Airline lost his luggage

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>My son flew out this morning to the Hot Springs Festival. His flight on American was delayed 2 1/2 hours, so they were able to get him a seat on a United flight to Chicago that arrived only 1/2 later than his original flight. </p>

<p>All his other connections through St Louis and to Little Rock were on the original American itinerary. He specifically asked at the departing airport if he should claim his luggage in Chicago, or would it automatically be transferred to the American connector. They told him it was automatic.</p>

<p>He called an hour ago from Little Rock. They lost his luggage. At this point, they have no idea where it is, or which carrier is at fault. To add insult to injury, they charged him an additional $50 for the bag being 10 pounds overweight.</p>

<p>Any experience, suggestions? All his performing clothes, daily wear, toiletries, music stand, extra glasses were in that bag. What is the standard time frame before you have an idea when it may appear, or what the time frame is for reimbursement if it doesn't? Is it reasonable to assume some sort of freebie (free domestic round trip, first class return flight?) is in order?</p>

<p>My wife and I have limited flying experience; the kids have far more and this is the first time the issue has arisen. Any thoughts, advice is welcome.</p>

<p>At least he has his instrument.</p>

2

<p>In most cases, the luggage will show up within a few hours to a day later and will be delivered to its owner at his/her location. I've had this happen a few times and it's definitely inconvenient, so I also usually travel with essentials, including one change of clothing (or at least one change of underclothing) in my carry on. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, my worst experience was with American where the bag disappeared totally for 7 weeks, probably in Miami. I had to keep on them about the issue and was following procedures for reimbursement when it showed up. Unfortunately a few items were missing from the bag and I was never able to get enough cooperation to get reimbursed for the missing items. I also heard another sad American story from a friend whose bag was stolen, maybe from the carousel?, and was found near a dumpster with contents dumped. Some of the contents came home but I don't know what portion. The big thing is to stay on the story with American personnel until something gets resolved.</p>

<p>Hopefully, he'll have his bag soon!</p>

3

<p>I've had this happen too many times. Politely demand that they waive the $50 overage penalty now that it's been lost. It has to be delivered to you w/in 24 hrs. unless it's in another state of course. I've usually received mine after midnight. And I've never been successful in getting anything complimentary as a result of this mishap.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

4

<p>Since your S is at a festival, it might help if you or your wife took over the nagging, which seems to be an essential part of getting luggage back. My S's luggage was several days delayed when a snowstorm put him on a different itinerary. He was still in HS and his books were in his suitcase. He called them all the time (we were overseas; he was living with relatives, so he had to do it all himself. He was actually flying back to the US after Christmas break). When they finally located it, they were going to deliver it the next day. He said no, he had school the next day, he needed it now. They delivered it at 11 p.m. that night -- about 3 days after it was lost. But he had to keep after them. There was no remuneration of any kind, but he didn't ask for any, either. You might be able to get some money to pay for lost or delayed toiletries and a change of clothes. But not knowing which airline to blame is a problem. I imagine they will all claim innocence until proven guilty!</p>

<p>I hope it shows up soon.</p>

5

<p>We travel quite frequently and this happens more often than you would think, especially if there is a change in the itinerary. We have found that our wayward luggage is usually delivered within 24 hours, but on occasion it has taken up to 4 or 5 days. Fortunately, we have never had something go permanently missing, so we haven't had to file claims.</p>

<p>My daughter has had a couple of very annoying luggage issues connected with her music travels. On the one audition she was going to do by herself, the airline lost her luggage, which contained her audition clothing, music, reed-making equipment. (She must check luggage because of the knives and razor blades.) She was completely stressed out, and neither my husband nor I was with her to at least run out to a store to buy her a new outfit. Her luggage was delivered to her one hour before the audition. Then last summer, as she returned home from her summer program, her overweight luggage went missing. She had less than a week to get ready to leave for school, and her luggage probably contained over 75% of the clothes she owned. I was dreading the idea of shopping for a whole new wardrobe before she went to school, but fortunately the luggage showed up a couple of days before she left.</p>

<p>Don't start to panic until 4 or 5 days go by. As far as compensation for the hassle, don't count on it.</p>

6

<p>Well, they delivered his lost luggage at about noon local time there. Unfortunately, he spent $140 on replacement toiletries, and 2 days change of clothes.</p>

