Lost and Found –Tampa to Denver to Miami to Philadelphia

Lost and Found –Tampa to Denver to Miami to Philadelphia  by rl simpson 2/21/2015

They lost my bag on the way home from Florida. It was my good hard sided –robin’s egg blue, four wheel Coleman bag, I used in Alaska. I was upset. I did not check the baggage claim slip, when I walked away from the counter in Tampa. I had showed her my Identification and boarding pass –so when she affixed the claim stickie onto my baggage fee receipt –I thought all was well. NOT. She had renamed me Genevieve Simpson and sent my bag to Denver. I was flying to Philadelphia.

Having no idea my bag was still in the air going to Denver, I waited at the carousel in Philly talking to the Frontiers employee about nonsense things. I asked if she ever thought about which type of suitcase belonged to which various passenger wait around the carousel? She did and so we talked and waited until all but one case had been claimed. Not mine. She gave me a paper to fill out that was a claim, I guess. I only put my parents Pennsylvania address, since I was there for a few days. That is when I discovered the mistake, the baggage receipt was wrong. She had left me the clipboard with over 50 completed claims, while she went on break. She neglected to tell me that and I had no idea where she was. A man came up to me and said his golf clubs had not made it –so I gave him a blank claim form to fill out from the pile –while we waited for the Frontier Rep. When she came back she asked if I had given the man the paper claim he was filing out, I said yes, she nodded and said they would be in touch and turned to walk away. I yelled, “WAIT”.  I asked for a phone number and she gave it , then the golf club guy asked more questions and she asked him to wait while she made a call. We knew then that my bag had been sent to Denver, so I guess I was done. It was icey and cold outside. My sister and her husband had been in the cell phone lot, waiting to pick me up, for over an hour. I called and they picked me up and drove me to my Parents house in Aston. I had left my winter coat and keys with her and my coat was nice and warm. They dropped me off, the driveway was ice so I walked on the grass. As I opened the door I wondered, how long it would take to warm up the house and what was I going to eat. It snowed that night.

I called my Parents in Florida to tell them I arrived and the first thing my Dad said was “ What is your suitcase doing in Denver?’ Apparently, I had put on a luggage tag with my name and email address and cell phone number on one side and my parents name and Florida address and phone number on the other. Yep, they called my parents from Denver about 10:30 pm. The Frontier agent, gave my parents the Philadelphia number and asked me to call the next day. I called the number and got a recording saying the office in Philadelphia was open 2am until 10am Thurs thru Sunday. It was Tuesday. I left about 7 messages. Meanwhile, my Mother is getting calls from various baggage agents saying my bag was being flown to Miami then Phila. It was Wednesday night. Thursday morning, I received a call from Philadelphia as I was walking out the door to go home. The bag had arrived on the 11pm Wednesday flight. Did I want it delivered to Aston or sent by Fed Ex to my South Jersey home? I said “ship it” and gave the address–“I am on my way home”. She asked if I wanted “Genevieve or Robin on the address label?” “I don’t freakin’ care”, and hung up. I got home Thursday.

 Early Friday morning, about 8:30 am, I heard a knock on my door. Got out of bed and looked out my bedroom window, to see what I thought was a van driving away. Now remember my suitcase tag –did not have my address on it, only the phone contact with the agent on Thursday morning had the address. That early Friday morning knock, was my suitcase left on my front step. Fed Ex had pasted a large “OVERNIGHT” sticker on it –I still cannot get it off. Everything inside was fine. My bag had officially been in more cities than I had.

I got an email from Frontier on another cheap flight –I will NEVER fly that airline again –even if the tickets are free.