Southwest Airlines: Sorry, your lost bag never existed

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Deric Voelker and his fiancee recently flew from Chicago to Las Vegas recently on Southwest Airlines. The airline lost one of their bags, so they filed a claim, expecting to be compensated. They weren’t.

Their story is cautionary tale about the importance of paperwork in an almost paperless world of e-tickets, e-mail and in-flight Wi-Fi.

Voelker’s fiancee, Sophia Prochazka, checked her bag the way you normally would. “A tag was printed and placed on the bag,” he recalls. “It was a direct flight, we checked in in plenty of time flying under the same reservation, and I claimed my bag in Chicago.”

Once they discovered her missing bag, a Southwest employee assured them they’d find it. After all, it was a direct flight. They filed a claim and waited.

For the five days that we were in the Midwest, we called Southwest every day. They never found the bag, but the people that we talked to gave us every indication that she would be reimbursed “something” for her expenses/lost bag. When we returned to Las Vegas, the phone calls went on for another couple of days and then it was requested that she write a letter, and then fill out some forms. We patiently waited, because Southwest said the trace on her bag takes 30 days. Last week, over two months later, we received a letter denying our claim.

Why had Southwest turned them down?

At this time, we have completed a careful review of your claim documentation and the information in your lost luggage report. Since our liability for a baggage claim is determined by the terms and conditions of our Contract of Carriage we do not arbitrarily pay every claim that is submitted. The baggage claim check serves a critical dual purpose in the claim process, as it is the Customer’s receipt for tendering luggage and is also evidence of the airline’s liability for it. Unfortunately, because of the absence of a Southwest Airlines baggage claim stub we are unable to take action on your claim.

Translation: You lost your claim check. You’re out of luck.

I recommended Voelker contact Southwest again to appeal its decision. He did, and it repeated its denial, despite a polite petition to a manager.

Lesson learned: Keep the receipt for your luggage, even if your airline goes through all of the motions when you check in.

I think Southwest could have done better. If nothing else, one of its employees should have told Voelker and Prochazka that they shouldn’t even bother filling out a lost luggage claim.

Because without a receipt, their bag never officially existed.

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  • Buckster

    Ithink there clearly was a resolution. No receipt. Is the airline suppsoed to pay every claim regardless of proof??? At your company, would you give money out with no proof of purchase?

    I feel bad for thse people but come on. this is basic.

  • http://www.debohobo.com Debo Hobo

    Here in Texas a guy was busted for stealing luggage from the baggage claim carousel and reselling them at the flee market.

  • carver

    Since Paula had not answered my question, I must conclude that my premise is correct. SW didn’t believe that a bag was checked and Sophia was trying to scam them which is why SW denied the claim. When it was made public, SW realized that it wasn’t a scam and made a real effort to find the bag which is why it was found, miraculously within hours after the blog was posted.

    Shame on Southwest.

    To those who think that SW was right to deny the claim, I argue that SW’s system should be able to track bags based on ticket number.

  • Anne

    Days late here, but travelers really should take some measures to help themselves and stop relying on others. Most have a camera available. Utilize them for other than the pretty shots. I take pictures: of bag before closing to show what is in them, my travel documents, my luggage being tagged if possible (not too busy), and anything I receive during the process. I also put into each bag my personal and travel information. I also confirm all reservations beforehand. People are only human, and technology can error as well. There are many steps, people, and expenses involved in getting from point A to point B, that it is pretty dumb to trust that everything will always fall into place effortlessly.

  • Pat

    My daughter traveled from STL to OAK via LAS in December to visit her boyfriend’s family for the first time and spend the Christmas holidays with them. The outbound flight was delayed 3 hours, and this is not unusual during unpredictable weather in December and the fact that it’s one of the busiest times to travel. When she arrived in Oakland, no bag. Many many calls, a lot of waiting, the usual aggravation that follows when discovering your luggage is “lost”… and lots of trying to make the best of it. She and I were both told the standard procedures and she was offered 50 dollars to purchase “essentials”. She did not drive the hour back to the airport for the 50. The bag was never found, and she and I filled out the necessary paperwork, and made a claim of approx. 2000, the total of all her new holiday clothes, shoes, and gifts she had packed for her hosts. After waiting a month, we phoned again for the status of the claim. GUESS WHAT? Her claim was “lost”. First the bag was lost, now the claim is lost. So we faxed the copies of the original claim. We waited another month as we were told to do, and called again. The most rude agent to sit at a desk was of course the one we were lucky enough to have, and she continually insisted on robotically reading us the rules, much like a recording. A very poor representative of SWA. Well, the claim was approved for approximately a third less than the amount we claimed due to “depreciation” even though most of the items were just purchased specifically for the trip. She informed me that all cosmetics are automatically depreciated 1/2 since they are not returnable, a point I disputed, but arguing with her was getting me nowhere. So we were told that we would receive a check. I inquired that even though it was now 3 months later, what happens if the bag does indeed show up at some point, and I was told that if it does we will get it back. Unlikely, but you never know. Well yesterday, now four months later, we recieve a letter stating that the bag was “found” in Dallas and upon them receiving a cashier’s check for half the money back, we can have our bag. We are in STL and the bag is in Dallas. Who knows what kind of condition it’s in, what is left inside the bag, and they want to sell it back to us for 800 dollars!! If we don’t send them 800 then they will “donate” it to the Goodwill!!! I am FURIOUS. The flight was late, misconnected, late again, bag was lost, agent was ruder than rude, calls weren’t returned, after finally getting through once, an hour later they called back and asked if WE found our luggage, a month of calls, they lost our claim, didn’t reimburse the value, then want to sell us our bag back without even showing it to us!! What the heck, talk about depreciation, who knows how many people have gone through it, etc., the LEAST they can do is just give it back like they said they would. We saved up and spent 400 to go, bought new clothes, shopped wrapped and packed nice gifts, spent 14 hours getting to the destination, arrived with only the clothes on her back, tennis shoes and sweats for a holiday gala that evening which she was late for, got rude treatment all week and then for months, totally lost money on the vacation having to re-buy clothes and gifts, and now they want 800 more from us for property that is ours, and we pay either give them 800 or Goodwill gets it free! I would say that our property has depreciated quite a bit, and I should be able to have it back for 50, which is what they originally offered us!! I am furious at Southwest, and it’s too bad. I used to be a huge fan of theirs and now want all my family and friends to sell their stock. It is a shame, and I’ll be expressing this to the corporate office in the morning. Thanks for listening and/or commenting.

  • Larry Garza

    I went to Vegas for the Memorial Day weekend and one of my bags never made it. I wonder if there’s a problem in Las Vegas. It’s been 5 days no luggage.

  • Mark

    This is very concerning to me because I lost a car seat on Southwest a couple days ago. I reported the loss to the local baggage office, and handed the agent at the counter my claim tag for the item. I find out today that I’ll need the claim tag to file for reimbursement — but the agent KEPT THE CLAIM TAG! Southwest has a few more days to find the item, then I have a feeling I might be fighting a battle to get reimbursed.

  • Anonymous

    what you should have done was right a song about your bag and swa and sing  it on you tube and you would be famous and swa would kiss your ass !!!

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