<p>He'll see if he can get the overweight fee credited and maybe a bump up to first class for the return trip as compensation. I'm going to assume there's no reimbursement for his out of pocket expenses to cover what he bought, but he's going to try. </p>

<p>On a seperate note, how do your kids pack for camps/festivals when traveling by air? Depending on the program, these can run 1-6 weeks. While there may be laundry facilities available, there is often little time to do more than a load with the constraints of timing. The one weekers are usually not an issue, but this is the first two weeker he's had to go by air; the others have been within a days drive, and he's able to even throw a cooler, a supply of food, a fan in his truck and be well supplied.</p>

<p>Also, what's your experience with 2 pieces of luggage plus an instrument? Isn't handling and schlepping through the airport/ground transport more trouble than it's worth with the extra bag?</p>

<p>I'm just curious. Maybe he can get some tips from other's experiences.</p>

<p>I don't expect any reply bassists, cellists and harpists to respond. You poor people have enough problems.</p>

7

<p>violadad: Have you ever seen the guys at high school/college music festivals? Outside of their performance attire, they all seem to have the same "uniform" of khaki/tan shorts and grayish or faded navy t-shirts with flip flops or birkenstocks. Minimal laundry required for this wardrobe. All the clothes are basically the same color, so one quick load a week usually does the trick.</p>

<p>I've found towels and bed linens to be the most difficult things to deal with when they're flying, and several times have shipped ahead some cheap stuff from Walmart and told my son just to donate it to someone who had room to take them home. Nobody probably wanted them, though, because I'm pretty sure he doesn't think it's necessary to wash sheets or towels in that short a time. I always pack a bottle of Febreeze, so maybe he doesn't actually smell too bad after the first week! I noticed that the festival he's attending this summer has a linen rental service, with towels, sheets, blanket, and pillow for $20.00 for 5 weeks.</p>

<p>Glad to hear violason's luggage was recovered. Let us know how he likes Hot Springs. My son has several friends who've gone there in past years, and their reviews have been mixed. I like the fact that it's a short festival and still leaves a reasonable amount of time for a summer job.</p>

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<p>Glad to hear your son got his luggage back!</p>

<p>We don't have experience of traveling to music festivals/programs, although my D will go to her first short program this summer. </p>

<p>But I do have 12+ years of experience with international travel with young children. All of that experience is pre-9/11, however, so I would have to do some things differently today. The watchword is pack light. No matter how inconvenient laundry facilities and schedules were, I only planned to carry one week of clothing with me. Even for 6 weeks at a time, unless we were traveling to different climates within our trip (as we did one year in March/April- spring-like Tokyo to sunny, hot Arizona, to snowy Upper Peninsula Michigan, to late winter PA). </p>

<p>These are some things I always did: </p>

<p>-Mix & match outfits, stain & wrinkle-resistant fabrics- I would hang them carefully and wear them more times than normal unless they were truly dirty or yucky from hot, humid days without air conditioning</p>

<p>-wash out underclothing and/or shirts by hand if I got desperate due to lack of laundry facilities. (keep a little powdered soap for this)</p>

<p>-I always carried my toiletries in carry-on. It's a little harder now, with the restrictions, but you'd better believe that I would never get on board an airplane without toothpaste, never, ever would I get on an airplane without a guarantee of having toothpaste available to me (sorry, that's a jab on last summer's restrictions imposed just days before my girls were due to fly back from Tokyo!). I'd carry on anything I could that would pass inspection and sigh at having to check the rest. I once had to buy a hairdryer when my suitcase didn't arrive and the hotel didn't have hairdryers. Had my cosmetic case though! And after that experience, I learned to pack the next day's clothes in carry-on. I wore jeans and a t-shirt to a medical conference where the expected dress was at least business casual (no time to go shopping- the only thing open in Milwaukee on Sunday evening was the pharmacy).</p>

<p>-Any non-replaceable (or not easily replaceable) documents-in the case of a musician- sheet music, etc go on board with me. </p>

<ul>
<li>With mix/match clothing, I was also able to keep the number of pairs of shoes to a minimum- usually one pair of casual and one pair of dress shoes. Sometimes inconvenient for a woman, but hey, when you're also schlepping your baby's stroller, car seat, diaper bag, etc through O'Hare from the international terminal to the domestic terminal every little bit of luggage reduction helps!</li>
</ul>

