Bridal Gown Vanishes From US Airways During Flight To Wedding
Jenn is from the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and lives in Pennsylvania. She held her wedding in her hometown, and eight days before the wedding, she flew down to prepare. Her wedding gown didn't make it. Someone stole the gown out of her checked baggage.
On May 1, I traveled via US Airways to my hometown on the Outer Banks of NC for my wedding, which was May 9. I carefully folded up my wedding dress and packed it inside a suitcase, and checked it. That was an incredibly stupid move on my part. At the airport in Pittsburgh, they asked for volunteers to take the next flight out in exchange for a free round trip ticket for future use, as they had overbooked. I happily volunteered, because my layover in Charlotte was going to be 4 hours long, and I would still be on the same connecting flight. I thought it was a great deal for me.
When I arrived in New Bern, NC my luggage had somehow arrived before me, and I had to retrieve it from the baggage office. When I picked up the bag, I nearly fell over because I expected it to be about 25 pounds heavier than it was. I opened the bag in front of the desk agents and inside was the ripped open garment bag, complete with broken zipper and a broken hanger. There was no dress. My mother, who picked me up at the airport, was as calm as possible when she explained to the agent that my wedding was 8 days away, and how were they going to proceed with finding my dress. The response started with "Well, are you sure you packed it?" (Yes. It's my WEDDING. I'm certain that I did not absentmindedly leave the dress behind.) then progressed to "Well, we didn't lose your dress, we have nothing to do with that,"
and finally to "We can fill out a report, and you can expect a phone call tomorrow."Tomorrow came, but there was no phone call. I called them around 3pm, and was told that they couldn't find a file with my name or with the file number I was provided with, and it can take up to a week before the pilfered bag reports even get into their system.
Yes, Consumerist. I was told that despite the fact that my wedding was now 7 days away, it would be about 7 days before they would even BEGIN investigating my missing dress.
For those who don't know, formal wedding gowns are very complicated. Finding one straight off of a rack is difficult, especially in a tiny town with the nearest chain bridal shop (David's Bridal) being over 2 hours away. First, the gal finds the dress she wants. It more or less never fits perfectly, so she has to take it to be altered, which can take several weeks to complete. For my dress, it had been taken up 4 inches, the train had a bustle installed, the halter neck had to be shortened, and the torso of the dress had to be taken out a full two inches for a total cost of nearly $300. The dress itself cost nearly $700. And now, US Airways was telling me I was SOL, and I was going to have to find another dress in just a couple of days, as it was already about 4pm when I got off the phone, the following day was Sunday, and I'd need at least 2 days for alterations.
My mother, my aunt and I scoured stores for a couple of days looking for ANYTHING that would suffice as a wedding dress. We came up empty handed until Tuesday afternoon, when we found a dress at a bridal shop that was my size. It was, by no means, a dress I would have chosen in any other situation, but because of the urgency of the situation, I was forced to take whatever I could get. We found a seamstress in a neighboring town who was willing to do the necessary alterations in a huge rush for an exorbitant amount of money, and I was able to pick up the dress the morning of the wedding.
My new husband and I returned from NC yesterday. I stopped by the baggage office at the Pittsburgh airport and asked them about it, but they hadn't heard anything about it. I called US Airways again when I got home, and there is STILL no record of anything.
I'm not sure where to go from here. I have receipts for everything. Both dresses, all alterations, both sets of shoes and undergarments, etc. Is small claims court the best route to take?
Jenn admits that putting the gown in checked luggage was a mistake. Still, that doesn't give someone with access to luggage a license to steal her gown, and airline employees seem to have thrown up their hands. Her dress hasn't turned up yet. What do you, the readers, suggest? Other than virtually smashing wedding cake in airline executives' faces with an EECB.
(Photo: Corey Ann)
Post a comment
Comments:
How would a wedding dress fit without being ruined in most carry on bags?
Contact the dress maker/seamstress with an explanation and see if they have anything that will be close to the size and style that can be fitted shipped to you. They should have your measurements on file still... It may cost but perhaps some of the costs can be recouped in a year or two from US Airways... Bwwwaa HAHAHA couldn't hold that one in!
