According to the Wall Street Journal, 21.8 million bags were mishandled in 2013. Read more here.

This morning I boarded my flight to Georgia on American Airlines without my carry-on bag. The bag in question was taken from me and checked in at the gate because it was “too big”, even though I had flown with the very same bag four times already and others had larger ones. I let it go because I thought it would save me some trouble, but this turned out to be a grievous mistake. An hour after “deplaning”, the word the pilot used for leaving the aircraft, I was still waiting at the luggage claim. One of two people remaining from the entire flight. Realizing something must have gone awry, I went to talk to the support desk to check where my bag was.

“Sorry sir, but your bag is still in Florida. Would you like it delivered to you?”

I had checked my bag in at the gate. This bag was supposed to go into the underside of the plane, and then come back out at my destination. I had not made any connecting flights. How could a major airline mess up such a simple procedure? Well, at least they hadn’t lost it. So I gave him the Georgia Tech address to deliver it to.

After some keyboard mashing and looking at my baggage check ticket and my boarding pass, he told me that the ticket I got wasn’t mine. It had someone else’s name on it. The problem had become much worse. I was put on a phone with another person who told me that they had completely lost track of my baggage, and that they did not have any bags recorded as checked in under my name. She asked me to state the contents of the bag so that they could look for it. I was to be given a call when they found it.

At this point, I began having very serious regrets about trusting American Airlines with my luggage. Lost luggage stories are common, but mostly with budget airlines. No one ever thinks it will happen to them. Well, my food and clothing are likely forever lost to me, along with numerous other important items that were meant to be carried on, not checked and lost or stolen.

If your bag is ever lost by the airline, make sure to file a report immediately and get paper documentation with a claim case. In the event that they cannot find your luggage, you can hold them responsible for compensating you for your lost luggage and also for purchases you must make because you do not have your luggage.