CADman-Do: Be It Ever So Humble, There’s No Bag Like My Own

Here is the final installment in the great luggage saga. Bear with me here, because there is a payoff at the end.

When last sighted, my luggage was still in Ottawa. According to Ms. Stephanie McNeal at American’s lost baggage office in Dallas, Texas, my bag was scheduled to depart Ottawa at 6:20am this morning, Tuesday, April 17 and would arrive in Orlando, Florida at 10:20am. Once it arrived, it would be sent on to my hotel.

At a little before 1pm, I checked with the front desk at the hotel to see if my bag had yet arrived. It had not. I then called American Airlines’ lost baggage office in Dallas to inquire again about the status of my bag. The agent assured me that my bag had indeed arrived in Orlando. In fact, the flight arrived early at 10:05am. My bag would be sent within the hour to my hotel.

At 6pm, I checked again at the front desk before going over to the evening’s scheduled event. My bag was still not here.

At 10:15pm, having left the Autodesk party, I went back to the front desk at the hotel. My bag had not yet arrived. So I called American Airlines’ lost baggage office once again, and spoke with Ms. Kathy Taylor. I prefaced the conversation by apologizing in advance to Ms. Taylor in the event that I became irate. I then proceeded to explain to her the litany of my luggage:

I had checked my bag with Alaska Airlines at 8am on Wednesday, April 11.
My United Airlines flight from Chicago to Ottawa on April 11 having been cancelled, I was transferred to American Airlines, whose flight was also subsequently cancelled.
I spent the night at a hotel near O’Hare Airport at my client’s expense, then returned to O’Hare the next morning and boarded an American Airlines flight which was subsequently delayed more than 30 minutes.
I arrived late in Ottawa to discover my bag was missing, but could not leave the airport until filing a missing luggage claim. I therefore arrived 35 minutes late for my second presentation of the day, having already missed my first presentation entirely.
I then returned to Ottawa Airport to find that my American Airlines flight back to Chicago was delayed more than 30 minutes.
After arriving in Chicago 30 minutes late, the plane sat on the tarmac for an additional 35 minutes, causing me to nearly miss my flight to Phoenix.
After arriving in Phoenix late Thursday night, April 12, American Airlines located my bag in Ottawa on Friday morning, but failed to do anything about it.
On Friday, American Airlines confirmed that my bag was in Ottawa, but failed to ship the bag to me in Phoenix.
On Saturday, American Airlines again confirmed that my bag was in Ottawa, but again failed to ship the bag to me in Phoenix.
Having missed the last opportunity to get the bag to me while I was still in Phoenix, American Airlines “promised” that the bag would be shipped on Sunday morning to Orlando Airport so that it would be there when I arrived later that day.
After failing to ship the bag to Orlando on Sunday, American Airlines “promised” once again that the bag would be sent to my hotel in Orlando on Monday.
After failing to get the bag to me on Monday, American Airlines “promised” once again that my bag would arrive in Orlando on Tuesday morning.
My bag DID in fact arrive in Orlando on Tuesday morning, yet 12 hours later had still not arrived at my hotel.
At 10:45pm, after having just gotten off the phone with Ms. Taylor at American Airlines, a delivery person came through the front door of the Buena Vista Palace Hotel in Orlando, Florida with my bag. I was still standing in front of the Guest Services counter when he arrived.

I have no idea why it took more than 12 hours to deliver the bag. I have no idea why it took more than 5 days to get the bag from Ottawa to Orlando.

I know only this. I have my suitcase once again. I now have 10 days worth of clean clothes, although I’ll only be here in Orlando for 2 more days. And I will never fly American Airlines again.