I was in North Carolina last week. Work trip.
United airlines – the federal carrier available from Denver to Raleigh – no longer has direct flights between Denver and Raleigh. The last trip I took was the last week they ran direct flights. This is my first time using them and having a transfer. I have to carry my work laptop – non-negotiable, and also, it has to be the carryon. Work travel means I’m checking my bag. No matter what.
So. Denver to Raleigh. Through Chicago. I try to print my boarding pass from home; no go. So, extra time for doing all that before hand. Seems to go smoothly. Flight runs a little late – no worries; semi-tight connection in Chicago but I walk fast. As it turns out, no need …. connection flight is delayed by an hour and some change. Get food. OK. Arrive in Raleigh, right about at midnight, but OK. Wait for my bag … uh huh. No bag.
So I wait till it’s totally obvious, then go to bag check. Get claim form. Do not get any overnight necessities. Sigh. Go wait for rental car. Wait for a looooooong time. Finally call them – and the rental car company closes at midnight. Joy! So, at airport, it’s 1:30 by now, and I have no car and no luggage. Oh well. Get a taxi. Hotel convenience shop has toothbrush.
Week is fine, though of course I have to do Casual Monday (I really missed having a hairbrush). Bag is delivered Monday afternoon. Week proceeds.
Next leg – Raleigh to Denver. Through Washington. So … see if this sounds familiar: There’s an hour delay, and then they lose my bag. !!!!
The spin this time is that the load us onto the plane, and then tell us it’s going to be an hour or so before we fly off. We haven’t even pulled away from the terminal. So we sit and sit .. people freaking out about connections, etc. But we go, we arrive … and the good news for me is, the plane to Denver is the exact plane I came in on. So I get off, get a muffin at Starbucks right across the way, and then get right back on the same plane.
And yet, they still managed to lose the luggage. Brilliant!
At least this time, I had my car, and I had a toothbrush – and a hairbrush – at home. But sheesh. Not the best luggage trip.
I’m really starting to wonder if the best way to deal with non-carry on luggage is to overnight ship it to the destination with FedEx/UPS.
Maybe the hotel won’t accept the package; I haven’t tried it, so I don’t know how willing they would be for doing something like that.
And, of course, there is an issue if something happens and you don’t make it to the hotel. (if, say, you get re-routed somewhere else due to really bad weather at the desired destination)
Or the luggage handling system needs to be reworked care of FedEx/UPS, or even the USPS.
Glad you made it through without any other problems.
I think the United page even suggests using the Fedex luggage service. Kind of tells you something, doesn’t it??
Of course, to use such a thing I’d have to have everything packed multiple days ahead of time.
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
It seems like I read somewhere that they (airlines in general) allow your computer and a carry-on. Don’t know if they allow a purse too, or if your computer takes the place of your purse, but you could stick purse things down in either bag.
I hear so many lost luggage stories that i think it is all too common. They have never lost mine, though, so i am pretty careless about packing a day’s worth in my carry on.
Could you get a toothbrush, hairbrush, undies and a blouse or thin dress in your laptop bag? I think i might get a bigger bag for my laptop if i had to.
A friend told me he once had to speak at an international conference in the jeans and t-shirt he wore on his flight because he arrived in the wee hours of the morning (delayed flights), they lost his luggage, and he spoke too early to buy anything. 🙂
You are allowed 1 carry-on and 1 personal item. I generally have a canvas bag with magazine and other reading material … once, I tried to board with laptop, canvas bag, and purse. I had to step out of line and stuff my purse into the canvas bag. Crazy people.
When I came to Texas – it is possible to use a biiig canvas bag that will accommodate the laptop, purse, and reading material, and then haul the wheeled overhead luggage bag too. So that is what I did. It is a pain – the canvas bag is heavy and hard to maneuver, it is heavy and such for the entire trip, it takes 5 plastic bins to go through security (laptop out of case | laptop case | jacket | purse and shoes and liquids | rest of canvas bag … + carry on luggage), and generally you look like an idiot.
This is worth it if I have to pay the stupid baggage fee. But if someone else is paying – well .. if they’re going to keep losing my bag, perhaps it’s still worth it.