American Airlines fixes JFK baggage problem but has many bags to return

American Airlines is processing checked luggage as usual today at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) after fixing a computer problem that stranded hundreds of bags and delayed dozens of flights. The issue involved network hardware, not software, as originally reported, American spokesman Tim Wagner wrote in an e-mail.

Next step: getting bags back to owners. “We have the remaining bags from last night, several hundred I’m told, in cargo containers and ready to put on the flights to their destinations,” Wagner wrote. “We should have those out today.” The hardware glitch, fixed before the first flight went out this morning, affected luggage on about 50 flights Wednesday, he added.

As usual, you can check your bag’s status on American’s website, Wagner wrote. Good luck locating any general news of the JFK bag situation on the AA.com homepage, however; an announcement posted Wednesday [click for a screen grab] was gone when I checked this morning.

Kudos to Wagner for responding promptly to my queries on both days. But couldn’t American do a better job of communicating directly with its customers?

What do you think?

— Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor

[Photo: The luggage backup at American Airlines at JFK on Wednesday. Rick Maiman / Associated Press]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 11:46 am by Jane Engle and is filed under Business Travel, Frequent Flier, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.