<p>For musicians, I would probably also carry on performance wear- tuxes, gowns, etc. </p>

<p>In general, anything that would cause the show not go on as planned if it was delayed in lost luggage should be carried on unless it is absolutely against airline rules to do so. I am very glad to have followed my own rules on this when my luggage got lost on a trip to South America. I was sharing one large suitcase with a team member so we could use the rest of our luggage allowance for project materials. She packed her thick binder with vital information in that suitcase. I took mine carry on- good thing, because if both binders had been lost, our part of the project would have been dead in the water. </p>

<p>Mentioning my girls' trip to Tokyo does remind me that my one D did travel with one suitcase, her backpack, and her violin last year- for a 7 week stay. Another thing we have done when we know we want to bring back more than we took is to pack an empty duffel in the suitcase. On the way home, clothing and unbreakables get packed in the duffel, and more delicate items go in the suitcase.</p>

<p>These are just a few travel ideas I've used over the years- basically pack light, and take as many essentials on board as are practical and/or allowed.</p>

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<p>That's good news violadad! Oh, I play the viola too! :>)</p>

10

<p>DS has been away for many summers. For the air trips, he takes two rolling suitcases, and his instrument case which has backpack straps. He also has a shoulder strap case which holds his music. He carries the instrument bag and music case on the plane and puts enough toiletries and his medication in the music bag. The rest goes in the luggage. He "could" carry his tux etc on the plane, but if it's a choice between the instrument case and the clothes, the instruments win...and the airlines only allow one "carryon" bag...so the instruments win. Re: packing. He packs very light...takes only the essentials. He has never had trouble finding time to do his laundry at festivals (he's been gone between 4 and 6 weeks...this year he'll be gone 9 weeks). Agree with above poster who noted that the kids do not dress "varied or fancy" for these events. In my opinion, the hardest things to pack are shampoo and laundry detergent. We will send those in a fixed rate Priority Mailing box. Towels and sheets go on a one way trip...we use old ones and do not want them to come home. This year, DS does not need to take a pillow or blanket, as those are provided. That will help because they are bulky but needed. He has never had trouble moving two suitcases and his instruments and music around himself.</p>

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<p>Yea! Glad the suitcases showed up. Let us know how it goes seeking reimbursement.</p>

<p>S has an extra challenge for his 8-week summer festival in California this summer. He will first be spending 8 days in Korea, and flying to California directly from there. So not only does he have to pack for an 8 week festival, but he has to carry it to Korea first! And he will do it with one suitcase, and no carryon. (His horn is his carryon.) His horn is quite heavy on his back (back pack), and the transportation in Korea is limiting him to one suitcase. (He is going with his quintet, and their sponsors don't want to deal with too much luggage.)</p>

<p>Some of the clothing needs overlap, but not all. Needs white jacket for CA, black tux for Korea, for example. Shorts and sandals not needed in Korea.</p>

<p>We are shipping a box of sheets, towels, blankets, pillow, and music (and a few other things) to California, soon, and I envision needing at least one more box. I gave him old towels and sheets and blanket, and told him to donate them to Goodwill when he is done. He will still need to figure out how to ship some things home. We hope to go out and visit him, and will probably take more stuff that he has discovered he needs, and/or take an empty suitcase that he can bring back so he doesn't have to ship. We will also bring back some stuff (like the black tux) the he doesn't need there. We may take him his laptop, if he decides he needs it in CA - Doesn't want to have to keep track of it in Korea. </p>

<p>He is very flexible, and will make do or do without if necessary. (He spent the entire school year in his apartment with a thin mattress on the floor, a card table, a folding chair, and a plastic storage bin. He really doesn't need much.) If there are stores nearby, he'll buy stuff. Otherwise, I envision some care packages. (The $8+ flat rate box is our standby.)</p>

<p>I'm glad Thumper mentioned hair dryer. I offered him our European hairdryer for Korea, but he turned it down - is counting on the Hilton he's staying in to have them. But I never thought about a hair dryer for CA. My S has long hair, so it's a necessity. Need to get one into the box.</p>

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<p>The instrument always is his carry on, so this eliminates any chance of having your carry-on serve for the toiletries and a change or two. He must have overpacked, having gotten used to driving to most of his other festivals. The performance dress for this festival was black shirt and pants, so the tux wasn't an issue. If he had traveled with the tux, all the performance dress would have been in the suit flight bag. </p>

