Contents of Luggage Damaged by United Airlines

Your letter reeks of someone trying to get something for nothing. 1st
off, How did the baggage handelers know which luggage to look for?
your proof is pure bull. 2ndly, the baggage handlers handel hundreds
of pieces of luggage a day, from transfering the bags between flights
to the bags being sent to the baggage makeup area on the ramp, to
loading the bags onthe planes. I worked in the area before, and I can
tell you there is simply no time for a baggage handler/ramp crew to
single out and rifle through your luggage and cause the damage you
claim. If I were handling your claim you would get exactly what you
deserve....NOTHING......Remember your not the only person who checked
luggage on the flight.

the air pressure inside the luggage area is not adjusted to accomadate
humans let alone lotions etc.
Unfortunately the barometric pressure can cause destruction, just as
if you were under water at a certain level you would 'implode' so to
speak. It is wiser to bring any lotions etc in your carry on in the
regulatory sizes.

Geez if someone did this to you intentionally its probably cause you
had the same attitude as your prior replies. You sound like an angry
woman with an attitude

Liquids (and gases for that matter) under high pressure (which could
be caused by expansion due to the high air pressure or to weight from
above reducing the bottle space that the liquid can occupy) will
always take the path of least resistance due to the physics principal
called intertia. In this case, the space between the lids and the
bottles would have been this, and the tops would have blown off,
spraying the liquids.

The same principal applies to the bags. I once had a bag of chips
explode in my travel on bag due to the air pressure. It isn't
unimaginable that the same could happen to a ziploc back.

I would suggest double-bagging your toilettries in the future -- I do
that, one Ziplok bag inside another, just in case. If your bag came
undone, or wasn't actually sealed tight, I would guess that the
pressurization changes in the cargo compartment would lead to plastic
bottles leaking their contents on your clothing.

I recently traveled by air to attend at girls' weekend in Virginia
with my best friends. I had a multitude of girly liquid stuff and the
only thing that made a mess (both ways) was my mousse which was in a
pressurized can. I had to buy another can when I got to VA and
figured I'd try my luck on the way home with it... had to buy a new
one when I got back home. lol

I believe that at least the problem was carelessness. I would hope
that it wasn't done maliciously. That would be horrible but lets
think positive thoughts and go with careless. They were careless for
sure.

Oh please....Dramaaaaaaaaaaa...

This happens to me when I drive and put my own stuff in a ziploc bag
in my travel bag and DRIVE A CAR. When the liquid leaks...it does
break the seal of a bag. And seeing as how you just TIED a bag, it
leaked.

Nobody opened your bag, saw your expensive bloomers and squirted
everything on them.

Oh, btw, they make gallon zize ziploc bags. And you can even buy
ziploc bags big enough to put a pillow into. You just didnt want to
go to the store to buy any...right????

Mrs B,

Your paranoid delusions aside, the fact that your luggage was wrecked
and your products wasted surely needs to be addressed.

However, here's a little physics lesson that you might not be aware
of.

When you fly, the cabin where the passengers ride is pressurized to
keep it comfortable when your're tens of thousands of feet in the
air.

But the cargo areas are not so much so.

I used to do shop at home parties and many of the products I sold were
gel, lotion or liquid based. I flew to Florida from Cleveland to do a
show for my Mom and her friends.

Many of my demos, in spite of my careful packing in the case, came
open during the flight and made a mess of the interior. Several of
the actual products I had for sale with me actually changed
consistency from the pressure and temperature shift.

Again, while it is unfortunate that you were stuck with this mess, to
jump to the conclusion that anyone cared enough to maliciously deface
your luggage is a little ludicrous.

Follow up with United, see what they can do for you, but leave the
accusations of foul play out of the conversation. It's only going to
deter them from wanting to help you and will make you look like a
whack job.

While certainly upsetting and inconvenient, the OP can't know for
certain that this was done deliberately.

Keeping accusations like this out of a letter is a good idea. When a
customer will only accept the notion that something was done
deliberately, it stands in the way of resolving the situation
amicably.

The TSA also opens and handles luggage, you may also need to address
this with them. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing whether it
was a TSA employee or a United employee that did this.

A matter as important as this needs to be addressed immediately. You
really should try calling them.

And the countdown is on.

How long will it take rkc to come along with his canned response,
telling this person to report this to the DOT, FBI, CIA, FCC, FAA...

Did I miss anything?