[Harold Reed]

On June 15 I was scheduled to fly from Houston, TX to Mobile, AL on Continental flight 3408 at 4:30. A storm came through north Houston that lasted about 45 minutes. At about 5:30 they announced that my flight was cancelled. Even though the weather was now clear between Mobile and Houston, they eliminated the flight. I got in line at the Customer Service area to reschedule my flight. There were four agents at the counters helping customers at the time. After I stood there for 40 minutes the same four agents were still helping the same four people. Not one of them had finished yet! The line got smaller only because many people gave up and left. It was 7:50 before I finally got to the front of the line. There were no flights left that day, so the agent booked me on a flight the next day.

I went to baggage claim to get my luggage, and the agent at the desk in the center of the room by the wall told me that I had to go to Terminal C to get my bag. I was in terminal B. I took the train to Terminal C and found the baggage claim office there. At this office there was a line and I had to put my name on a list. I waited there for about 25 minutes to see an agent. When I got back to her office and showed her my baggage claim slip, she told me that my bag was in Terminal B and I had to go there. I told her that I had been in terminal B and they sent me to Terminal C. She said that they were wrong and Terminal B was where I had to go to get my bag, so I took the train back to Terminal B.

By this time there was a line at the desk in Terminal B, so I went to the Baggage Claim office at the side of the room. I waited in line for a few minutes there, then talked with the agent. She told me that this office only takes care of lost luggage and I would need to go back to the main desk in the center of the room by the wall to get luggage from a flight delay. So I went back and stood in line, again. When I got to the front and talked to the agent, she took my bag number and checked the computer. Then she told me that my bag had already been sent on to Mobile! It went out on the 7:55 flight without me. So I would have to get by without my medicine or a change of clothes.

I went upstairs to see if I could get something to eat. It was now after 9:00pm and I had not eaten since 3:00. The last restaurant in the non-secure part of the airport that I was in had closed at 8:45. Since there was nothing to eat, I used the Delayed Flight Hotel slip I had been given to make a reservation at La Quinta. I called up the hotel and they said that a van would be at Terminal B in 15 to 20 minutes. I waited outside and after 20 minutes the La Quinta van showed up. When I got to the Hotel and showed them my hotel voucher, they told me they don’t take those vouchers. That voucher was only good at the La Quinta North. I was at the La Quinta Beltline! In order to get to the other La Quinta I would have to take the van back to the airport and wait for the correct van to come pick me up. It was almost 10:00 by then so I just went ahead and paid for the hotel myself.

The next day I got back to Mobile and asked about my luggage. The ticket counter agent told me he didn’t have anybody available to check on it because they were unloading a plane. I should come back in 15 minutes. So I went back to the carousel and waited to see if by some chance my bag had been put on the flight I just came in on. The fifth bag that came out was mine! It had been in Houston all the time. So the Continental agent was wrong twice: first when she told me my bag was at Terminal C, then again when she told me my bag was in Mobile.

[ChrisH]

The problem is, the airlines do not scan bags, in most cases, so there really is not guaranteed way to tell exactly where your bag is. It sounds to me like this agent you dealt with, was lazy, and just didn't feel like looking. It happens, with any company, airlines, or not, some employees are just not motivated to actually do their job. As a Continental employee, I apologize for this happening to you.