From the ticket counter, your baggage is placed on a series of conveyor belts. We don’t know where they go, but sometimes they go to a location where bags are loaded into carts according to flight number and destination. Baggage handlers are on site to rummage through any interesting looking bags in order to remove things of value for sale on e-bay.
The baggage is loaded in the cargo compartment of the aircraft, usually thrown or dropped from a distance or height of not less than 24.5 feet, usually using another conveyor belt. Due to the amount of space in the compartment, bags will be placed flat, crushed, bent and stacked on top of each other. Although the baggage compartments are secured with nets or straps, bags will violently shift during flight due to the plane's angle during take-off. Your golf clubs won’t make it.
Tip: As this is the standard or normal way all bags are transported, breakage or damage to fragile items is unavoidable. Do not pack fragile items inside your checked luggage. Baggage handlers will be on site to make sure all fragile items are broken.
In the likely event your baggage is damaged, it must be reported in person to a Baggage Service Representative within 24 hours for domestic itineraries and within 7 days for international itineraries after the arrival of the flight on which the bag was checked.
The service representative will ignore your first five calls, then argue with you. If you persist, you will be asked to fill out a form that is as thick as the Milwaukee phone book. This form will be lost. The second time the form is filled out, it will be rejected for lack of completion. A campaign of phone calls, letters and threats will need to be carried out before your claim is honored for 1.7% of the value of the damaged items. Please allow 2-4 years for the claim check to arrive.
For lost baggage, just hope they find it. When you inquire, the Customer Service Representative will either claim to know where it is and not send it to you or claim to not know where it is located. Either way, your bag will arrive when they are good and ready to give it to you.
Good Luck!