When I flew to Vegas to elope, I brought with me my "wedding dress" (a white bridesmaid's dress). I called ahead to the airline (Continental) about bringing it; they said to just ask a flight attendant to hang it up for me when I boarded. So, I packed the dress in its garment bag and headed for the airport. I asked again at check in about storing it, and was told the same thing -- just ask a FA to hang it up for you. "The flight's not even that full." Guess what? Boarded the plane and the FA told me, "Sorry, all the coat space is filled up. You should have checked it."
Check my wedding dress? O RLY?
In the end, a kindly FA took pity on me and let me travel with it folded in my lap.
Poor thing! I, too, live in PA and flew to NC for my wedding. I spent $200 shipping everything, including my dress, down to NC via FedEx. My fiancé thought I was being paranoid. How the heck have we gotten to this situation where it's not only a given that your valuables will be stolen from you, but also a given that the airlines won't care?
I shipped my gown to Vegas in advance. I was just on a flight where the FA found empty overhead space (wayyy in the back) for someone's gown.
That being said, this sucks. I would be heartbroken.
Anything I value I ship UPS or FedEx. In the 19 years I've been using UPS, they have lost two packages. We're talking an average of 4-5 boxes a day here. The airline luggage handlers are typically the scum of the earth (a disproportionate ratio anyway) and are not to be trusted at all with anything of value.
@acknight: That's just it. I don't know about hers, but mine is a pretty simple, not-poofy dress and I still don't think I could reliably get it in carry-on. The best way I could think of transporting it by air would be in one of those garment bag suitcases, the hard folding kind. And those almost always need to be checked.
I sincerely hope that she or her mother had a cell phone with camera capabilities on them when retrieving the suitcase, and took pictures of the clearly-damaged empty garment bag right there in the luggage office.
(Funnily enough, I also know exactly where New Bern is. That's where my soon-to-be mother-in-law is originally from. And it really is the middle of nowhere. Absolutely gorgeous place for a wedding, but yeah, definitely not a good place to be needing a last-minute anything.)
US Airways should be held responsible #1. While the luggage was in their possession, they should be held accountable for it. That's a no brainer.
I don't know much about wedding dresses, but I would do my very best to find a replacement and charge US Airways for both the missing dress and the new one. I wouldn't hesitate to take it to court to get the money if it comes to that.
I know that if I was in a jury and heard something like this, I would be siding with the bride!
sometimes i see in airports a place where people can get their suitcases wrapped up in 20-something layers of plastic wrap. is that an acceptable solution? if you get your suitcase wrapped and it arrives open with stuff missing, do people have any available repercussions then?
i think from now on, whenever i have anything valuable, i'm going to take it with me on board. Or ship it, with insurance.
Who steals wedding gown? There isn't a resale value on it or anything like that...is there?
USAir will no doubt recite some policy about how their liability is limited to $300 or some ridiculous figure. I particularly love how their corporate policy limits their ability to care.
@Etoiles:
I'm the person who sent this into Consumerist.
The dress was this one: [www.bestbridalprices.com]
I placed it in it's white garment bag, folded it and got it into the (rather large) suitcase. I had an appointment at a local shop to have it steamed to be nice and wrinkle free for pick up before the wedding.
It didn't even occur to me to take photos of the empty suitcase. I did, however, open the bag in full view of US Airways employees. I also have receipts for both dresses, both sets of alterations, etc.
So the garment bag was clearly torn open, yet the agent thought it was a case of forgetfulness. What kind of bloody moron sees evidence like that and thinks that blaming the victim will actually work? If this weren't US Airways we were discussing, I would suspect that the bureacracy was a cover-up, rather than sheer incompetence.
A few days ago there was a cop who checked a bag containing his gun; of course it was stolen. He called the police where he flew out of and they investigated immediately. A dress isn't a gun and you're probably not a cop, but I say that when someone steals from you, call a cop. And keep calling until they take it seriously. My wedding dress wasn't awesome but I would have cut anyone who tried to take it from me the week before my wedding.
