ski-air travel stories

[EMSC]

This is what, 72+ hours?

Yep. Flight arrived at DIA ~11pm Monday night. Still getting daily emails with essentially no information. "Not Yet. Our search efforts continue...". I'm pretty confident at this point that I will never see it again. When I filed my complaint they said the system showed no tracking updates since I checked into Kelowna. So no one scanned the bag on the plane in Kelowna, off the plane in Seattle (I carried the dumb bag through customs in Seattle), etc... So who knows what they did with the bag at the bag re-check just after customs...

My best bag story is from early 2000's when bag issues was still 100% call them up for updates. I flew to Rochester NY and arrived with no checked bag. Filed a claim and bought maybe $250 worth of stuff. Over the course of the next 4-5 days I was in NY: bag was originally misdirected somehow to Raliegh NC at first; then the airline screwed up and forwarded the bag to Rochester MN. It eventually did actually make it to Rochester NY. However by that time my trip was up. So I arrived a touch early for my flight home, picked up my bag at baggage claim office, immediately walked upstairs to the check-in counters and checked the bag back to Denver (which had no issues in that direction). I always hoped they'd credit me the extra miles my bag flew. I don't recall the airline anymore - I think it was either Continental or US Air neither of which exists (per se).

 

[jamesdeluxe]

What's the compensation limit that the airline is responsible per bag, $700-ish?

I don't recall the airline anymore - I think it was either Continental or US Air neither of which exists (per se).

I was chatting with a college friend about the days when Continental had a sizable hub at Stapleton. Below (1986) is what it looked like when I was at CU. You can see the Pacific routes that are now part of United. Continental started pulling out of Denver in the early/mid-90s while the new airport was delayed repeatedly and then when its vaunted baggage system wouldn't work.

This map was just before Continental acquired People Express, which created their (now United) hub at Newark.

 

[Tony Crocker]

James would not have done the 2 stopper itinerary (even to use miles?) this time, but he could have had my 2023 experience because that flight was nonstop.

 

[EMSC]

What's the compensation limit that the airline is responsible per bag, $700-ish?

Comp limit for a long time was ~$1500 if I recall back in the 2000's.

Alaska's website says $3,800 maximum. I think my stuff is likely in the $2,500-$3,000 range for replacement costs (including the brand new bag itself). Skins, Helmet, lots of higher end ski socks and base layers, etc... It adds up much quicker than normal clothing would - especially mid-season at full price instead of spring time ski sales.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

2 stopper itinerary

I was going to brag that I've never done a 2-stopper in my life but then I remembered that 12 years ago I flew Newark-Amsterdam-Entebbe-Kampala for a business trip to rural Uganda and the following year I flew Newark-Zurich-Johannesburg-Durban. Before the nonstops from Newark to Nairobi, Cape Town, or Johannesburg, 2-stoppers were the only way to fly into smaller African cities.

Interesting how I banished those flights from my memory. Not fun but better than walking.

 

[Tony Crocker]

While there is ample evidence that bags can be lost on nonstop flights, I won't argue James' point that each stop raises the odds.

2-stoppers were the only way to fly into smaller African cities.

In 2002 I flew nonstop Atlanta - Cape Town and returned Johannesburg - JFK with a fuel only stop in Cape Verde Islands.

I don't think you can fly nonstop to Kelowna from any U.S. city other than Seattle. Nonetheless using a 2-stopper to chase a mileage award is something I probably won't do again unless it's a screaming deal.

 

[ChrisC]

Southwest checked a ski bag to Providence vs. Albany to ski in the Adirondacks. Thankfully, I had boots and accessories/clothes in my boot backpack. Eventually, I picked it up in Albany on my way home. So I just documented rentals and clothing, and most of my ski shopping is online in spring, so I could look up the receipt emails. It mounted to nearly $500, which was great.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

I flew Newark-Amsterdam-Entebbe-Kampala

Looking at that all-KLM itinerary ^^ reminds me of the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, which prohibits foreign airlines from operating routes between U.S. airports. There's even a word for it, cabotage: the restriction of sea, air, or other transport services within or into a particular country to that country's own transport services. Check out this hilarious parody of the Beastie Boys' Sabotage video.

Let foreign airlines serve domestic routes in the U.S.

