When we went to Memphis we flew a different airline from our usual one, Delta. We had free tickets on Southwest. We've flown Southwest before, they're a good, cheap airline and your bags fly free. Because our tickets were free our journey was a bit of a round about route. We had to drive to Jacksonville, Florida (no Southwest in Savannh) which is about a 100 miles from here. From there we flew to Baltimore, Maryland, changed planes and flew to Memphis, it took all day. Coming back we flew from Memphis to Chicago, Illinois, changed planes and flew to Jacksonville. Had nice, uneventful flights, unfortunately our bag that we checked did not make the same journey back that we did. There was no sign of it in Jacksonville and we had to file a missing bag claim.
Next day Mac called them and asked if they had tracked it down yet and mentioned that when this happened on Delta they had a system to track the missing bag. Unfortunately Southwest doesn't have a system like that, the lady apologized and said she wished they did. They had to call the airports the bag went through and look for it that way.
Later that day they found it in Atlanta and they were having it flown to Jacksonville and from there it would have to be delivered to us via FedEx because we were too far away for them to deliver. Had several calls on Sunday, one to let us know it had arrived in Jacksonville and to keep us up to date. On Monday they called to let us know that FedEx had picked it up and it would be delivered to us Monday before noon and it was here by 9:30 this morning. Well done Southwest. Mac checked the labels on it and it said Jacksonville via Midway (Chicago) so no idea why it ended up in Atlanta.
We're going back to Memphis, but not on Southwest, nothing against them, they're a good airline, but I have a freebie ticket for Delta so we only have to pay for one and that's nice. Can't wait to go.
Sounds as if they did their best - sometimes bags just do go missing, don't they? How do you get the free flights? I often feel I should belong to some loyalty scheme or other but there doesn't seem to be one that I like in the UK any more. There used to be one called Air Miles but they stopped it.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got your bag back! We once lost a bag with Santa's presents en route to Switzerland.... it turned up just in time for Christmas Day, phew, but we had to deviate from the Swiss custom to open gifts on Christmas Eve. x
ReplyDeleteWe get airmiles for Delta with our credit card, so I buy everything on it and pay it off at the end of the month. Plus this card gives me a free companion ticket to anywhere in the USA once a year. For Southwest we had to have a credit card with a chip because we were going to England, so w got a new card and they gave us 50,000 miles and we used that on Southwest.
ReplyDeleteSo that's how we get free trips.
I use my Amazon card the same way. There are no limits to points, some double or triple. Occasionally I remember to look, and it's a little pot of money.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great deal -- free trips! Not fun to be without your luggage but at least they kept you informed and got it back to you quickly. I almost never check a bag, only if it's a direct flight. I'm a master at packing light!
ReplyDelete