Jul 31, 2008 5:37 am US/Mountain
Baggage Mess At JFK Airport Angers Passengers
Many American Flights Cancelled; Only Small Percentage Of Bags Traveling In Same Direction As Owners
Embattled Airline Waves Baggage Check Fees Temporarily
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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American Airlines says the software that controls the baggage sorting conveyor belt in the bag room malfunctioned on July 30, 2008 in terminal 8 at JFK Airport.
CBS
Vacation nightmares lingered into Thursday morning at Kennedy Airport's American Airlines terminal after a computer glitch brought the baggage system to a halt and put thousands of travel plans on hold.
CBS station WCBS-TV in New York was there to witness the wrath of the passengers.
Rosa Gibbs and her daughter were on their way home to Florida from London when their layover at JFK stopped them in their tracks. Gibbs' daughter's luggage was lost in the mess which left her in tears.
"We're planning to talk to a supervisor. I'm very, very upset," said Gibbs, who lives in Melbourne, Fla. "They lost our suitcase. We missed our plane because we are late. And we wait four hours over here. They say we have to wait until the next morning to catch another plane. They don't give us no budget to sleep in a hotel or to have dinner or anything."
Flights were delayed up to 90 minutes so an overwhelming sea of baggage could be sorted by hand.
It wasn't enough time. Flights were cancelled and many passengers had to travel ahead hoping to meet up with their luggage later.
Late Wednesday night hundreds of passengers were still waiting in long lines for hours trying to figure out what to do next.
"They said we had to just wait in the line, and we've been here three hours," said Venkat Kasarla of Oklahoma City.
Maricarmen Dhooghe and her boyfriend from Brussels were on their way to Los Angeles when they got stuck in American Airlines' baggage debacle. They missed their flight and will take off Thursday instead.
"I was really frustrated and angry. I wanted to get on a plane tonight," Dhooghe said.
"We're only 14 days in America. So we lose two days. So it really sucks. It's not a good begin for us," Michael Janssens of Brussels said.
Dhooghe even took her frustration a step further.
"I never fly again with American Airlines. And I hate America. That was the first thought, but it's not true," Dhooghe said.
The airline could not say when they'd have all the baggage delivered to the proper destinations, and the computer glitch completely resolved.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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