Over 12 million travelers poured through American airports over the extended Christmas weekend, making it one of the busiest travel periods ever. The high

reason.com

 

[EMSC]

Freedoms of the air (heavily encoded in internationallaws and treaties):

First Freedom: The right to fly over another country's airspace without landing.

Second Freedom: The right to land in another country for technical reasons like refueling, without picking up or dropping off passengers.

Third Freedom: The right to carry passengers from one's home country to another country.

Fourth Freedom: The right to carry passengers from another country to one's home country.

Fifth Freedom: The right to carry passengers between two foreign countries if the flight originates or ends in the airline's home country.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Landed at LAX 1.5 hours ago. Liz’ ski bag is AWOL. Half an hour wait at Delta baggage desk. Delta never received the bag from WestJet in Vancouver.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I just got off the phone with Delta Baggage. When the call started the agent knew nothing more than what I was told 20 hours ago. He did some investigation over about 15 minutes including calling Kelowna airport and found out nothing. Then his system refreshed with a notice that the bag had been turned over to MBI Baggage Services at LAX. That means it should be delivered during their working hours up to 10PM.

While on hold this Pocket headline story Why Flying Sucks So Much caught my eye. That story is specific to why flying in Canada sucks so much! I can hear James chortling already. This will never happen to him. When he gets around to skiing western Canada, my guess is that he will fly to Spokane and drive across the border.

I have had three round trips to western Canada on WestJet since 2023 and bags have been lost of 3 of the 6 routes. And the locals all say Air Canada is worse. On one of my first trips up there in 1999 Air Canada lost our ski bags for two days. Remember Canadian eclipse chaser Stephen Bedingfield's version of Air Canada's corporate motto:

We're not happy until you're not happy!

We have not heard from EMSC recently. Using a U.S. carrier did not improve his recent travel to Canada vs. my experiences.

 

[EMSC]

My update is quite simple: No bag.

I've purchased some stuff, still more to go. Surprisingly expensive to replace a couple of items mid-season at full retail, though I was also surprised how poor the selection was in certain ski shops. So a couple more things will get ordered online for those things which I don't overly like when size and precise fit are so important. Sure you can still return stuff, but its a definite added hassle to the already big hassle of replacing a big portion of my ski clothing.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Ski bag was delivered just now. I looked at WestJet schedule. My guess is that it went out on a flight to Calgary yesterday afternoon, then on the evening nonstop to LAX. So Delta knew nothing when we landed because it was probably still in Canada. The Calgary flight landed 9:45PM, which means the baggage delivery service won't take it until the next day because they don't operate after 10PM. Of course no one at LAX would consider calling the phone number on a name tag on an unclaimed bag....

 

[ChrisC]

Yep. Flight arrived at DIA ~11pm Monday night. Still getting daily emails with essentially no information. "Not Yet. Our search efforts continue...". I'm pretty confident at this point that I will never see it again. When I filed my complaint they said the system showed no tracking updates since I checked into Kelowna. So no one scanned the bag on the plane in Kelowna, off the plane in Seattle (I carried the dumb bag through customs in Seattle), etc... So who knows what they did with the bag at the bag re-check just after customs...

Ski bag was delivered just now. I looked at WestJet schedule. My guess is that it went out on a flight to Calgary yesterday afternoon, then on the evening nonstop to LAX. So Delta knew nothing when we landed because it was probably still in Canada. The Calgary flight landed 9:45PM, which means the baggage delivery service won't take it until the next day because they don't operate after 10PM. Of course no one at LAX would consider calling the phone number on a name tag on an unclaimed bag...

You guys should invest in some Apple AirTags - or similar. I have a few to keep in my wallet, keys, workbag, luggage #1 wheeled carry-on, and luggage #2 ski bag.

For example, when I check a bag at the airport, I can watch it travel through its innards. Also, I get notified when it comes back within 150 feet of me. When I get on a plane, I can tell if its been loaded with a notification. Or when the ski bag (or carry-on overstuffed/checked)
enters the plane, I get a notification that the bag is again within 150 feet of me. It's my private luggage tracking system.

For example, I flew home from Telluride over Memorial Day .... Montrose-Denver-SFO. My bag actually made an earlier flight from Denver to SFO while I did my 75 min layover. I could tell it arrived in San Francisco before me and had already been collected by Luggage Service as unclaimed.

