Air Tran lost my bike

I should be posting a Vineman IM race report.  Instead I am posting a rant against Air Tran.

When I set my 2009 race schedule many months ago it included an early spring HIM (acutally did two of them), plus the Eagleman HIM, then the Vineman IM on August 1st, and finally IMAZ in November.  I have had a pretty good year of training.  I was strong in all three of the HIM and have avoided serious injury.  Other than the occasional life/work getting in the way, training has been great.

I approached the beginning of August very excited about Vineman.  Everyting I've read about this race is first class and the pictures of the venue are breathtaking.  All of my previous races have been on flat courses and I am anxious to see how I fare on a hillier course.  I even put a compact crank on my bike just for this race.

There were three of us from Raleigh, NC travelling to California to do this race.  We had considerable discussion regarding the best way to transport our bikes.  The other two girls opted to ship theirs via FedEx.  I decided to take mine with me.  The fourth girl in our party was our wonderful Sherpa whose husband works at the Raleigh airport for US Airways (more on this later).

Thursday morning we met at the airport for a 6:00am departure.  I checked my bike box and two of the other girls check luggage.  Our flight itinerary has us going from Raleigh to Atlanta, where we have a three hour layover, then on to San Francisco.  We land in SF, the other two girls collect their bags, I inquire about over sized luggage and am told it will come out thru a door next to the baggage claim.  I wait.  A man appears with two golf club cases.  I ask if he has a bike box.  He replies that is all he has.  I panic.

I had packed everything in the bike box.  I basically had the clothes on my back and my transition bag which only contained my aero helmet.  I never posted bike porn but in April I treated myself to a new bile.  Here is a partial inventory of the lost box:  Kuota Kueen K bike, Zipp 404 tubular wheels, air pump, bike shoes, tools to reassemble the bike, Zoot Zenith full wetsuit, Speedo Endurance swimsuit, all of my nutrition, tri suit, extra pair of CWX shorts, couple changes of clothes for days before and after race, Birkenstock sandals.

I file a lost luggage claim.  This consists of a baggage worker filling out a paper form.  I did not see anything entered into a computer for tracking.  I'm given a carbon copy and assured that it should be on the next flight in from Atlanta and it will be delivered to me when it arrives.  There is a phone number on the form for the baggage department as the SF airport that I can call to check on it if I don't hear anything.  I've lost luggage before and it's always been delivered to me in a timely manner so I don't totaly lose it but I am very concerned since we had a three hour layover which should have been plenty of time to transfer the box if it was properly handled.  I try to convey to the guy just how important it is that I get this box.

We get our rental car, load up and drive to Windsor where we arrive just in time for the Wine Reception.  Good thing I don't drink or I might have made good use of that free wine.  This was a nice prelude to the race with a slide show and stories/information from race organizers and past participants.  Then we drive to Guerneville where we have rented a house close to the race start.  Before going to bed,  I call the baggage claim number since I have not heard anything from them.  I am told that there are still two more flights arriving from Atlanta and it will be on one of those flights and will be delivered to me.  My concern grows as I can tell that the extent of their concern for my bag is to just keep an eye open for a box that is unclaimed on each incoming flight.  There is obviously no active search going on.

Friday morning.  I wake up early, still no box and no phone call from Air Tran.  I call them, get an answering machine.  I wait.  I call again.  I wait.  I call again.  I wait.  I call again. Never get anything but an anwering machine and never get a call back.  I look up the customer service number, call them and explain the situation.  They connect me to the baggage claim manager's extenstion.  I get a voicemail and leave an urgent message.  Then I wait until after 8:00am thinking that is when the manager should get to work.  I will call that number about three more times and never do get anything but a voicemail and never get a return call.

Meanwhile, my wonderful Sherpa calls her husband, John, who works for US Airways and tells him the bike has still not shown up.  He physically goes to the Air Tran counter at the Raleigh airport and finds the lady who remembers checking me in with my bike.  Then he tracks down the guy who actually loaded my bike onto the plane leaving Raleigh.  He explains the situation to the guy who takes it upon himself to find out what happend to it.  John reports this back to us and this is the first I've been able to determine that my bike has even left Raleigh.  Within the hour John calls back and between himself and the Air Tran worker who had loaded the bike, they have tracked it.  It is in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Many many thanks to John and US Airways for helping me find lost Air Tran luggage.

