Southwest Airlines Baggage Office

My flight to Newark was cancelled at Chicago-​midway airport so I was given a boarding pass to la-​guardia instead. I was told that my baggage would still go to Newark airport. That information made me nervous but I really needed to get home and was desperate.
I found this number on Unilocal surprisingly (thanks Unilocal!) Called the number the next day and was informed that my bags have arrived and I could pick it up any time. Later on that day I picked up my luggage with no fuss. nothing was broken or open. The airline itself is a pain in the butt but the baggage claim office is easy and efficient.

I had the same experience as Talbot. My flight to Newark was delayed 3 hours, so I got standby on a flight to LaGuardia instead. That was yesterday. This morning I googled Southwest baggage Newark and found this number. I called and the bag was right in front of them so they’re holding it for pick up. Southwest makes everything so easy.

I voluntarily separated from my bag almost one week ago in Phoenix AZ in order to switch to an earlier flight. Then forgot about the bag.
So I Googled «SW bag claim office ewr». Clicked on this Unilocal page, clicked on the phone number. Woman answered, asked my last name. She responded that my brown bag was waiting for me and they were open till midnight. Then proceeded to explain exactly where the office was.
It does not get any easier then that! I’m thoroughly impressed, I mean; this is an airline… not the Ritz! Where do they get off giving such good service.

I understand why airlines lose people’s bags. Especially when you’ve made as many stops and plane changes as I did – and when the flights you were on continued past where you departed – it makes sense that things will get lost. That’s fine. Not fine, but understandable.
My flight landed around 11:30 p.m. I waited in vain at the baggage carousel. Other Southwest flights arrived. When I asked someone in the Southwest baggage office about it, he suggested I wait a little bit longer and come see him again if my bag still didn’t arrive. I took his advice, and when I walked through the glass door twenty minutes later, he was very helpful. The same goes for the other woman, who actually took down my information.
I was disappointed to be so far away from home in the middle of the night without a change of clothing or even my toiletry bag, and I was worried that my bag would be lost completely or that I wouldn’t get it in time for the wedding I was attending or that they would deliver my bag to my friend’s house after I had already left for Philadelphia – and bought new clothes for the wedding.
So I was very relieved the next morning when they called and told me my bag had arrived. Great. When could they deliver it? They gave me a six-​hour window. Six hours! Seriously, who has six hours to sit around and wait for a bag? I was somewhat tempted to stay close to my friend’s house in Somerset so that we could be there when the delivery guy arrived, but I risked it partially because I was still kind of tired and delirious and happy for the first time in I don’t know how many months and partially because the book I had read on the plane made it clear to me that I had to visit New York that day. Thankfully, my friend’s fiancé can work just as easily from home as from the office, so he drove back just to wait for his fiancée’s friend’s luggage. How generous is that?
I did a pretty good job of not worrying about my bag while I was in Manhattan, but then I called my friend’s fiancé from Downtown, and the bag hadn’t arrived yet. It was an hour past Southwest’s promised window. I called the baggage office, and the woman I spoke to was concerned, and she put me on hold while she spoke with the delivery company. I don’t normally like being put on hold, but it was clear to me she was actually looking into the matter for me rather than blowing me off, so I was all right with it. She said the delivery driver was stuck in traffic and it would be another forty-​five minutes. My friend’s fiancé was still at home, but he must have felt trapped in his own home; he couldn’t leave lest he miss the driver.
I called back an hour later from the West Village. Still no delivery. I called Southwest again, and someone else told me he’d call me back. After ten minutes, I called back, and the woman from earlier in the day put me on hold while she spoke with the delivery company. According to her, the driver got lost. But instead of calling me or my friend’s fiancé (whose number I had provided) or the delivery company for directions, the driver turned around and returned to the airport with my bag. This is utterly ridiculous, and I suspect the guy was late for some reason and didn’t want to spend more time on the road. I was angry and almost wanted to tell them to hold the bag because my friend and I would be returning past Newark International on the train and could stop in and get my bag, but the Southwest woman assured me that the delivery driver’s supervisor was so upset with his employee that he (the supervisor) would deliver my bag personally. For some reason, I believed him.
When we finally got back home that night (it was a little after nine), my bag was safe and sound. My friend’s fiancé looked tired and a little stir crazy, and I thanked him profusely and promised to buy him another dinner in addition to the one I already owed him. (I still owe him both of them because Hurricane Irene prevented me from returning to New Jersey after the wedding.)
Six-​hour windows are unacceptable, especially when the bag arrives after 9:30 p.m. rather than five p.m. «at the latest.» So why two stars? Well, most of the Southwest people were very kind over the phone. They did pretty well with something that clearly was out of their control. But I think that all airlines should pay you for losing your bags. Not only if they never find them, but even after they’ve returned them to you. For the inconvenience.