Unloading My Baggage!

​I haven’t flown American Airlines in a couple of years after I had such an awful experience that I decided to stop using them. But when so much time goes by, it’s easy to forget that they’re just that awful! It’s always things that don’t necessarily ruin my vacation but cause me a lot of stress. Last time, both my flights had major delays, making a long day of traveling just exhausting. And not simply having your flight delayed but being on the tarmac and going back to the gate…on both flights! Second one, we even had to get off and go to another gate and get on a different plane. All in all it added about 3 hours to my travels.
Let’s get back to current events though. I landed in Florida at 9:33 AM, where my aunt is waiting in the cell lot for me to give the signal that I’ve got my luggage in hand, and she should proceed to the curb.
I’m standing at the luggage carousel, watching the bags go around…and around…and around…until I’m now the only one still there. Awesome.
I see a woman removing all the unclaimed bags, walk up to her and simply say “Um, so, what do I do?”
First, she has to finish removing all the luggage from my flight, which seemed like an oddly large number of them. She explained that this is the luggage of the people in my position last night. I help her get the bags off the carousel because I’m feeling more and more badly that my aunt is still waiting for me, and it seems like this is going to take some time. I also can’t just stand around and watch someone work when I can easily help. But mostly it’s because the faster this task is finished, the faster I can be on my way.
There is a pair of women ahead of me, they’re in and out because their bag was in the office. Then the husband of the couple also waiting just steps into the office ahead of me even though I was there first because, well, people are annoying. At least I got to love on their cat while I was waiting where I found out they had been traveling for 26 hours so I totally understand their desire to get home. Doesn’t make it right to jump in front of me, but whatever, I wasn’t going to make a stink about it.
Ok, my turn. She looks up my information and my suitcase is still in North Carolina! For some unknown reason it didn’t get on the same plane as I. Awesome. At least it’s not lost, and will be on a plane that arrives at 3:40 that afternoon and do I want to retrieve it myself or have it delivered? Well, that’s a no brainer! Why would I come all the way back to the airport if I don’t have to?!
I got an email update a few hours later that my bag will be delivered between 6 PM and midnight that day.
It was not. It wasn’t even picked up until 8 PM and they also say anything that would be delivered after 11 PM will be delivered the next day so that time frame of 6 to midnight is just a blanket statement. Which is a little worrisome. So, is it sitting in some person’s vehicle?
I spend the morning walking around in a towel while I wash my clothes because the thought of wearing them for a third day is repulsive.
I got another email update around 10 AM that it’s out for delivery. Hooray! As the hours tick by I’m getting more and more nervous. I understand they have multiple stops to make, but I was feeling like it shouldn’t take 8 hours.
It was Wednesday so I went out to play trivia and was extremely relieved when I got an email while I was out that my luggage had been delivered!! Even more relieved to have it actually be at the house when I got home.
It’s ironic that I haven’t checked a bag in years just for this very reason but I’m getting too old to use a duffle bag packed for a 2-week trip as a carry-on. Maybe if I didn’t have a layover which requires me to walk through a big airport. I also still have stuff in Florida to bring over to Arizona, so I needed a suitcase with extra room. It was a bunch of books and other items I wouldn’t want to have to carry on my shoulder, plus I wasn’t interested in hurting my back! I have enough naturally occurring physical problems, no need to create extra!