My keys can fall out of my pocket at the gym when I am doing any decline exercise, and it's easy to find where they fell out.

My wallet can float around.

For $100 for 4 or so, it's invaluable for me and my forgetfulness.

Using FindMy.... App, EMSC could likely see exactly the city/location to a block where the bag is currently. Tony could watch his bag fly back to LAX. Again, there are so many iPhones out there with the FindMy app enabled that you will get a ping.

I used Tile (pre-AirTag) and its network was not as good.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Liz bought air tags a year ago. They are in our big suitcases used for Africa last June and for India next week. She put one in her small suitcase for Canada but of course it was not that bag that was misplaced either way last week. All 4 bags will have air tags for India/Uzbekistan.

 

[EMSC]

so many iPhones out there with the FindMy app enabled that you will get a ping.

I'm debating which route to go as I do not have Apple. That said, my son does have an Apple phone so I may still use airtags and assign them to his ID so that at least I can see where they currently are. Other option is to go with an android usable tracker, but actual tracking is much worse as with the Tile trackers.

So, worse tracking, but on my own device; or much better tracking but my son is the only one who can see it seem to be my options. Next flying trip isn't until March for me so I have time to decide.

 

[Tony Crocker]

We are on the tarmac at James’ favorite airport Heathrow waiting to take off for India.

Good news: Plane from LAX landed at least half an hour early.
Bad news: Gate bridge was broken so we stayed on the plane at least half an hour while they tried to fix it. Eventually they brought out a ladder and we deplaned in the drizzle and got on a bus.
Good news: Arriving and departing flights were in the same terminal.
Bad news: I’ve probably never walked as far within one terminal. Lounge and gate were at opposite ends of Terminal 3.

And Heathrow still has the bizarre practice of not posting departure gate numbers until about an hour before departure. And of course they start boarding about 10 minutes later.

 

[Tony Crocker]

We were exposed to recent airline lounge pecking orders at Heathrow.

There’s an AMEX lounge which I can use with my Reserve card. But Liz’ Gold card isn’t good enough. They wanted 35 pounds to let her in.

So we next went to Virgin Atlantic’s lounge. They are a close Delta partner and I’m currently Delta Platinum. Nope, in addition to status you can’t be on an economy ticket and use that lounge.

So they directed us to the Aspire lounge, not sure what criteria there were. It was crowded but we got seats, some food and drink and WiFi before the 20 minute trek to our gate.

Yes, First World Problems vs. other stories in this thread. Liz checked our air tags and all bags made it to London.

 

[tseeb]

When we flew SFO-LHR-Edinburgh on British Airways in Sept. it took a long time to get our carry-ons through security at Heathrow as they were a lot pickier than in US. We had to go through security even though I don't think we changed terminals. And any gels they found in carryon had to go into a machine to be tested for explosives. On the return British Airways put a hole in the only bag we checked. They replaced it with something similar, giving me choices between several colors and sizes.

Our flight from San Diego to PVR on 1/18 arrived a half hour early, but there were no gates available, so by the time we deplaned we were no longer early. I think we were unloaded on stairs before and bused to terminal on previous trips. They are building another terminal, but it will not be done soon.

We've had airtags in our checked bags for a couple of years. We also have one on our dog's collar. But it was the tag with her name and our phones numbers that caused someone to call us during lunch the first full day we were in Hawaii in Oct. The airtag showed she was a mile from our son's place, but she had only gotten out of gate in neighborhood where he was visiting someone and she was found.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Heathrow still has the bizarre practice of not posting departure gate numbers until about an hour before departure.

A bit apples and oranges but in a similar vein (something that annoys me and thousands of other people every day), Penn Station NYC posts train times only ten minutes before departure. Everyone is staring at the display signs in hoards waiting for their track assignment and when it goes up, there's often a stampede effect. It's one thing for commuters, who are usually only carrying backpacks or briefcases, but can be challenging for people on long-distance Amtrak trains schlepping suitcases.

As I understand it, the reason is that Penn Station isn't a terminus like Grand Central -- whose 67 tracks provide enough capacity to allow passengers to calmly board a train parked in the station well before departure (like in Europe) -- but a through-station where incoming and outgoing trains need to be constantly maneuvered across only 21 tracks. In any case, it's unfortunate for Penn Station riders because train travel is otherwise so much more civilized and pleasant than planes.