I trust that this is accurate information but now I need to get a real Air Tran person on the phone who will confirm this and tell me how they plan to get it back to me.  A couple more attempts and I get a person on the phone.  They confirm that it is in San Juan but tell me that it will not get in utnil midnight.  Unacceptable.  Once again I explain to the person the urgency of me getting this box.  She says she will check if there is anything they can do to get it to me sooner and will call me back.  Meanwhile, I get on-line and check schedules for any airline from San Juan to San Francisco.  If they would transfer it to United I could have it by 7:00pm.  She calls back.  It has already been loaded onto the plane that will arrive at 12:20 in San Fran.  She also informs me that their last currier goes out at 11:00pm so it will not be sent from the airport until 7:00am Saturday morning.  WRONG.  She gets approval from a supervisor to authorize a late delivery.  The bike will be sent to me via currier as soon as it arrives at the airport.  This means that about 2:00am on Saturday morning I should get my bike.  We figure we need to leave the house at 5:30.  This is certainly not an optimal situation but it is still do-able.

We go to the expo and pick up our race packages.  I proceed as if I'm doing the race although I still have major concerns that it will eventually work out.  The girls drop me at the house so I can get a nap (since it will be a very early morning for me).  I manage to get a bit of sleep and wake up when they get back again.  We have a pizza for dinner.

Just before dinner I get a phone call.  This call actually puts a huge smile on my face.  It is from my son who left for Iraq on Monday.  He was in Kuwait.  This is the first time I've been able to speak to him since he left.  We chatted for about fifteen minutes and it was wonderful.

Before going to bed I get on-line and check the status of the flight my bike is supposed to be arriving on.  It shows delayed.  Instead of a 12:20 arrival it is showing 1:30am.  I call again.  I speak to the guy who originally filled out my lost baggage claim when I arrived in San Fran.  He calls Atlanta and calls me back.  Good news is that the bike did arrive from Puerto Rico.  Bad news is that the flight from Atlanta has just started the boarding process.  Now rather than getting the bike at 2:00am, I'm looking at 3:00am.  Still do-able.  I tell him to call me as soon as it arrives and gets handed over to the currier.

Saturday morning.  I can't sleep.  I'm up at 2:00.  Still no phone call, I figure it will take a while to get it unloaded and handed off to the currier.  I drink coffee and consider all of my options.  I call a couple of times and just get the voicemail. Finally at about 3:45 I get a phone call.  The flight got in at 3:00 and the currier left the airport at about 3:30.  They give me the name of the currier company and the driver's cell phone number.  The other girls get up and are devastated to find that I still don't have a bike (or anything else).  I'm determined not to let my situation ruin their experience.  Right at 5:15 the currier shows up with my bike box.  The girls rally around me and say "we can still make this happen".  I say NO we are not going there.  Our plan was to leave the house at 5:30 and I will not attempt to put the bike together and put together all my transition bags and nutrition in 15 minutes.  I have never assembled this bike before, I have never raced a hilly course and I know that there are some technical sections of this course.  I make the only decision that is really still available to me which is to put my issues aside, put a smile on my face and support my friends.  They end up having great races.

Fast forward to Tuesday and the return trip to Raleigh: arrive at the SF airport and check my box in, ask to speak with a manager because I am NOT paying the fee for it, as soon as I start to tell her my story she immediately agrees to wave the fee and tells me that she heard the story of the bike that went to San Juan and the girl who was frantically trying to get it for a race.  Itinerary has us going back through Atlanta with a one hour layover, then to Raleigh.  Get to Raleigh on time and go to baggage claim.  My friends grab their bags and are on their way.  I wait for the oversized luggage to be off loaded.  I wait.  I wait.  I wait.  You guessed it.  No bike.  Air Tran lost my bike AGAIN.  The lady at the baggage counter calls Atlanta and they assure me it will be on the first flight out in the morning.  Seems to me I've heard this story before. As I type this, I'm still waiting.