Man Leaves Camera In Airport, Then Actually Gets It Back
Reader Mike cc'd us on a complimentary email to Southwest Airlines, which is something that usually doesn't happen when the words "lost and found" are involved. Long story short— he lost his camera and the airline lost his bags — but he managed to get everything back with a minimum of effort. Lucky guy!
Mike writes (to Southwest Airlines):
I recently flew via Southwest for the first time. The Trip from Chicago, IL to Amarillo, TX went quite well, although I had a few problems that were quickly remedied by Southwest, and as such, I feel that you should know this. My first problem was caused by me, and was in no way your fault; I left my camera sitting at the gate in Amarillo, TX. I only realized this 30,000 feet above Texas, when it was far too late to go back and get my camera.
Since I had a connecting flight in Denver, the first thing I did when I arrived was to go to the ticketing agent at my gate in Denver, to see if she could help me at least determine if my bag had been found (which I suspected it had, as the TSA seems to dislike unattended bags). She tried calling Baggage Services at Amarillo, which surprised me, as I expected her to just give me the phone number there, and send me on my way. She was unable to contact them, but was able to give me 2 phone numbers, one for Baggage Services in Amarillo, and another that was Southwest's 800 number. First, I tried calling Baggage Services, and received no response, so I left a voice mail message with my name, phone number, and a description of the problem I had. I then called the 800 number she gave me which was Southwest's main line. There I was directed to another representative that also tried, unsuccessfully, to reach Amarillo, to inform them of the lost bag. In the end, she was only able to take my information, and file a lost and found report, as well as post a message about the missing bag. All told, this only took me about a half an hour of my time; although at this point, I fully expected to not get my camera back, but that was my own fault, and not the airline's.
This is where my second problem occurred, after getting into Chicago (Midway), I waited at the baggage carousel for about 15 minutes (after waiting 20 minutes for one to be assigned to my flight), and after seeing all of the baggage come out, I went to the Midway Southwest baggage services, and filed a claim, which took about 5 minutes.
After all this, I call my dad, to tell him to come pick me up (he was waiting in one of the parking lots at Midway), and while I was waiting, I got a call from Baggage Services in Amarillo stating that they had found my camera, and they could ship it to me, although they needed a FedEx account number, because they needed to ship the camera, they couldn't fly it. Hearing this, I was quite happy, and told them I would call back on Monday with a FedEx account number.
I make it home, and around 8PM that night, I receive another call from Southwest, this time from Midway baggage services, stating that they had found my checked baggage, and they could put it on a van for delivery that would be leaving Midway at 9PM that night, and the delivery window would be 2-4 hours. I told them that I wouldn't be awake, and they said it would be fine to leave the signed baggage claim form on my porch, and they would just leave the bag there. Well, I ended up getting sidetracked while digging through my backpack for the claim form, and forgot to sign it and leave it on the porch. I realized this the next morning when I woke up; I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get my bag back, as I didn't know whom to contact at Southwest about the bag. When I looked on my porch, my bag was there, they had left it, even in spite of my mistake, I had my luggage back, another pleasant surprise.
On Monday, I called back to the baggage services office in Amarillo, and gave them a FedEx account number, and the address they could ship the camera to. Although I asked for, and never received the tracking number, I did receive my camera from FedEx yesterday, and everything is still there in the bag, intact.
(Photo:Zonaphoto)
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Comments:
That's nice. Then again maybe someone just wrote it up as a response to Pecan Pi's request for nice airline/plane stories from the comments in that dead pilot post (I'd link but iPod doesn't have copy and paste).
Either way it's nice that someone will be happy!
Hmm...interesting. Man, I wish this was the rule, and not the exception.
That's because Southwest employs PEOPLE and not evil, selfish, souless, brain-sucking zombies like the jerks who work for United, American (or really any airline in O'Hare). Also, Southwest makes a point of taking care of their people to ensure that they don't turn into the evil, selfish, souless, brain-sucking zombies.
Kudos to Mike for sending a letter complimenting SW on their good work. Too many people only write to complain, but compliments feel good and employees work harder to get some of those compliments for themselves, which means good service for all of us!
@burnedout: I wish I had complimented SW the one time I flew them. We flew out from Orlando on the 4th of July in 2002....they tried to board us so we could take off before T-storms. the tarmac got closed, leaving us on an unfueled, un baggage loaded airplane. Yet we were able to land remarkably close to on time. And the flight was super fun. The flight crew decided to have a trivia contest and other fun things. "Anyone have a bicentennial penny? here are some pilot wings!"
Hubby & I have always had good service with SWA. I actually prefer the no frills, BYO food/entertainment, and they're cheap. We always try to use them when we can.
