Return of the Suitcase
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American Airlines lied. They said my suitcase would be delivered by 2am. I went to bed around 4:30, having given up for the evening. I called in the morning to ask them which country my suitcase was visiting. As it turned out, it arrived at Newark as scheduled last night, but then the driver decided it was too late at night to deliver a suitcase to a private residence, and I could suck it. But my suitcase would definitely be delivered by 2pm. Then I got a call saying my suitcase was in the truck and would be delivered in about an hour. I won't mention that it was almost 4 by then.
The delivery guy didn't lie, and my suitcase was soon home. I'm reasonably sure that it was red the last time I saw it, but I could just be forgetting the grime. First order of business: inventory contents. Interesting. I don't remember wadding up my dress into a ball. Or taking my shoes out of the shoe bag and putting them soles down on my white sweater. Or unfolding all my shirts. Or not packing my hair iron. EGADS! My hair iron is missing! Okay, okay, don't panic yet. Must call Matt! He can check at home! Maybe I left it? I hope... But alas, it was not to be.
I called AA, then waited on hold. I was told to call another number, then waited on hold. I finally acquired the number for baggage services at Newark, and they DUN DUN DUUUUUN put me on hold. There I waited, where hours turned into days and days turned into months. Then, after 10 minutes, the evil call system hung up on me. That was the last straw. Screw them, I'm going out for ice cream with blue sprinkles.
This morning I took a deep breath and tried calling again. Round 1, the phone just rang until the phone company informed me that no one appeared to be answering and I should try again later. Useful. Round 2, someone answered around ring 37. I told her what happened, gave her the file locator number, and answered a few other questions. Then she asked what the missing items were. "Just my hair iron." "Hair iron?" "Yes, for straightening my hair." "We don't reimburse for electronics. Only for clothes and shoes. Sorry." "Is there anything that you can do?" "I'll put it in the report, but that's it. Thank you for calling." Click. AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! What kind of stupid numb nuts policy is that? That's basically giving your employees a free pass on stealing anything with a circuit since the company doesn't do a damned thing about it! Exterminate! Exterminate!
AA might be an evil conglomerate, but not only did I buy the iron with my American Express, I charged the plane ticket with it as well. Tonight, or tomorrow, depending on mental weather conditions, I will call them and they'll make everything happy.
The delivery guy didn't lie, and my suitcase was soon home. I'm reasonably sure that it was red the last time I saw it, but I could just be forgetting the grime. First order of business: inventory contents. Interesting. I don't remember wadding up my dress into a ball. Or taking my shoes out of the shoe bag and putting them soles down on my white sweater. Or unfolding all my shirts. Or not packing my hair iron. EGADS! My hair iron is missing! Okay, okay, don't panic yet. Must call Matt! He can check at home! Maybe I left it? I hope... But alas, it was not to be.
I called AA, then waited on hold. I was told to call another number, then waited on hold. I finally acquired the number for baggage services at Newark, and they DUN DUN DUUUUUN put me on hold. There I waited, where hours turned into days and days turned into months. Then, after 10 minutes, the evil call system hung up on me. That was the last straw. Screw them, I'm going out for ice cream with blue sprinkles.
This morning I took a deep breath and tried calling again. Round 1, the phone just rang until the phone company informed me that no one appeared to be answering and I should try again later. Useful. Round 2, someone answered around ring 37. I told her what happened, gave her the file locator number, and answered a few other questions. Then she asked what the missing items were. "Just my hair iron." "Hair iron?" "Yes, for straightening my hair." "We don't reimburse for electronics. Only for clothes and shoes. Sorry." "Is there anything that you can do?" "I'll put it in the report, but that's it. Thank you for calling." Click. AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! What kind of stupid numb nuts policy is that? That's basically giving your employees a free pass on stealing anything with a circuit since the company doesn't do a damned thing about it! Exterminate! Exterminate!
AA might be an evil conglomerate, but not only did I buy the iron with my American Express, I charged the plane ticket with it as well. Tonight, or tomorrow, depending on mental weather conditions, I will call them and they'll make everything happy.
4 comments:
As soon as I read "my hair iron is missing," I realized that you would never get reimbursed for it. During my junior year of college, my Dreamcast and accessories (worth about $220 in total) were stolen out of my bag when I flew home on American Airlines, and they really, really did not give a fuck. Even when I appealed to the highest levels, I never spoke to anyone who sounded as though he or she might care.
It was so frustrating, too. It was theft, by American Airlines or TSA employees. And anytime your bag gets opened, it's under camera scrutiny, so if they had cared, they could have reviewed the tapes and caught the criminal(s). But not only did they not care to do that, they didn't care to give me a courtesy voucher or to sound sorry about any part of it.
Not giving a fuck is exactly what happened. The worst part is a hair iron is a dangerous weapon, so it must be checked. The security of our nation depends on it!
:/ We're definitely buying you a cheaper hair iron to keep here, dear.
"My advice for avoiding this: travel with a firearm. A TSA person inspects your bag right in front of you, and then it gets locked with ANY lock you care to put on it (even a standard padlock). The only catch is that you have to use a hard-sided case. Oh, and you have to make sure that what you are carrying is legal where you are going to."
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