipment, musical instruments, anything they deem fragile. (If your kid travels with an expensive musical instrument get an appraisal in writing and buy a cheap rider for your homeowners’.)</p>
<p>4) You will be asked to provide receipts for any items over $100. (Good luck with that.)</p>
<p>5) If you can’t replace it – don’t check it. Period. Look at your stuff as you pack and ask yourself, how would I feel if I never saw this again?</p>
<p>6) If your bag is missing for 4 days file a claim at once. Make sure your estimates of costs of things are VERY GENEROUS as you will not be able to replace your stuff for what they pay you.</p>
<p>7) Don’t bother trying to call them or otherwise talk to them about your missing luggage. Most likely you will be talking to someone in India and they know nothing. If you contact someone here (good luck with that) they are completely helpless.</p>
<p>8) Baggage tags or labels inside your suitcase might not matter at all. One baggage guy actually told me that luggage could sit there “for weeks” before anybody might open it up, but more likely, no one will ever open it, they’ll just sell it. (I’ll still put one inside, but really, it’s hopeless.)</p>
<p>9) Avoid US Air like the plague.</p>
<p>I hope this will help someone if this happens to them.</p>
<p>Now I see Northwest is getting ready to strike. Guess who bought tickets to get son home for March break on them? Yikes. This flying kids all over is a pain in the neck.</p>
<p>I sent your post on to my son. He has a ticket on NW for mid March as well. : ) With KLM and NW we have had late bags but never lost ones. But you never never know.</p>
<p>What a mess!</p>