Reading this story made me want to cry because if this happened to me, I'd be sobbing, I'd be extremely angry, and I'd be readying my lawyer for the battle ahead. But I think I'd just be so upset and sad first. Poor OP. Hope the wedding went nicely even without the perfect dress. As a former bride, I know all too well how much effort goes into finding the one dress that you love so much and makes you all giddy.
@pezstar: Yeah, that would definitely be hard to get into a carry-on.
As someone planning a wedding for early this fall, I am so sorry you went through this, BTW. It's exactly the kind of thing even a mild-tempered mild-mannered bride really needs NOT to happen. I hope that everything else about the day went well!
I don't know this person, and I probably never will.
But I want to punch whoever took her dress in the face.
Hopefully US Airways will pay more attention to this woman's problem and at least make some sort of effort here. Man she was never even told they were taking it seriously.
@rawsteak: Wouldn't that count as locking the luggage? I thought in order to prevent terrorism all checked baggage had to be unlocked so that they could be "inspected" if the need arises.
@rawsteak: When something is stolen from a suitcase, the airline blames the TSA and the TSA blames the airline. (Shrink wrap or not.) That's where the real mess starts to happen.
This is PRECISELY the reason that all my photo gear goes with me on the plane in my Pelican roller.
Airlines get away with way too much bullshit; be it retarded baggage policies, retarded baggage checking fees, retarded fees in general or downright brazen inhuman "service."
It pains me to see something like this happen, as I've experienced the airline theft debacle first-hand, but can't even imagine the suffering she is going through right now.
@ospreyguy: The problem is that the dress alterations took weeks. You want to pay for another $700 dress and try to fit in weeks of alterations in one week?
Also, the wedding is over.
@Papercutninja: Heck yeah there is, you could sell it on eBay for several hundred dollars, even altered, especially since it hasn't been worn.
I suspect airlines do not have any more or less, exceptionally pleasant or abhorrently dishonest people than any other service industry sector. The need to complain, point fingers and affix blame is also quite universal. Life is filled with disappointments and events that fail to turn out the way we would like. How we decide to go forward and conduct our lives after an event like this a personal choice. ...As is happiness.
There absolutely is a resale market on Ebay. If I was the OP, I'd be monitoring Ebay for the next few months. Chances are it will show up.
that is horrible and another agonizing part to me seems the person who did a rush job on the alterations would charge an arm and a leg. Do people have no compassion anymore.
@AstroPig7: I don't know, it sounds like they were already trying to pass the buck from the second it seemed there was an issue
When my husband and I flew to Vegas to get married last year, I made sure that one of our carry-ons was just our wedding stuff (my dress, his shirt, pants and tie, our shoes, etc.), because I was worried that something like this would happen. I'm a big worrier, so it gave me a lot of peace of mind to know that even if NWA had lost all of our clothing, we'd still be able to get married and look great.
What a terrible tale! I hope they see the story and make amends. US Airways should definitely pay your for both of your wedding dresses and, at the very least, give you and your husband free round trip tickets to anywhere in the world. If they don't, sue those jerks.
I had a destination wedding in Mexico, and I brought my dress on the plane with me. It was small and light, and I hung it in the front of the plane. I was still paranoid the entire trip that something strange would happen. I couldn't imagine!
TSA thieves strike again.
This is getting ridiculous. The Airlines don't care that their employees steal crap left and right. Working in an airport means you basically have free reign to steal expensive crap. Because they won't do diddly squat about it.
This shit needs to change.
@Tambar:
I agree. File a police report. If nothing else, maybe it'll light a fire under the airline.
When I flew home for my wedding there was another girl carrying her dress, unfortunately there was no closet on that plane so I put it in the overhead on top of the other bags, it actually worked perfectly, though I'm 5 feet tall :)
Start checking ebay and craigslist for your dress.
@AstroPig7:
Oh dear me I must have packed the shreaded garment bag instead of the dress. Happens to every one.
You know that a little compassion and effort goes a long way. Right now we could be reading about how a wedding dress was lost but USAir really tried everyting to help.
So why are we failing again.
