It doesn’t matter how much of an experienced traveler you are – if you checked a bag, you are at the mercy of someone in the basement of the airport to get your bag.
I’ve had my bags tagged “priority”, and still spent 2 hours waiting for them to appear on the carousel.
Alaska Airlines understands our frustration, and is introducing a “Baggage Service Guarantee” which will go into effect on July 7th.
Their guarantee is simple – if you wait more than 25 minutes for your bags to reach you, you’ll get $25 off your next flight, or 2500 frequent flier miles.
Of course, their timing is a little suspicious, because they just announced that they’ll be joining the ranks of other airlines that charge for all checked baggage. Your first bag will cost $15, the second $25 and the third $50. This probably means people will secretly be hoping for their bags to take their time, so they can make some of that money back.