“It was impossible to find”

• A woman said American Airlines lost her luggage for a month as she went on a week-long vacation.

• Jacqueline Hodge said she had to pay for necessities out of pocket as her luggage was “untraceable”.

• A month passed without any communication from the airline on the location of his missing bag.

A North Carolina woman says American Airlines lost her luggage for a month when she left the country for a week’s vacation.

Jacqueline Hodge told ABC 11 that she left Raleigh-Durham International Airport for the Dominican Republic, her first time outside the United States. But when she arrived, she couldn’t find her luggage.

“I’m looking for my other bag and it was nowhere to be found,” Hodge told ABC 11.

Without her luggage, she ended up paying for necessities out of pocket, Hodge told the outlet. While on vacation, Hodge said she never received a notification from American Airlines about the location of her luggage.

“I was staying at a resort; I bought a box of deodorant. It was $10.00,” Hodge said. “When I got back to RDU, I went to US Baggage Claim and asked about my bag. My bag arrived at DR the next day.”

Hodge said she filed a claim with the airline for her lost luggage and received an automated response promising to contact her. A month passed without any communication from the airline on the location of his missing bag. When they finally contacted her, the airline said her luggage was in Texas.

“American Airlines contacted me the next day saying my bag was in a warehouse in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX and they would send it to me, but it’s been a whole month!” Hodge told ABC 11’s Diane Wilson, an investigative reporter who helped Hodge retrieve his bag.

Hodge received her luggage as well as compensation for items she had to buy on vacation. American Airlines said in a statement to ABC 11 that it is trying to “return delayed baggage to customers as quickly as possible.”

The story continues

“Unfortunately, weather and operational issues can slow the process down in some cases. Our team has contacted the affected customer and they have since received their luggage. We understand that it can be frustrating when the trip does not go as planned, and we apologize to customers whose plans were affected by the baggage delay,” the airline said in a statement at the point of sale.

Like many airlines, American Airlines has been plagued with delays, cancellations and lost baggage during a chaotic summer of travel. A traveler said the airline caused $75,000 in damage to his two wheelchairs. Other passengers said they were left on a flight for six hours without air conditioning or water.

Read the original Insider article