Travel Detective Blog: Where in the World is Peter Greenberg’s Lost Luggage?

You should have known that any girl name Yoko is trouble. 

Go get ‘em, Peter!

What a nightmare! I guess if it was going to happen to me, I’d prefer it after my trip, than before.  Be safe on your travels to Cairo.

You would never have a wait at customs if you applied for Global Entry.

Gotta say, I’m sorry this happened to you, but this is the funniest story I’ve read on this site in a long time. Really enjoyed it. I mean, you don’t mess with Peter Greenberg! 

 I love the way you write, you have such a wonderful way of showing your aggrevation inch by inch and keeping the reader right there with you. I can’t wait for the next chapter…

I’m a little confused. You know there is carry-on and lost, and you chose not to carry on?

Granted you were given bad info, but I doubt that bags are tracked like UPS or Fed-Ex shipments in that the scan the tag as the bag comes off plane A and then onto plane B. So if this is the case, all the agent in Japan has is that your bags are “in the system” and thus should be on board.

But, in answer to your question, I have had checked bags get lost flying from the US to Geneva Switzerland via London Heathrow (hand-off from American to British Air). This was about 15 years ago, and as a result I basically never check bags. I had a similar issue in getting reunited with the luggage as we drove from Geneva to Genoa Italy (bag didn’t get there), then drove to Florence Italy. After 48 hours in Florence with no bags, I drove out to the airport and while I was told the bags were not there, I talked my way into the luggage storage room and was able to find our luggage with our names and baggage tags on it. Whoever was working there (wasn’t an American employee as they didn’t even fly to Florence) wasn’t doing their job because they should have called me anr/or delivered my luggage.

Anyway, lost luggage happens, and is no fun — especially when it chases you as you move from place to place.

I did have one other time where a bag was gate checked and wasn’t at the arrival (checked thru connection to final destication), but bag was delivered by Vern the next morning (I think it was Christmas Eve day).

I hope you find your luggage. 
I have a pretty good luggage story too. When I was 14, my family and I were moving to Canada. Basically, we had all of our belongings packed into big suitcases travelling with us. Of course, the luggage got lost – so there we were, starting a new life in Canada with a little carry-on bag and a couple of Duty-Free purchases. We had to buy all the stuff again (including basic things like toiletries and clothes). 
Luckily, this story has a happy ending – it took them a couple of weeks, but they found our luggage.  

The level of customer service you received from American Airlines doesn’t surprise me! On a recent flight from Heathrow to Chicago a fellow passenger’s entertainment screen wasn’t working. When she asked the steward for help, the response was ‘I’m not a technician’! The steward continued to explain that they used to have technicians on flight but cutbacks meant the customer would have to do without!

Peter — you should be writing comedy!!! (But I do feel your well-founded frustration).

Actually, Peter, EVERYONE has had an experience similar to this sad comedy of errors and horrible service, and the last line of your story sounds awfully self-important, as if you were “that guy” who starts saying “do you know who I am?” over and over – and I don’t think you would do that. You imply that 1) you actually have the power to make this kind of thing stop (no one does, though we do honestly appreciate what you and others do to help) and 2) she should know who you are by now. Why? As a travel critic, shouldn’t you travel incognito so you can report on what it’s like for the rest of us?

I don’t want to defend Yoko’s position, but what exactly did you hope to accomplish by demanding her last name? You were understandably ticked off, but I’m sure Yoko has refused her last name and seen many travelers’ righteous anger before, and she was still there. Any customer service person would see that as an act of aggression and probably be less likely to go the extra mile for you. Seriously, we all appreciate your resistance to being pushed around (i.e., walking back to the other terminal), but sometimes demanding special treatment can backfire. Surely there is a chance that if you had been willing to operate within the existing system – as annoying and inefficient as it may be – instead of escalating it to a supervisor with questionable competence who might have been away from her desk, things might have worked out better.

Also, we all love a good joke and some attitude in the prose, but why at the expense of the driver who actually has to deliver 85 bags after the last flight gets in? These are mom-and-pop shops making an honest living doing a difficult job, and maybe the van is run-down, but do your clothes care? Maybe the bag delivery system is imperfect, but should we really fight for airlines to hire more drivers in their own livery? That’s another cost they’ll pass on to the customers.

I hope that you emailed this little ditty to American Airlines, with the link to your website.  Yoko is not an employee, rather a machine.  Pity on her.

Tom,

Perhaps Peter replied to you directly, but from this post it does not appear that he identified himself as anything other than a passenger with lost luggage.  I suspect that if he had stamped his foot, flashed his media card and told Yoko that she would be prominently mentioned in his next story that Peter might have seen a marked change in AA’s attitude and handling.

My experience in these situations is that you should try and get as much information from the folks you are dealing with.  There are probably not too many American employees named Yoko, but if it was Mary or Chris then getting a surname would be critical in following up.   Your phone/email/face to face conversations would inevitably begin with ‘Chris who?’ or ‘Which Mary did you speak too?’  Then much time would be wasted as the correct agent was tracked down.

As an employee wearing a tag that says Customer SERVICE Yoko could have averted most of Peter’s rant by doing her her job and responding to Peter’s first inquiry with a friendly ‘I am sorry to hear that Mr. Greenberg.  Can I see your luggage tags?  I would be happy to check that for you!”.   In if fact it was not her actual job to make this inquiry the reply would have been “I am unable to check that for you Mr. Greenberg, but if you wait here I will call someone who can help.”

Cheers,

Matt

From what I’ve learned of customer service reps, I’ll bet “Yoko” is not her real name anyway. I

Her name is: Yoko Ono pronounced”Ohhh Nooooo”

What
you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially
in other people’s minds.  When you’re traveling, you are what you are
right there and then.  People don’t have your past to hold against you. 
No yesterdays on the road.  

The owner of Virgin Atlantic flew on his own airline nonstop (of course) from London to Noooo Yawk. Guess whose bags got lost.