As for the other airlines, when we've had no choice but to use someone other than SWA, we have always run into problems, canceling flights, losing luggage, etc, etc. (so far, Delta's the worst of the bunch in our experience)
I have flown SWA many times, my hubby did loose his luggage once and it was returned to his parents' house the same way. I always enjoy flying with them. If you ever get a chance fly to Orlando on a Saturday morning, it is a "Disney flight", we had a great time, and we weren't taking any kids. They played games the whole way there.
SWA has always impressed me with their customer service. Our car seat didn't make it onto our flight at the gate check. It looks like someone forgot to put the gate check tag on and it got offloaded during a stop over. We get to our destination in LA, they give us a loaner car seat (which was clean!) and when ours arrived a few hours later they dropped it off at our hotel. They wanted the loaner back but since we were out they asked us to leave it at the front desk when we got back and they would pick it up later that night.
First time I flew with Southwest to Chicago Midway, I left my mp3 player on the plane. I realized later that day. My flight back was in 3 days, and I decided to check out the lost and found there. To my surprise they had my mp3 player (which I secretly hoped I lost so that I could get a new one). The whole thing took me 10 mins. I had read about Southwest in numerous case studies at school, and was able to experience the superior customer service first hand. Good job! I always fly with them!
Having lived in the Dallas area for many years, I've used Southwest frequently and never had any kind of problem.
I fly SWA all the time and have never, ever had a problem.
Once I got back from a flight and noticed that my luggage tag was gone. I figured it had just gone to the big depository of random crap in the sky and got over it. A few days later, I got a envelope from SWA Burbank with my luggage tag and a little note thanking me for my business.
I know Burbank is a pretty small airport but the fact that someone would pick the tag up and think to send it to me (it had my address on it) instead of just tossing it really made me love SWA event more.
@kaceetheconsumer: Actually, I wrote the letter because I wanted the people involved to get some kind of recognition, and I sent the letter to The Consumerist to show that not all airlines are bad. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to send the letter to Southwest, because it's WELL over their 2500 character comment limit, and they list no email addresses by which to contact them.
Oh, and the last time I lost a piece of luggage on an airline, it was United, and that took 4 days to get back to me, so it's not even like this was the first time I've had luggage lost by an airline, but it is the first time they've handled it responsibly.
@sponica: Wow, they managed to send you to your destination on an unfueled airplane? Our energy crisis is solved!
There is a reason why Southwest flourishes when other airlines practically charge you for breathing.
I left my iPhone on the plane a few weeks ago and the flight attendants had it returned to me at baggage claim.
Just a great operation focused on customer service, efficiency and profitability!
Oh, and by the way, it wasn't a point-and-shoot either, it was a Nikon D60, with an extra lens. I'm just happy that it got returned to me, instead of someone running off with it (which they probably could have done pretty easily).
@kaceetheconsumer: I downloaded the 3.0 software update last night - my first gen iPhone now has copy & past...
You're behind the times kaceetheconsumer
MikeW: Though you truly lucked out with the camera not walking away, this is pretty typical of SWA's customer service. This is one of the main reasons SWA has lost money perhaps on one or two quarters during this decade.
Look up Herb Kelleher, sometime. He founded SWA and made it what it is today.
@mikewitt: You can try sending them a link to this Consumerist post.
Kudos on them doing the right thing. I just mailed a paycheck I found on the floor back to the owner. Feels warm and fuzzy to do the right thing :)
Great story, OP! I'm flying SWA for the first time tomorrow morning and stories like these make me happy to give them business.
I've never personally flown SouthWest but I've heard so many good things about them that I'll seriously consider them the next time I fly where they offer service.
I can't think of any other airlines that I'd bother specifically looking into at this point. The others could all learn something from SouthWest.
@pecan 3.14159265: Maybe the man was supposed to take pictures of cute kitties on Southwest flights, but couldn't because he left his camera.
We may be cheap but we keep our customers happy. Glad to hear Mike got to see Southwest's luving feeling in action. :D
That is awesome. It makes me want to fly somewhere on Southwest.
Too bad I don't have any money! (Although I just got a little tiny raise - yaaaay!)
@sponica: SWA is my only US airline.
I have to add, though, that Aerolineas Argentinas found my lost bag in Buenos Ares and drove it out to me in Cordoba (about 1200 miles). They sent a guy in a car. By then, I had bought new clothes and looked like a local. One should never worry while on vacation, just go with the flow.
@cmdrsass: well yeah...they made us wait while they refueled...and put our luggage on the airplane. but wouldn't the alternative have been awesome?
@Joeb5: I'm closer to O'Hare than Midway, but still, it's cheaper to fly with Southwest, and travel the extra 45 minutes. Not to mention security at Midway seems easier to get through (although I did go through it at 4:30am).
