Lost and Found

My bag didn't show up the next morning, Surprise. I figured the courier didn't want to do the night ride and being the wise person, I purchased an outfit at Wally's. I also picked up the basic survival supplies, so I was ready for my day. When I returned back to my hotel, the bag still had not arrived.

I called the baggage people and asked what was going on. I knew there was a problem when they didn't need my claim ID number. I simply gave them my name and the buck passing started. How two people who started in different airports and ended in different airports got each others luggage was a puzzle that demanded unraveling. Here is the story.........

When I checked in at the airport and got my boarding passes and bag tags, a lady in Las Vegas was doing the same. The print command for the bag tags hit the network at the exact same moment and some how got swapped when routed back to the airport printers. Since it was the lovely bar code that only computers can read nobody knew the difference. My bag, unknown to me or the airline, was now listed as someone else's at a completely different airport and a different destination. She arrived at her destination first passing through Phoenix. I arrived at my destination two hours later passing through Phoenix. Phoenix was where the mix up got mixed up. The baggage handlers bar code reader said it need to go to San Antonio, so off it went. As the lady in the story waited for her little blue and black bag, unknown to her the big brown and black bag was now assigned to her. As she filled out a missing bag report a baggage attendant brought in a bag with her name assigned to it, MINE. Reading the ID card on the bag confirmed that this was not her bag. Hence the call to me.

The Rest Of The Story: The lady that answered the phone said, "Didn't someone call you and inform you that your bag was in San Antonio?"
"Yes," I told her, "that was yesterday. Why isn't my bag here, today?"
"She was supposed to call you today and tell you," she said.
"Listen," I said. "That bag was to be flown here last night and delivered to my hotel early this morning. Why is it still in Texas?"
"Well Sir..........." There was a long pause. "It was here last night but the tag said it belonged in San Antonio so we sent it back. The people there put a rush lost bag tag on it but the old tag was still there. The new tag came off somehow and since the old tag was still there........."
"That's just great," I said. "Could you possibly tell me how much longer my bag is going to tour America in your planes before you finally get board with this game and deliver it to my hotel?"
"It will be back here tonight," she said, " about midnight. Everyone here in baggage has been told to look out for your bag. We will send it priority courier up to you so it is there when you wake up in the morning."
"Great, that would be wonderful." I hung up the phone. I decided to make another trip to Wally's and buy another outfit. I had a lack of trust and didn't want this to effect the business I was in town for.

I called the desk at 5:30am and to my amazement my luggage had finally arrived. I now had my winter coat that I was in serious need of. Wally's was only stocking spring attire and a light windbreaker and a sweater wasn't doing it for me.

When I go home, I plan on asking the clerks at flight check in to verify my bag code. I also plan on asking for all the mileage my bag racked up to be added to my account. I might as well get something out of all the chaos.