@joellevand: The only way to absolutely be sure you'll get to use the closet for something is to have a first class seat, so you're the first to board. Not very realistic, I know. When I brought my guitar from my parents house to my home (Atlanta to Chicago), I got lucky - my mom had used her frequent flier miles for me and, for some reason, for the return flight, they would only let her book first class. The agent at the gate only let me through because, when she asked "Did they let you bring that on board on your way here?" I said "yes." However, the FAs were super-nice about storing it, but no one was on the plane yet.
I really hope the OP gets something from TSA or US Airways.
Maybe this type of thing will lead to the death of airlines, and train travel will have a resurgence.
@Murph1908: The OP absolutely needs to contact the police within the appropriate jurisdiction.
I was reading an article about what happened at Portland (@ PDX, a serial luggage thief was busted). Does a fitted wedding dress have that much value on the street?
@ratsafari: You know that there's more effort to alterations than just snipping here and sewing there? Because alterations can take a lot of time, people book in advance. I started my alterations two months before my wedding because each round of trying on the dress would probably result in something else being done, which may take another week.
And if you get a rush job...guess what? Your finely tuned schedule is at risk because now you have an additional client who needs their dress in two days, and any time spent not handling normal business now has to be spent working on this one dress. Rush jobs aren't cheap because the seamstress (or the tailor) has to cram a week of work into two days, when their schedule was laid out for X amount of clients and X amount of work.
I'm not trying to blame the OP, far from it. But I understand the reasons why a seamstress or a tailor charges a lot for rush jobs.
@Real Cheese Flavor: You are permitted to lock your luggage. They recommend you use a TSA-approved lock (which the TSA can open & relock) but you can use any lock you wish, though you run the risk that the lock may be cut off.
The saran wrap/shrink wrap method is pretty common in other countries. Many airports actually have a stand where you can pay to have your bags wrapped.
I rarely, if ever, check luggage, but when I do, I want to do everything I can to dissuade thieves from breaking into my luggage. That means I use accepted methods of securing my bags that can't be breached quickly. If a bag looks like it will take longer to get into, a thief is more likely to turn to the easy-to-open bag. That means I use TSA-approved locks on my bag, I use a luggage strap to encircle the entire bag, and I use plastic ties or twist ties to further secure each zipper. Sure, a determined thief could break into my bag, but it would take them a few seconds longer than an unlocked bag. I hope time factor would make a thief look elsewhere.
On a related/unrelated topic: Wedding insurance should cover the cost of this theft. Your homeowner's insurance policy might also cover the loss. Although the claim might not be processed immediately, at least you know you'd recoup some of the cost if you were unable to recoup it from the airline.
@pezstar:
Pez, this story cries out for local media coverage. I'm sure a bridal shop and some local seamstresses would step for the feel-good publicity.
Good luck.
@Tambar: The thing with firearms is that they suddenly become a federal issue if one is lost/stolen. Regardless of whether he is a cop or not, the TSA and sometimes ATF instantly get involved and someone gets burned. Badly.
A good trick I learned to help protect your baggage is to put a flare gun in it. It's not a real "gun" but has to be treated as such and will get people in trouble if they open your luggage at all without being in your presence.
@tinyhands: I am sure thats what they'll do. However when somebody TOOK THE DRESS OUT and then CLOSED THE SUITCASE...yeah well sorry no. Those policies (which alone are ridiculous) are meant for damaged luggage. This is direct theft by an employee. They are responsible 100%. I smell small claims court!
OK, it sucks and shouldn't have happened, but *suffering*?
There are kids in Africa who are suffering. This is just a minor inconvenience.
My Wife and I went through quite the hassle of carrying on her wedding dress and my tux last summer. It was worth it to not worry about it, but there are so many complications to do this as well.
If the TSA needed to open the bag, I would have had to leave somehow so as not to see it. We brought an extra pair of both latex and nitrile gloves so that they wouldn't use their dirty gloves searching it (it is an ivory dress!). In the end, it was worth it as it went without a hitch (besides our marriage), but it could have been much worse. Wedding dresses are heavy (30 lbs of silk!) and puffy (lots of toile!).
That's just AWFUL. And I love how they had no record of her complaint in the system the next day. EECB them, Jenn!!