A few weeks ago I returned to my home on an American Airlines flight. When I checked in, the agent would not allow me to check one of my bags and I had to leave it behind. When I got home, I wrote a very polite, detailed letter to AA detailing what had happened and copied the portions of my original ticket with my baggage allowance and their web site with the baggage allowance. Within a day or two of finally getting my letter to the correct email address, I received a message saying that they indeed had "dropped the ball" and apologized and gave me a bunch of frequent flyer miles for my inconvenience. Although it doesn't get my stuff to me, it is satisfying to be acknowledged as having been right.

We are all quick to complain, but need to also share good experiences/outcomes. But in the future I will travel with a copy of the current baggage allowances!

Leave it behind where? Where's your bag now? I like AA but I wouldn't be satisfied until my bag & I were reunited.

Did they get your luggage to you? It's little consolation being right if you still don't have your luggage!

Well, it was a two part international ticket so I think the chance of me getting the bag is slim, but I just asked. Will let you know if/when I get a response. The bag is with my son. I am willing to let an airline employee thoroughly inspect the bag if they can send it some way.

So the bag is with your son at the starting point of your 2 segment journey? There's this thing called air freight, no passenger required. AA has no excuse to not get the bag to you. Don't be so busy thanking AA for the miles that you don't require them to do what they should have done in the first place, to get that bag to it's destination.

'Thank you AA' -- are you kidding me?

I am AA-loyal and the vast majority of my miles are w/ them -- but there is not one thing you should be thanking them for. They gave you miles -- big whoop. They need to give you the miles AND ship the bag to you.

Has it come to this, such miserable service in general from the airline industry that we roll over to have our tummy tickled when we get a bone? A very sad state of affairs, your gracious impulse notwithstanding, catspajamas.

I am glad you are happy and hopefully your son will ship your stuff. But were you really right? If tickets are bought separately, I would assume that if baggage allowances are different, one must comply with the lower of the 2.

For example, if you are flying on a big plane/international that allows 2 50-pound bags and then taking a puddle jumper plane to some exotic place that allows only 25 pounds total - you can't take 100 pounds on the puddle jumper. Is that what happened?

No, I had a round trip international ticket which was business/first class. My baggage allowance was three 70 pound bags both ways. I took three up and was only able to bring two back.

I honestly didn't think about asking them to ship bag #3, but will do so!

Good heavens, you paid the exorbitant rate for business/first and don’t consider the airline responsible for getting your luggage back to you? They should deliver it to your door in a cab, and pay your son storage fees!

Good on you for not being an over the top whiner when a mistake is made, but thanking then for doing only half the job? They don’t deserve it.

If allowed two bags, you could have paid for the third one, couldn't you?my friend travels between homes in tne US and Europe and always has multiple bags.
And, of course, they shluld have a xourier service deliver your bag to you when it arrives at the airport you flew into on your return home. Honestly,
I can't believe you complimented them on their grievous error!

I must be missing something here. I've never heard of anyone flying on AA (or any major airline) not being able to check 3 bags.

AA allows passengers to check up to 5 bags on International flights to the Caribbean and South America and up to 10 bags on International TransAtlantic Flights as long as they meet size and weight restrictions and the passenger pays any appropriate excess baggage fees - you can find all the details on AA.com. OP wasn't very specific on her routing so it's difficult to give a precise response but she does say she was allowed 3 bags (I assume she means 3 "free" bags) on her outbound flight(s) but that doesn't automatically mean she'd qualify for 3 "free" bags on her return flight due to aircraft configuration and whether she was flying First or Business Class on that flight.

Nonetheless, depending on the actual route and aircraft configuration when flying First/Business Class the first 2 or 3 bags are "free" so even if one assumes the return flight configuration allowed only 2 "free" bags instead of 3 OP could have easily check the 3rd piece if she were willing to pay the appropriate excess bag fee. Doing so would have eliminated any problem with misplaced/non-delivered luggage.

If OP paid the extra fee for the 3rd bag and after returning home was able to convince AA's Customer Service Department she should have been allowed 3 bags (which apparently she was able to do) she would have: 1) had all her bags with her on her flight home, 2) gotten a refund and 3) perhaps those additional FF miles as a good will gesture.

What is a business/first class ticket? It is either first class or business class? Were some of the flights in different classes, is that why one bag got left behind (different allowances per class)? Or was it left behind because the flight was weight restricted?

<<What is a business/first class ticket?>>

I suspect on her outbound flights OP flew FC on her first leg (which was between 2 domestic airports in the US) and BC on the connecting flight which was from a US Gateway Airport to an International location. Thus when checking in she had 3 "free" bags because she was flying FC on that flight and her bags were automatically transferred to her connecting "international" flight.

The problem arose on the return her "first" flight was BC from the foreign country back to the US thus only allowing her 2 "free" bags and she opted to leave the 3rd bag behind rather than pay the excess baggage fee.

Regardless, unless the return flight was weight restricted (as suggested by Odin) I cannot think of any reason why she wouldn't be able to check 3 bags since that number is well below the maximum number a passenger is allowed to check - either for free or by paying a small fee.

>>What is a business/first class ticket? It is either first class or business class? <<

Almost ALL my international bookings are Business/First. From my home airport to the hub is in 'First class' - which is domestic 'Business' - and from the hub transatlantic is 'real' Business class. The same in reverse -- Business to the States and First home.

My flight was Business from GUA to DFW (first is not available on this route) and First from DFW to PDX and the same on the return. First from PDX-DFW and Business from DFW-GUA. My ticket confirmation clearly stated my baggage allowance was three 70# bags each way. I offered to pay ANY additional fees for the third bag, but was told it was TWO bags. Period.

They admitted "they dropped the ball" and I was correct.

Now can you all just move on to something else! I will let you know if they send the bag.

>>Now can you all just move on to something else! <<

OK -- guess you 'own' your thread and others can't make side comments. (It doesn't really work that way BTW)