This is not unique to Southwest. I left my wallet at the Frontier ticket counter in Tucson. I got a call stating my wallet was there and they would Fedex it to me and if it was okay to use my credit card for shipping. I got it the next day and not one thing was missing, including over $150.00 in cash
I have always flown southwest just because of these reasons.
Never had any bad customer service issues with southwest.
I was surprised when I read the headline. "That never happens!" But then I read that it was Southwest, and I was less surprised, just pleased at their consistently good service. I would also have been nonplussed by JetBlue.
I've only flown Southwest once, but I've heard good things. I had a big family group with us, so we were a bit split, but nothing too problematic.
Also, a SW robot tweeted at me cause I mentioned how I thought their seating policy would lead to meeting strangers and good conversation.
This should probably be an article on it's own, but speaking of cameras... I had a great experience with Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Honolulu, Hawaii. I left our video camera in the console of the car we rented and didn't realize it until I was going through security at the airport. Needless to say, my wife was very upset with me and I freaked out; of course the camera could be replaced, but the 2 hours of video couldn't (unless I wanted to pay for another trip to Hawaii). I contacted the Enterprise office when I got back home the next day, they went out to the car (luckily before it was rented again) and retrieved the camera. The kid that worked there told me he'd be happy to ship the camera back to me in Idaho. To be honest, I was skeptical, but there it was 3 days later in the mail, plus I'm pretty sure he paid for it out of his own pocket too. It was definitely a 'Wow-ing' experience.
South West is probably the best airline out there. Always on time, Leather Seats, 2 free bags, and if they lose your bags they try their hardest to bring it back to you. This same thing happened to my brother, he lost his bag and the first thing they did when he called them was locate it and shipped it back to him as fast as possible (2 days one to find it one to ship it).
@burnedout: Yeah SWA actually cares about their employees. I think it's the only company that sold a lot of their planes to other companies instead of laying off employees.
I'm shocked that someone with an attitude like yours would be treated shabbily by front line employees.
I've always had good experiences flying Southwest. My spouse had a particularly good one. Both legs of the flight were delayed by a few hours each due to inclement weather. My spouse wasn't too bothered by it, just exhausted by the time they made it home. About two weeks later, we received two vouchers worth more than double the cost of the original flight from Southwest with a letter. They explained that while "they couldn't control the weather", they could try to make up for the aggravation of the missed flights and late arrivals.
Most companies would have tried to appease only the most vocal complainers, but Southwest went the extra mile.
@cete-of-badgers: You realize what that means, right? You just said you would have been utterly confused had it been JetBlue...
I love flying Southwest. They definitely hire the right people. And their prices are usually the cheapest if they fly where I am going.
If you fly Southwest on a regular basis, you learn that it IS the rule. Seriously, I've been flying them for 15+ years and I never fly anyone else if I can possibly avoid it.
I just started a job where I will be flying all over the world and the US every other week. This is not the first good thing I have heard about SW and will definitely book with them when I can.
SW, the mom & Pop shop of the airlines!
@Con Seannery's G1: And in a completely unrelated topic, I sat behind the real Sean Connery on a Southwest flight from Nashville to Los Angles. I wondered why the two women in the seat in front of me had the flight attendant take their picture with the bald guy sitting with them.
He seemed like a nice guy- and left his Variety mags when he deplaned at Las Vegas- which I snagged. When a star like that flies Southwest that re-inforces my view of them as a good airline...
My wife lost our camera at O'hare in the Chilis in terminal 3 not long ago. Aside from it being a nightmare to find phone numbers to businesses actually inside airports, we got our camera back with minimal issues. The manager there left it in their safe with a note on it for when we came back through there on our return flight.
@eb0nyknight: Southwest also has the easiest to understand frequent flyers program.
If you just started that type of job I would sign up with alot of the frequent flyer programs and car rental programs ialong with any that your company may have as a list of prefered providers or programs. There are multiple travel warrior websites such as seatguru etc that will aid you with your bookings.
Renews my faith in my fellow Amarillo residents that Mike's camera was returned to him safely.
@econobiker: Aww, if I'd had known, I would have asked you to give him my regards. And get an autograph.
@Brett Anderson: Are you being sarcastic? Burned out was complimenting someone!
@Jrhu: Huh? Selling aircraft = you need less employees... They implemented hiring freezes and deferred deliveries, but have sold less than 5 aircraft (hardly "a lot" considering they have about 550)... They did, however, sell some aircraft, only to lease them back right away... no net difference except for a relief to the balance sheet.
Imagine that a no-frills airline that actually rocks on customer service?