Friday the 15th was the Day of Hell

[benthewraith]

Posted on another site from Gateworld, this is my account of the Friday the 15th of Hell. This in no way refers to anything religious of sorts, I just meant this is the most unfortunate time of the year.

This is a multidirectional rage, some against mistakes made by me, some against mistakes made by Southwest Airlines, some against the Baggage Claim distributors of Philadelphia International Airport, some against just the Friday of Hell.

Perhaps some of you don't care, and I'm not expecting that you do...some may think I'm stupid, hey, I was in a rush. I grabbed a suitcase that looked 99.9% like mine. So I call Southwest Airlines and inform them, hey, I have the wrong suitcase, and am forwarded to Philadelphia International Airport, and they state that they will have a cab to collect the mistaken suit case and return it to it's rightful owner, and drop my suit case off. The time of this phone conversation was about 9:15 PM EDT. So, it's currently a quarter past 1 o'clock in the morning, and no word as of yet as to where this cab is supposed to be. Any phone calls to the Airport are busy signals, the stress factor mounting.

Perhaps it had something to do with the two hours of sleep I had last night, perhaps it had something to do with the fact that my plane was delayed four hours before flying into Philadelphia (we didn't leave JIA until 4:00 PM, when the flight was originally scheduled for departure at 12:50 PM). Perhaps the true illustration of how much this day sucked was the poetry of this very post...ah well, alas' this too shall pass, so long as I get my suit case. Driving back into Philadelphia to retrieve luggage that should have been delivered an hour and a half ago is a bit....frustrating.

I don't know what the message is telling me in all this (other than to double check my luggage name, something I mostly always do). The problem is, he's probably just as pissed off as I am about this whole thing (I mean we were on the same flight, suffered the same setbacks, had the same crap happen to us)... someone knicks your suit case by accident and it's not delivered and no way to contact the person that has it (eg me). I feel really sorry for this whole thing. I don't feel sorry about the fact that the man has yet to show up, as that is totally beyond my control.

So, I guess this conclusion is, rage against my having a REALLY bad day. That being said, I feel much better posting this.

I'm not denying for any reason the stupidity of not checking the name on the luggage. That was stupid on my part. But hey, **** happens. It didn't help I wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as possible.

 

[xsedrinam]

When Murhpy's Law quicks in, he's relentless. Condolenses, though. Sad thing about "those suitcases which look alike", people now put pink, purple, red and white ribbons to "mark" their territory. Problem is, now eveyone's suitcase runs laps around the carousels decorated in ribbons. The ribbons all look alike.

Just a thought, but maybe the other person whose suitcase you have is posting in here. *wanders off to find another thread with a similar title*.

 

[benthewraith]

Just a thought, but maybe the other person whose suitcase you have is posting in here. *wanders off to find another thread with a similar title*.

That would be strange, unusual, frightening, and embarrassing all at the same time.

 

[xsedrinam]

That would be strange, unusual, frightening, and embarrassing all at the same time.

I've been pretty fortunate and have "lost" luggage on only two occasions. One in Orlando and another in Ecuador, but AA delivered them to my door the next day. I've never flown on SW. Hope you have a better 16th. It's rough when the adrenaline wears off after a long day/trip. Good luck.

 

[benthewraith]

I've been pretty fortunate and have "lost" luggage on only two occasions. One in Orlando and another in Ecuador, but AA delivered them to my door the next day. I've never flown on SW. Hope you have a better 16th. It's rough when the adrenaline wears off after a long day/trip. Good luck.

Thank You.

 

[adk]

Let me guess, Black vertical rolling bag?

What do you expect from Southwest? Technically, it was your screwup. They're not going to jump through hoops for you, especially when they already don't jump through hoops when it IS their fault.

Next time, attach something brightly colored to the outside. Also, if you connected, make sure the first flight on the bag tag matches the first flight you took. There's a pretty low possibility that anybody else flew the exact same routing as you, and the flight numbers are big and easy to find.

PS - Bag tags read from the bottom up!

 

[imacintel]

I put a Air Canada tag in to my luggage when I fly with them. I have a bright red bag. Never has gotten lost or confused with another persons.

 

[clayj]

I have monogrammed luggage tags on my checked luggage, and they're the first thing I'm looking for when I go to collect my baggage. Pretty sure no one else is going to have Samsonite bags with brown leather tags with "CCJ" on them.

 

[mkrishnan]

I have monogrammed luggage tags on my checked luggage, and they're the first thing I'm looking for when I go to collect my baggage. Pretty sure no one else is going to have Samsonite bags with brown leather tags with "CCJ" on them.

Heh.

Designer luggage is always good for this too. I don't run into a lot of other people who have the same DvF bags in the same color scheme.

 

[macOSX-tastic]

ah, i feel for you man....

...unfortunately, since southwest is a low cost carrier you probably wont get too much help out of them when things go wrong. Ryanair (one of europe's southwest model followers) has apparently 2 people on staff at all times to deal with complaints, etc haha! im not sure if its true, but i think its likely. it shouldnt be the case, but it appears so.

sorry to hear about your day man.
S

 

[hana]

I hope that posting makes you feel better.

Yeah....I've had this almost happen to me once... I was at the airport waiting for my blue suitcase full of camping type attire. I couldn't find it. I went by the carrousel again and noticed that it was pulled aside by a group of pre-law students going to a conference. (there were big signs for them and they all had nametags & were wearing nice new business suits)

Me: "Excuse me, but I think you have my suitcase."

Pre-Law Guy: "Well, this is my blue suitcase that I am taking to my (raising voice a notch to show how he important he is is to his gaggle of pre-law collegues) pre-law conference."

Me: (quietly) "Well, then why does it have my luggage tags on it?"

Yeah, I got my bag back pretty quickly after that.

I hope that today was a better day for you.....

 

[benthewraith]

Southwest had made arrangements to get the luggage delivered to where I'm staying. It just got in a few minutes ago. And I wasn't expecting them to jump thru hoops because of my own screwup.

Yeah, actually, it was a red bag, with black vertical stripes made by the same people.

 

[clayj]

Tag your bags.™

 

[xsedrinam]

Southwest had made arrangements to get the luggage delivered to where I'm staying. It just got in a few minutes ago. And I wasn't expecting them to jump thru hoops because of my own screwup.

Yeah, actually, it was a red bag, with black vertical stripes made by the same people.

Glad you got your stuff back, benthewraith. I'd imagine you don't need any more lectures about what you should have done.

 

[hana]

That's great news, Ben!

Now, hopefully you'll have a little time to relax....