What pisses me off about this isn’t the possibility of damaging what’s in my bag. I pack based on the assumption that this is how my bags will be treated. What pisses me off is when my bag is returned to me with a broken wheel and I have to drag the broken ass wheel around the rest of my trip and buy a new bag before the next one. At least that’s what happened to my last bag.
And if you report damaged luggage, there's a likely chance you get compensated with a flight voucher.... like why would I use your airline again after you broke my suitcase?
eta: Sounds like the airlines putting in good service to fix this kind of situation are not based in america lol.. Happy y'all have gotten new suitcases when you needed them.
Also I didn't know I could push for a better reimbursement, I didn't think to do so. I'll remember that for the future!
Air Japan broke one of my wheels, when I got to the carousel an employee was waiting there with the broken bag, he asked how much it cost and gave me cash, then bowed and walked away. It felt so weird to have that good of customer service.
SAS does the same.
They even get high quality ones.
So a friend of mine was happy when he got a replacement.
He went from a crap low cost one to an expensive quality one.
They are not that expensive when an airline gets 1000's of them at a time
Southwest did this when I flew earlier this year. Absolutely tore my bag up and was aggravated when landing in LAX. Went straight to the baggage claim and no questions asked the guy was super nice and helpful and brought an expensive Andare bag. Like the biggest one wrapped up still and a $300 voucher. I got a massive upgrade and I was able to buy another round trip later in the year with the sales they had. I was happy overall honestly but it was very irritating at first after traveling all day.
At check in for my return flight they put a big damaged tag on my bag which they broke on the way in, i didnt even try to get comp. I had once a nice suitcase since then i just buy cheap so i dont get upset when something happens to it. I have like dirt/oil stain on one. Brand new one, flight with it. It came out with like a huge ass streak on it. Maybe i am just unlucky
I'm more aware of the British Special Air Service for "SAS", so was amused by the concept of an elite tactical team hut-hut-hutting their way to you to offer you replacement luggage.
At Fukuoka airport the bags came out on the carousel in a perfect line, all facing the same direction.
I also saw some roadworks... the workers neatly cut out a perfect cube of road before doing whatever they needed to do, and when we walked past the same spot the next day the repair was so well done you could barely even notice it.
I remember Singapore Airlines arranging for my damaged luggage to be picked up from my home. (I reported the damage upon arrival, at their baggage services counter.)
Once the repairs were done, they delivered it right back to my doorstep.
This was some years ago. I’m not sure if they still offer this service today, but it certainly left a good impression.
With some other airlines, I had to arrange the repairs myself and claim the expenses through my own travel insurance … which is a little more troublesome.
I watched Japan Air loading luggage and it was just as respectful as everything else in their culture. They pick up and place each individual bag as if it were their own and stack them neatly.
I went to Peru about 25 years ago and received the contents of my luggage on my way back through Atlanta in a potato sack that ended up being full of dead ants.
I've had them break my suit case three times, and each time they gave me a new one right then and there. It was always better quality than the one they broke too
Unfortunately with all the monopolies and industry consolidation going on, sometimes you don't get to pick your airline. I flew last month and there was exactly 1 flight available between the two cities. Luckily it was a budget carrier anyway.
I reported a damaged back, they took me to a room filled with brand new luggage. They found one that matched mine as closely as possible and gave it to me.
Now that assumes damage to just the bag. Damage to anything inside the bag is a different issue. If I am carrying something that could be damaged, I make sure I pay extra for status so I can board before the jerks with oversized bags use up all the overhead.
Southwest damaged my bag once. It was a large duffle I had checked, and the bag tore on the carousel. I immediately reported it to the agent at baggage claim. They asked if I had any way to prove the cost I paid for the bag so that I could be reimbursed (thankfully it was an online purchase), and I received a check for the full value so I could replace it. I was pleasantly surprised by that outcome.
I had mine lost after my flight got delayed for 10 hours. I was 15, flying alone, and was scared to go to the nearby hotels like staffed said to. So my dad drove into another state to pick me up, then had to fight to get my bag that had my meds and clothes in it just for it to get lost. Took them 2 weeks to finally find it
Southwest broke a wheel on one of my bags and they gave me a link to have a brand new bag sent to me, there were multiple size and color choices, I was shocked at how simple it was. The bag was still a pain for the rest of my trip but the replacement that came when I got home was honestly way nicer than the one that broke.
Granted that was about 3 years ago so idk if the process changed in that time.
