Black luggage matters

pspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"Most poor folks generally don#39;t have the privilege or luxury of traveling by air but more often than not it is most likely because a close family member or other loved one is seriously ill or dead./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"In such cases we often either have to dig into our own savings if we even have any or borrow the funds from somebody else./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"When such events occur we shouldn#39;t have the added burden of having our check-in luggage lost, damaged or stolen./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"Recently while traveling back east to attend the funeral of a loved onnbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;returning on American Airlines my check-in bag was severely damagednbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;I found out the hard way that they generally don#39;t do anything if you don#39;t report it within 3 hours./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"Of course they didn#39;t mention this when they charged me $25 to check my bag in nor did I find this out via the automated recording ./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"By the time I realized how badly my bag was damaged I was already homenbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;ready to climb in my bed after a week of sleeping on floors/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;chairs in what was projected to be the blizzard of the century but instead turned out to be one of the most mild winters in Boston in recent years./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"(But it was still a lot more snow than I#39;ve seen in the past 11 years)./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"But getting back to the story./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"A week had passed before I had an opportunity to go back to the airportnbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;show the bag to an agent at the American Airlines baggage claim office as the automated recording instructed./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"There was only one clerk at the desk when I walked innbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;I got that feeling that so many other poor folks get when they are ready to have their rights recognized by the way she looked at me./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"When I told her what the problem wasnbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;that it occurred a week prior she sneerednbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;A week ago ?/spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"You#39;re probably no longer in our system!/spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"She typed into her computernbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;then said Yeah you#39;re no longer there, you were supposed to report it in 3 hours!/spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"So I asked are you telling me I have no recourse? She sneered againnbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;said Yes, I guess that#39;s what I#39;m saying/spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"After exiting the office I called the numbernbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;pressed the appropriate button to speak directly with an agent./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"The agent told me to go backnbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;ask to speak with a supervisor which I didnbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;the supervisor agreed with initial act. One again I exited the office called the numbernbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;got connected with a live agent explained the entire situation including the fact that I was grievingnbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;the agent informed me I had a right to request a courtesy report./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"When I returned to the officenbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;did so the agent that I had dealt with in the beginning with a look of defeatnbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;embarrassment began to make a reportnbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;application for a claim./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"After reading the application though I had intendednbsp; I never bother did because I just got to busy once again but it was worth going through that much just to stand up for what is right./spanbr style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /br / span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"If you travel by air anytime in the future look at your checked in luggage as soon as you retrievenbsp;/spanspan class="il" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"and/spanspan style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"nbsp;report an damage immediately./span/p