Today my delayed bag arrived from my United Airlines Flight to Pittsburgh on May 29th. Fortunately, nothing has been stolen from it!
Here's the short story of what happened:
* May 29th, 3pm: Flight UA941 has landed at Chicago O'Hare. I have to go through immigrations (which takes over an hour, since there are clearly too few immigration officers to deal with all the arrivals), and customs. Therefore I have to claim my luggage, bring it through customs, and check it in again. I do get both of the bags I had checked in in Germany, but one is half open. I suspect something might have fallen out, but since immigrations has taken so much time, I decide to check later when I finally arrive in Pittsburgh. I check in my bags again, go through security again and board the flight to Pittsburgh just in time.
* May 29th, 7pm: Flight UA5962 lands in Pittsburgh on time. At the baggage claim, I only find one bag. Mrs Holly P. from UA explains to me, my other bag is still in Chicago. I should describe my bag for her in order for her to write a report and leave a phone number (I give her the number of my future roommate), my bag would be delivered with the next flight from Chicago (that is, 10pm the same day). There is a second guy at the counter who is also missing a bag from the same flight.
* May 29th, midnight: my bag hasn't arrived
* May 30th, morning: www.united.com/bagtrack says that my bag has not been located (huh... it was in Chicago lately...!). I call the customer service. An indian woman explains me that UA does not know where my bag is. I explain I need my bedding equipment. The woman explains that UA can reimburse some of the cost if I have to urgently replace the items in my luggage, but that whatever I buy, I should notify them of before buying. Talking on the phone takes about half an hour.
* May 30th, afternoon: I want to buy bedsheets and the like, and call the UA customer service. Since I am right at the shop, there is no public telephone. An agent from Verizon is friendly and allows me to phone from a phone they have on display in their shop. I end up talking more than 20 minutes (in the shop, with everybody listening) to the indian lady from UA customer service. I then go ahead and buy my stuff.
* May 31st: no sign from my bag
* June 1st: no sign from my bag (and I check www.united.com/bagtrack hourly)
* June 2nd: no sign from my bag. I call an indian lady from UA customer service, to no avail (but again, over half an hour of talking).
* June 3rd: the information on www.united.com/bagtrack has changed, it now says I should write a more detailed report, listing all items contained in my luggage (including purchase date, where purchased and original price) and give proof of ownership for items over 250$. I am busy doing that the whole afternoon, and contact my mother for the details of some items
* June 4th: I am ready to send off my report - however, I have to wait for mail collection on the next day
* June 5th: my report has been sent via registered mail. However, the information on www.united.com/bagtrack has changed - it says my bag has been delivered! How comes I don't know about it? I call the UA customer service again. The indian woman says my bag has been delivered via a delivery company, and she will check with them. Then she comes back to me and tells me they are unreachable. I repeat the process a second time (with a different lady), again with the same result. I provide the ladies with my office telephone number, which I have gotten recently. They are located in a callcenter in New Delhi. Apparently, all calls to the customer service directly go to India.
* June 6th, 11am: The delivery service (called "Wespax") calls! They want to deliver my bag in the evening, but I should call them before they come.
* June 6th, 8pm: As agreed, I call the delivery service. Nobody picks up. I leave a message that I am home and ready to receive the delivery. I call them seven times that evening, nobody picks up.
* June 6th, 10pm: The bag is not there, nobody picks up the phone. I decide to wait at home nevertheless.
* June 7th, 9am: I call Wespax. For some reason, somebody picks up (Allen). He says he is sorry I didn't reach anybody, and that my bag would be delivered today between 10:30 and 14:00. However, they would call me before delivery to make sure I am there.
* June 7th, 11am: Nobody called, even though the delivery guy should be on tour already. I call Wespax. Allen says sorry nobody called me, but my bag would be underway.
* June 7th, 12 am: My bag is finally there! After 9 days!
Conclusion: Better don't fly United Airlines if your luggage is important to you. If you do, don't take any luggage to the check-in. If you do, make sure your luggage carries enough information, and that you have a telephone number in the U.S. where you are available all the time. Re-check the information/slips on your luggage when you re-check-in: the staff from United Airlines will not check.
Update (July 3rd)I have received a cheque from united airlines for 47$ (expenses for the bedstuff)! Frankly, I was surprised they'd treat me fairly. I will stop my boycott and probably consider flying united airlines again.