They will try to offer you the least valuable thing first, you have to insist that you want to be compensated and they will pay you a lot actually, like you can say it’s damaged and you need the clothes but you can’t take the bag around with it broken so they’ll pay for the bag and for you to buy a change of clothes and send the new bag to you and everything. It happens a lot but you have to be willing to not accept their tiny first few offers
My brother lost a bag, I think it Newark Airport. They got the $250 or whatever, and 6 years later, their bag was found ‘in a ceiling’ while remodeling.
If it’s broken during transit, go to the airlines help desk and they will give you a new one from what they have behind the counter. Airlines stock new luggage in the back for this exact reason. Not many people know about this for some reason.
Airline dependent of course. Big airlines will all have this. Not 100% sure about budget airlines.
When this happened to my mother on Southwest, they looked up the price of the bag online & then showed my mom a few bags she could choose from that fell in the same price range and they mailed it to her. It was nice they got a new bag since they broke the wheel, but she was out of her luggage for the whole trip which was insanely inconvenient.
Same, sort of. Back in 2013, KLM drove a cart over my luggage and crushed it. No one offered me any support or compensation even when I asked… Had to drive back to the airport with my dad the next day and escalate the issue to upper management before they gave us some compensation.
Search for the airline's conditions of carriage. Here's what AA says:
If your checked bag is lost, damaged or delayed, we will pay the provable value of the losses up to $4,700 (or up to $5,000 if you declare excess value).
I still don't know what happened, but the wheel on one of our checked bags basically disintegrated as we were rolling through the airport before we boarded the plane. It was a cheap suitcase and I think the plastic was dry rotted, and it just started chipping off in chunks. When we got it off the carousel after we landed, it had magically regenerated. I guess the airline thought they'd damaged it and replaced it? I don't understand when anyone would have had time to do that, but I'm not complaining!
1000% this. I recently had to go shopping for new luggage. My old bag has chunky wheels recessed into the package. All the new options have these very thin flimsy wheels sticking out the bottom, and the prices were crazy! Ultimately got a bag at REI that's half soft, but I think it'll hold up way better than what they can luggage these days. I just had to sacrifice the hard shell. The wheels are way better, though.
There’s a reason you never see American flight crews going around with those 4-wheel castering luggages. Rampers have a secret ability to turn any 4-wheel luggage into a 3-wheel luggage.
I’ll never buy a bag with the wheels sticking out. Even if handlers take care of the bag, it’s very easy for the wheels to break when placed in the cargo hold of an airplane.
I can’t count the number of them I saw break in baggage systems. They get caught in a diverter and jam it up, almost definitely breaking off. I always tried to wriggle it free, but I had co workers who just ripped them out not caring if it broke, because that was faster and easier.
For damaged luggage, it is VITAL to take it immediately to their office at the baggage claim. Demand an immediate replacement, right there, they have a room full of options and will give you the closest match if the damage is sufficient. Make the case that you cannot continue your trip with the damaged bag, "I can't get to my hotel with the damaged wheel," or "With the broken zipper, all my stuff will fall out, I can't just leave and lose my posessions on the sidewalk."
If you're in a hurry and try to deal with it later via a phone claim (even with pics), they'll blow you off or just give you a low-value voucher. They will say you damaged it yourself and that it happened outside of the airport, and try to deny you anything. I've learned this over 20 years of flying across 13 countries on 3 continents, trips which have included a handful of luggage replacements like this, and a number of rejections before I learned how to get this done. That little office near the baggage claim is the only place to get bags replaced, and you only get one brief window of opportunity when it happens.
The one and only time I checked a stroller… we were delayed 8 hours. Landed at 1 AM. Delta broke the wheel on the stroller. My over tired toddler wouldn’t walk, I couldn’t push the stroller and had 3 bags. And then there were no rides out of the airport - taxis or Ubers and rental car place was closed.
Never ever again checked a stroller. I’m still mad.
not the wheel for me, but i had a plastic suitcase and the zipper got broken off during the transfer. i got lucky everything was strapped into place inside and i only noticed when i got to my airbnb, but also had to buy a new suitcase abroad and throw away the plastic one 🙃
I worked as a ramp agent for 2 months, the only time I broke luggage was because it was heavier than the luggage itself could handle while lifting it by whatever I could grab. Most others didn't care, the lost luggage section was over flowing and I got my job because previous workers were caught damaging planes and stealing.
For added context this was in 2007, and I had to leave since they would let me change my schedule to go to college.
