Yes, after 2 months, finally we had our luggage back. I almost lost hope. The waiting and hoping for its return were stressing me out. Nobody from United Airlines called to update us with the status of our misplaced luggage, until Friday of last week. We've filed the necessary forms that would supposedly help for the effective search so we didn't think there's really anything else we can do about it but wait. At some point, I thought we're probably just waiting in vain, but we just couldn't give up the tiniest hope that we could still have it back. Until we were awakened by a call on a Friday morning. It was around 9:00 o'clock, we were still asleep because hubby doesn't work on Fridays.
The call was from a United Airlines Claims Representative, basically informing us that they've found our luggage but it's currently in the hands of a 3rd party baggage contractor. In the event that the contractor won't deliver it to us, UA would be willing to compensate us. I didn't know the whole conversation until hubby hung up the phone and relayed everything to me. I was upset, of course! If they had found it, why can't they make sure it's being delivered to the rightful owner? I mean, isn't it their responsibility to do that regardless if there's a 3rd party contractor involved or not? I just can't seem to shake off the nagging thought that they might not deliver it simply because they don't feel like doing it, anyway the airline would pay for it. Hubby made himself clear to the other person on the line, that the luggage was irreplaceable, we need it back so they should give it back to us. The lady told him she'll do everything to help us get our luggage back. That's it? Great! This could be another months of waiting, I've thought. I got so upset that somehow I was guilty of taking it out on hubby. He didn't do anything wrong but I just wished he had raised his voice a little bit, be assertive and maybe cussed out a little to show his discontent to the airline representative. Yeah, I was playing devil's advocate, lol. But knowing hubby, I know he wouldn't do that. He didn't think it was necessary. Besides the person on the other line was not responsible for the mess. In fact, she could help fix it or if hubby hadn't handled it well, she could screw it up all the more than it had already been screwed. But of course, I didn't come out of this logic on my own, lol. He had to point it out to me. I was too bothered to even care if my thoughts are sensible or not. As always, hubby had talked some sense into me.
Anyway, we got our luggage back. So I guess, all's well that ends well. I'm going to put all the bad things behind. I won't deny that this whole experience had somehow traumatized me. If only there's another way to go to the Philippines than flying, I would gladly try it, hehe.
So here's the luggage that I've been missing for 2 months
Trust me, we took a great deal of effort to pack this nicely back in the Philippines. I was appalled with how messy everything seems to look when I opened it. I had a bad feeling about it.
My fears were true. I was halfway through digging out my stuff when I noticed some bronze colored chips on top of my red shirt.
This poor little jeepney didn't make it through the whole ordeal. It's supposed to be a gift to Phyllis, the only woman in the Information Systems Dept. other than me, who I worked with at Bank of the Ozarks before I went to the Philippines. It's a jeepney-designed pen holder made of plated bronze. Obviously, I can no longer give this to her. I'll remember to get her something else when I go back to the Philippines next time.
This wooden carabao for my DIL didn't survive as well. Look at its poor chipped horn and obvious scratches on its head.
This cute bamboo made wind chime has its share of misfortune. It's from our guest at the wedding. We like this thing that's why we brought it with us. Despite its condition, I still hang it outside the door and as I was typing this, I can hear it chiming against the wind. Cool!
Aaah...Hopia. How I miss this so much! I love hopia so I made sure I brought a box with me, unfortunately, it has reached its expiration date so I had to toss it out.
While some of the contents apparently are damaged, the rest made it home okay. I was just so glad to have my clothes, footwear, canned corned beef, food seasonings, and personal items back. Some of the gifts for friends and previous co-workers appear to be fine, so I'll start sending it out tomorrow.I wish I know what to tell my friends who would also travel in the future so as not to experience what I've experienced, but to tell you the truth, I don't know if there was really something that could have prevented it from happening. It happens to a lot of people. Airlines incur losses because of thousands of lost, damaged and misplaced luggages a day. Maybe just a piece of advice, don't put anything valuable in your checked in suitcases. Label your luggages. If you won't find your luggage in the claim area, report it right away. Be patient and don't lose hope. Lastly, pray that your luggage wouldn't be part of the random physical baggage inspection done by Transportation Security Administration. Because ours was and we believe that may have caused the mess up. We found a Notice of Baggage Inspection inside that misplaced luggage of ours. The other 3 checked luggages we had didn't have a TSA note inside. We believe they dug through our stuff one by one to look for suspicious and hazardous items. I know it's part of their job and it's a very excellent security measure, but we just hope they'd be more careful and responsible for those inspected luggages. After all, they have owners that consider the contents valuable regardless of the price value.
