I wasn't planning on tagging along with Brad and Steven to LA, but Steven convinced me that I needed the miles, and I've never been, so I decided to go last minute. Steven had this crazy itinerary (YYZ->IAD->SFO->LAX) and SOMEHOW convinced me to tag along with him (I am not the biggest fan of layovers).
I recently acquired the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer credit card (for the 35K bonus signup miles), which gives me a free checked bag. The three of us didn't know if we wanted to check a bag because of all of the layovers, but at the same time realized we didn't want to carry a bag through all of the layovers, so I decided to bring my big suitcase and go crazy on overpacking.
Sidenote: I'm an insane over-packer. I will packing multiple options of clothing for each day, and end up wearing a fraction of what I brought, but the comfort of knowing I have options makes me happy.
So after packing all of my favorite shirts and shoes, I left some room for my North Face jacket because we were taking the subway/bus to the airport and were going to be outside for a short period and I didn't want to freeze. Less than an hour before we were going to leave for the airport, I received a notification that our flight was going to be delayed. Knowing that we weren't going to make our connection we called and United rerouted us through Chicago instead of Washington, but still had a connection in San Francisco.
We arrived at YYZ and as I realized the importance of getting Nexus as I waited in line for over an hour to get through customs (I'll write about Nexus later). After checking my bag and going through security, I met Steven in the lounge for a quick beer and headed to the gate. We arrived around boarding time, and after about 30 minutes realized that THIS flight was delayed also. We called again and they put us on a direct flight from Chicago to LA.
Fine, ok, let's do this already.
Flights weren't bad. I watched some Dexter. Steven slept. We ate at the food court in Chicago and hung out in the lounge.
We arrived in LA a little late (about 30 minutes) and headed to the baggage claim. We were the first to arrive and for shits-and-giggles decided to look up our luggage tag number to make sure it made it. It read, "Your luggage will arrive on carrousel 3." Perfect. So we waited, and slowly all of the luggage started coming out. After about 30 minutes, I was staring at the baggage claim, not paying attention to my surroundings and more so focused on the luggage ramp, the United employee goes "HEY! You're luggage not come out? Come look over here." I looked around and there wasn't anymore luggage coming out.
We go over, nothing.
We decided to look it up on the scanner again while we waited to talk to an employee. "Your was delivered to carrousel 3." No it wasn't, you liar.
We talked to the lady at the desk. She was very helpful and said, "Maybe they're in the back. Let's go look!" After scouring the back luggage office, where lost luggage goes to die, we couldn't find our luggage.
We filled out a lost luggage claim and they sent us on our way, saying that most of the time it's a "bag-swap" or something, where people take the wrong ones home.
We called United, and they said we could get $100 worth of reimbursement for essentials and clothes. Okay sounds good, let's go shopping.
Friday we went to American Eagle, cheap shirts, underwear, socks, just to get the essentials so we weren't wearing the same dirty skibbies.
We called United a couple of times to try and see if there was any sort of an update. None. We didn't lose hope though, and definitely didn't let it ruin the trip.
We went out for dinner at Villa Blanca, SO good, and afterwards decided to head to the airport to see if they had shown up yet. We walked in, explained the situation, looked in the backroom again, nothing. The lady we were talking to was extremely nice, and asked one of the people in back, and immediately the other lady's response was, "Yeah we have these marked as a possible theft." After 24 hours already saying they thought they were stolen?! They advised us to make a police report with LAPD (There's a tiny little trailer right next to the United terminal) so they could look at tapes and such. We filed one, and headed back to the hotel.
So now it's Saturday and we needed more clothes and stuff, so I called and asked for more reimbursement money. They gave us $200 each! So again, Saturday was spent shopping (which is totally fine by me). The crazy thing was, when I called the customer service agent said, "Let me call LAX for an update." When she came back she goes, "Yeah bad news." Obviously. Followed by, "Maybe a crew member stole them." Well I'd hope not!
After that call we made the decision that they were going to be lost forever. I didn't have anything worth a tremendous amount of value in there. The luggage itself, clothes, my favorite watch, couple pairs of shoes, mine and Steven's jacket. Everyone has been extremely nice. I don't blame United. I truly think someone took them after they were scanned off the carrousel. Now comes the tedious task of writing down everything that was in there, how much it cost, when it was purchased, and anything over $100 has to have a receipt. I'm too tired to even start it tonight, so I'll do it tomorrow after work.
Moral of the story: Things happen, things get lost, things get stolen, but they're just things. No one wants to lose their clothes and luggage and belongings, but there are many people out there with a lot less than me. So, I'll roll with the punches and deal with it. It didn't ruin my trip at all, and now I get to shop for a whole new summer wardrobe!