Once on vacation, my dad noticed the airline damaged the wheel of his suitcase after we arrived at our destination. It was late & we were tired so we went straight to the hotel. After the return flight, my dad reported the damage to the airline. They refused to compensate him because he should’ve reported it after the initial flight. My dad was pissed.
I don't even want to imagine the nightmare of having to fly with one of my cats.
She howls the entire drive to the vet.
From the moment she's put in the carrier to the moment we walk in it's "MAAAOOOW MAAAOOOW MAAAOOOW MAAAOOOW MAAAOOOW"
I'm sure you've tried everything reasonable to help her, but just in case: have you considered asking your vet for a gabapentin prescription for when she has to travel? I live in the middle of nowhere, so it's a pretty long drive to my cats' vet, and giving them a gabapentin a couple hours before their appointments has been a game changer in terms of managing their stress levels while they're in the carrier.
United breaks car seats too. From this past Saturday on an SFO-Indianapolis flight, my wife and kids were going to visit family. Great start to the trip.
Dang, what do you even do in that situation? Do they have car seats at the airport to use? Have one family member drive to a store and buy one and bring back to the airport while one adult and kids stay there waiting? What if it was a mom/dad travelling by themselves?
This is my nightmare since I’m traveling with 2 kids in car seats next month 😬
Used to fly delta religiously because we had the best experience back in the day. As the years went on, it went to shit. So many horror stories. Now we just fly whichever is cheapest and cross our fingers. Its all the fucking same nowadays.
I like jetblue recently. I flew delta once and it felt like I was flying in an capitalist advertisement. Everything was based on rewards, penny pinching and I felt like I was getting bombarded with advertisements for different member/rewards benefits. I used to fly around euro a lot and it was just - get on the plane, here’s a drink and a snack (maybe wifi), get off the plane. Easy & simple, usually on time without bs excuses.
Last time I flew Delta was some years ago, but the "member boarding statuses" were funny as hell to me. "Now boarding all level 7 black onyx guests. No, Im sorry sir, you're a top tier green emerald and will have to wait."
Correct. During training, throwing is not what they learn to do. They are told not to. Not only is there a risk of damage to peoples bags, but the risk of personal injury is way higher.
In fact, the job is one of the toughest on the body and permanent injury is common. Imagine crawling around in tight loading bays hauling up to 32 kg / 71 lb bags, in summer high heat or freezing winter.
Source: Me working at an airport for 16 years. Not with baggage handling though.
In this case it isn't weight that's the issue but the repeated motion of twisting and throwing. They're taught to hold close to the body and pivot in such a way that reduces damage to the body. Prolonged, repeat twisting even light loads is damaging, but what they teach and what's done by the individual day to day doesn't usually match up. When I did my brief stint on the ramp, all the older ramp guys said the job destroys the body, it's one of the reasons I decided to find a different job asap.
It's become the culture. If you don't yeet, it's like saying to the other baggage handlers "look I'm better than you, I do my job correctly so quit moaning". The baggage handlers are angry at their employers but take it out on whatever they can
Do I have too much faith in humanity for believing the man with the sunglasses moved himself to the end of the conveyer belt so that he could receive the suit cases and place them properly after watching the other guy toss them?
It looks like he says something before giving the thrower a little, “move out of the way pat,” as he goes around him.
This exact same thing happened to us. They took several passengers carry on bags as we tried to board. This was at an airport where a bus drove the passengers to the tarmac and you board via a staircase.
Luckily my seat was facing the people loading the luggage and watched them start throwing bags into the plane. Even more violently than this video.
I had a 35mm camera and a laptop in that that bag and started panicking. I jumped up and ran to the front of the plane and tried to go out the door. This set off the flight attendant who wasn't too interested in my situation. I got louder about what was happening and the captain came out. I quickly explained and he said he would handle it. He ran down the steps and started screaming at the workers. He told me to come outside and show him my bag, luckily it hadn't been thrown yet. He took the bag and then absolutely tore into the workers. He took their names and basically told them he was reporting their behavior.
We go back on the plane and he tells the flight attendant to place my bag with the flight crew bags.
They’re called ramp rats for a reason. Don’t check anything breakable or of value. Even if you check a carry on, airlines allow you a “personal item” in addition to your carry on. Like a laptop bag.
Weight is never a reason people have to gate check bags. Every passenger is assumed to have a certain amount of baggage (15lb I believe) whether they actually have a bag or not, and all weights are standard and change with season.
When people have to gate check bags, it’s because there’s no more room left in the overhead bins.