<p>He paid an additional fee for the linen service so as not to have to bring any.
He's done the "one-way" linens before. He adheres to the khaki & t-shirt dress code but opts for sneakers as footwear.</p>

<p>For all I know, he could have had 2 cases of soda and 15 books in the suitcase.</p>

<p>Thanks for the suggestions. It doesn't appear he's doing much differently than those who posted, and he's been to more of these than I can count.</p>

13

<p>I wonder if the size of plane has anything to do with how much carry on gets by. Last year when D went to Tokyo she was allowed to carry on both her backpack and her violin, but this was a 12 hour flight on a 747.</p>

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<p>I remember him flying with two carry-ons for a few non-music related programs, but I'm sure those were pre 9/11. The current limit from all that I've researched is one carry-on per person. </p>

<p>His philosophy is that he will not board the flight if they insist on checking the instrument as luggage.</p>

<p>And he never tells them it's a viola, but rather a violin, (as much as this pains him) as most airline employees will recognize "violin", but think any other string instrument is a doublebass and insist on the cargo hold.</p>

<p>He's never had a problem (yet) getting the case in the overhead, but the case is definately longer, deeper and wider than the standard single violin case. He's yet to fly with both his violas or viola/violin combo.</p>

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<p>Here's Northwest's policy, copied and pasted from their website:</p>

<p>Northwest allows you to carry one piece of luggage on board the aircraft plus a purse or briefcase or laptop computer or small backpack. The carry-on luggage must be of a size and shape to allow for storage in overhead compartments or underneath the seat in front of you.</p>

<p>Dimensions:</p>

<pre><code>* Cannot exceed 45 linear inches (9 inches by 14 inches by 22 inches)

</code></pre>

<p>It does go on to list the the carriers using small planes that require you to check the carry on. But generally, it appears that an instrument AND a "small' backpack could be carried on. Probably means a basic bookpack style backpack.</p>

<p>Other carriers may have a different policy; this just happens to be the carrier we've used most frequently.</p>

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<p>Women get one carry-on and a purse... I would suggest that these kids start carrying a purse of some sort that has the ziplock full of 3oz or less toiletries and an extra pair of boxers and socks... I wonder if anyone would challenge a small additional carry-on if it was described as a purse upon inquiry...</p>

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<p>FiddleMom and I had similar thoughts... I think the guys can add a small backpack or other messanger bag.</p>

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<p>FiddleMom- Northwest's is the clearest policy that I recall seeing. Without rechecking the major carriers, I'm remembering one carry-on and a purse, but if they're going to allow one carryon and a purse or purse substitute (laptop, briefcase, backpack or messenger bag) then he should be fine. </p>

<p>As I said, it's been awhile since I've flown, and those were the pre 9/11 days.</p>

19

<p>It's usually considered one carry-on and one "personal item." We fly a lot, and it is common to see business men with a fairly large carry-on and a large computer case. Much bigger than any purse I've ever had!</p>

<p>My H travels with a computer case and a back pack. When my mom flew down here last week, she had a carry-on, a cloth tote carrying a fragile gift, and her purse. The ticket agent asked her to hook her purse onto her cloth tote so that whe would officially have only two items. My mom's purse was small, and she had intended to slip it into her carry-on, and forgot.</p>

<p>The old (pre 911) intrument standard was that it was in addition to the normal allowance. But since then, it's gotten a lot more difficult, and neither of my kids has tried to carry their instrument in addition to another carry-on. Not worth the risk. As it is, we've had to argue a few times. My D wears a backpack that her purse fits inside. This is in addition to her violin. My S often has his horn (in a back pack case) and his laptop as his two items.</p>

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<p>Son has gotten pretty good at packing for summer and taking planes. He plays cello so he has to check that and find a way to manage all of his stuff in the airport as well. He has a large rolling duffle from Land's End that works quite well. He can stuff it with lots of things including sheets and towels if necessary. Dress clothes get laid on the top at the very end. He checks his duffle and cello. He then packs another small duffle with his laptop and any other electronic things. He uses extra clothes or towels for padding. He takes the smaller duffle and his back pack on the plane. </p>

<p>When he gets where he is going, he backpacks his cello and attaches his backpack to his duffle. He can then pull the one duffle and carry the other. He has learned to live "lite" in the summer for the most part. Doing laundry has not been a problem when needed.</p>