Airlines & Luggage

I LOVE to travel. Can't get enough of it. I dream of seeing the world. The problem is that I also dream of having my luggage travel with me. The world's airlines don't share that particular dream. My bags have been lost 11 times. I am not a travelling salesperson, so it's not like I'm on a plane every week. Eleven times is excessive when you only fly 5 - 8 times a year!

I remember the first time. I was coming home from Xmas in Ohio. My friend Mike was picking me up at the airport. There's nothing quite so pathetic as standing at the baggage carousel alone--everyone else got their suitcases, left the airport, and the carousel slowly stopped. No more bags. Mike finally had to come into the airport to see what was taking so long. He found me in the bag claim office, near hysteria. After filling out the forms, we went home. He called his wife and said "Honey, Maggie didn't get her suitcase. She's hysterical. I'm gonna sit here and have a beer with her." She understood. Thank God for good friends. My bag arrived hours later, at 1am.

The most memorable time it happened was in Athens, Greece. I flew there directly from Dublin, Ireland. No layovers. Nowhere to misplace a freakin' bag. No reason except the incredible incompetency of the baggage personnel in Athens. There were a lot of us without luggage that day. They don't speak English at the airport in Athens. I don't speak Greek. Neither did the other passengers. So everyone just talked a lot LOUDER. Basically everyone was screaming at each other. But it worked. British Airlines dropped my suitcase off the following day at the hotel as I was drinking wine atop the Acropolis.

The worst time was on Delta. Don't fly Delta. I never will again. As President of my alumni chapter, I flew into Cincinnati for a leadership conference at Miami University. Hadn't been there for a while and was looking forward to being back on campus. My bag had been lost one month earlier, on Delta, via Atlanta on a business trip to Hartford. I figured there was no way they could do it to me twice in a month at the same layover. I was wrong. It was finally the straw that broke the camels back. I was beyond hysterical--especially after my bag arrived at the hotel at 2am and I discovered things had been stolen from it. I called Delta in the morning. I won't go into details here but all the call center clerk in India kept saying was "Ma'am, there's no reason for profanity." Oh yes, there was.

I've flown since, but haven't checked a bag. I certainly couldn't chance it flying with my bridesmaid dress for my brother's wedding, or going back to Ohio with Christmas gifts. Kind of afraid to go on a ski or golf trip now. If my beloved X-Scream skis or King Cobra and Taylormade clubs didn't show up, I'd kill someone.

I have many more stories about standing alone at baggage carousels. I'll post them here every so often. It'll be the basis for the travel book I should write someday.

I'm getting on a plane again in a few weeks--with my carry-on bag.