I was on a flight back in July where they announced there was no more room for carryons and they had to check them after group 4 was seated, so pretty damn early. They weren’t asking for volunteers, it was mandatory. I was group 5 and my carryon was full of items with lithium batteries, thankfully my partner had space in his personal item for some of it. When I got on the plane there was TONS of empty overhead space. It wasn’t even remotely full. I was so upset. What would have happened if I had nowhere to put those electronics? Ugh.
Gate checks happen when the flight attendants are running behind schedule and need someone else to blame. So they force a large amount so that the ramp agents take longer. Then it’s the “ramps fault”. that’s literally it lol.
This doesn't work btw. They just make you take out everything that can't be checked, and if you can't, they refuse your boarding completely and will not refund you. Ask me how I know haha (it's happened twice).
Also I have seen video of employees in some other airports worldwide that actually take time to fucking set the bags down properly, so it is not like we just can't do it as a species or something.
It has its moments like any job. There's times like this, then there's times when you're on your knees in a 737 stacking 150 bags with sweat dripping over your eyes b/c it's 90 degrees outside and 100 in the cramped cargo hold and you're rushing because push off is in less than 15 minutes.
I can see on the back of the vests that these guys are wearing an American Airlines logo. It might be worth getting the video to American Airlines because they don't like seeing their brand associated with this sort of behaviour.
Nah, those guys are perfectly gentle compared to FedEx employees.
Disclosure: my adult niece works for FedEx. She says that if Dante was alive today that he would have considered employment at FedEx to be its own extra special circle of Hell.
I literally sat helpless and watched as my fucking luggage stayed in the little truck as I flew from New York to Spain one time. I about lost my shit, got it the day after I arrived delivered to my hotel luckily but man talk about stressing the fuck out.
PLEASE PLEASE!!!! PLEASE replace this job with robots! I had 2 french presses, a jar of hawaiian honey, a chinese tea set, all broken at 4 different times while flying within the US. Why are they so violent?
Why are you always traveling with glass? Common sense would tell me to put the fragile items in my hand or backpack, especially after the first 3 times things got broken..
I was literally picturing someone cramming 2 coffee makers a honey jar and a tea set in a single suitcase ngl. I was like "well yeah no shit they broke"
Just look at how the Japanese handle luggage at the airport. Bet they make even less. It's ethics. Some people can't put themselves in the shoes of others.
I’ve flown with wine lots and lots of times, they put a fragile sticker on it, and I’ve never had one break. If you are transporting fragile stuff, you have to expect that the bag will be manhandled, and protect your stuff accordingly. I don’t see how a French press could’ve broken, it’s small enough that you can really pad it.
Yeah, I used to live in South Africa and always took wine in my checked luggage many times internationally. Never had a bottle break. I always wrapped them in clothes.
This sounds more like a weirdly specific kink you have where you love being mad when shit breaks in your luggage lmao why are you buying all this shit when you travel?! Ship it properly if you’re spending all this money on absurd souvenirs, I buy scarves and jewelry mostly bc they’re easy to bring in luggage.
I would say because it's hard work or it's for quickness but there is literally 3 of them.. Can't be that hard to spread the work 3 ways and the bags are not coming so quickly that 3 people can't slowly carry the bags and place them in the cart.
Travelers are stuck.
You can’t bring bottles through security, and checked bags are treated like this but that it expected to a certain extent so fragile things are not put in checked bags.
The airline has a limit as to damages on gate checked bags like these BUT if you ask for one, you can have the airline be responsible for damages over their limit but they can be dicks about it
See the thread on here of the 11,000 USD telephoto lenses and the Pelican case absolutely destroyed by Delta when they ran over it with the trolley
Watched something similar at Reagan National while sitting in the terminal awaiting my flight. AA crew pulling luggage out of a plane throwing it down a narrow slide to no one. Saw at least one stroller miss the slide and tumble from near plane height to the ground. Wondered, "Is this normal? How is that allowed?" No one checked him, no one immediately picked up the downed stroller, and he just kept right on carelessly tossing luggage. So while maybe this isn't widespread and normal, I'm not at all surprised.
I used to be a ramp agent for Delta. We were trained NOT to do this. Always had 2 people at the end of the belt alternating bags and stacking them neatly on the carts.
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u/scipper77 1d ago edited 13h ago
What pisses me off about this isn’t the possibility of damaging what’s in my bag. I pack based on the assumption that this is how my bags will be treated. What pisses me off is when my bag is returned to me with a broken wheel and I have to drag the broken ass wheel around the rest of my trip and buy a new bag before the next one. At least that’s what happened to my last bag.