My brother and son just returned from 9 days at WDW staying the Art of Animation. They had a great time until yesterday their return home day. They had a 5:00 PM return flight to Chicago on American Airlines. They checked in and checked their bags with the baggage services people at the resort by 9:30 AM and went off to the MK to spend their last day. When they arrived home, their bags did not arrive with them. They checked with American and were told that their bags were somehow on a later flight. This is the third time that bags did not arrive on the same flight and the bags were checked hours before the flight was due to leave. As my son said, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. They have decided they will not be checking in their bags at the resort for a long time. This program has been in effect for several years now and doesn't seem (in our experience) to be getting better. We have had several good experiences but the 3 bad have soured us on this feature. This has happened while staying at a Value resort (Art of Animation), a Moderate (Caribbean Beach) and a Deluxe (Polynesian). Has anyone else had this type of experience with the resort baggage check-in?
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Resort Check-in and Baggage Check-in
- Thread starter BobsMom
- Start date
rob0519
Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear about your trouble. We've used the bag check-in at the resorts for 5 suitcases each time at the CR, the GF, Polynesian and Saratoga Springs for at least a dozen trips or more. So that makes it at least 60 bags or more and 4 different resorts and they have always arrived in Chicago on the correct flight. Maybe one time they came in on an earlier flight, but basically no problems.
Monty
Brilliant...and Canadian
- In the Parks
- No
Given that it often happens when you check in at the airport as well, there's no way to know that it's the Resort check-in's fault. Bags go astray far too often regardless who is handling them.
Stopping using the Resort check-in may or may not "fix" the problem, but you'll never really know if that's why.
Stopping using the Resort check-in may or may not "fix" the problem, but you'll never really know if that's why.
There are a few youtube videos lately showing the innards of an airport and how the luggage gets routed properly, if I see them again I will share here, but one statistic stuck with me. There are typically 1 Billion+ pieces of luggage that are transported, and roughly 1 million of those are lost or delayed. While ideally we hope that none are lost or delayed, statistically, IMHO, that is not bad.
Weather_Lady
Well-Known Member
What can go wrong will, although it's a shame that your party had such a bad experience repeatedly, OP. The system should be more reliable than that.
As someone who used to travel frequently for business and who's had my fair share of experience with lost/damaged bags (you could say, "I have a lot of baggage, from all that's happened to my baggage!"), my best advice is to always pack light and smart, travel carryon-only, and choose airplane seats that will minimize your risk of a forced gate check situation. My family of four does it every time, and we've grown to love the ease and freedom that comes with recognizing how little you need, and the comfort of having it at your fingertips. (I realize that packing light and going carryon-only is not for everyone, but I do encourage everybody to at least try it once and see how you find it!)
As someone who used to travel frequently for business and who's had my fair share of experience with lost/damaged bags (you could say, "I have a lot of baggage, from all that's happened to my baggage!"), my best advice is to always pack light and smart, travel carryon-only, and choose airplane seats that will minimize your risk of a forced gate check situation. My family of four does it every time, and we've grown to love the ease and freedom that comes with recognizing how little you need, and the comfort of having it at your fingertips. (I realize that packing light and going carryon-only is not for everyone, but I do encourage everybody to at least try it once and see how you find it!)
Last edited:
I may be replying too late on this thread. I was reading reddit when someone was doing a QA for a baggage handler. when ask why their bags go missing/late their answer:
"If you check in your bag too early, we don't have a flat cart set up for your flight yet and it might be put someplace in the bag room where it gets forgotten about. Or if you check in too late and the bags for your flight already went out to the plane then it may miss the flight. Aside from that, there are a lot of lazy people that mostly hang out in the break rooms and do their work last minute, which doesn't allow them enough time to check tags properly and may put with bags going on a different flight."
i guess is possible, the problem is not with resort/disney but at the airport, esp if you have an later flight and your bag gets to the airport "too early".
"If you check in your bag too early, we don't have a flat cart set up for your flight yet and it might be put someplace in the bag room where it gets forgotten about. Or if you check in too late and the bags for your flight already went out to the plane then it may miss the flight. Aside from that, there are a lot of lazy people that mostly hang out in the break rooms and do their work last minute, which doesn't allow them enough time to check tags properly and may put with bags going on a different flight."
i guess is possible, the problem is not with resort/disney but at the airport, esp if you have an later flight and your bag gets to the airport "too early".
ninjaprincesst
Well-Known Member
I think this has more to do with your airline than the resort airline check in. We have used it probably a dozen or more times from all kinds of resorts,(All stars, Pop, CBR, WL, Contemporary) with different airlines (American, Southwest, AirTran) and we have never had a problem. The only time I ever had a problem was years ago before ME we had a rent car checked the bags in curbside ourselves with American and one bag got put on another flight (It was on an earlier flight, but the issue was it went to a completely different terminal at DFW),
daisyduckie
Well-Known Member
I've not had that experience and I've used the resort bag check in many times. Checking your bags in at the resort is the same as handing them over to the people behind the counter at the airport. It is the airline messing up.