PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Dozens of American Airlines travelers said they were forced to wait hours for their bags after landing at Philadelphia International Airport over the weekend.
Passengers traveling from Seattle, Washington, told CBS News Philadelphia they were initially notified that there weren’t enough crew members to land their plane on Aug. 10, and the flight was forced to taxi around for about 25 minutes before parking at the gate.
Once they got off the plane after 9 p.m., passenger Roy Gettle said travelers waited hours for their bags to show up in Terminal C.
“There were people waiting four hours for their bags,” he said. “They say that’s the way it is. They won’t tell us why or what’s going on. But then you’ll get a flight come in and they get their bags right away. So I have no idea what’s going on.”
“We just want to get our bags and go home,” another passenger, Dennis Markopoulos, said Saturday night. “We’ve been here now, it looks like about two and a half, three hours. And no word.”
Some travelers said their bags never showed up, and when American Airlines offered to ship their bags home for them, learned they lived outside the 150-mile radius for shipping.
“It’s tough to get answers,” said Tommy Morello, who lives in Tacoma, Washington, and traveled to Philadelphia to visit family. “Evidently they’ll have our bags sent to us, but I kind of feel more comfortable just waiting for it,” he said.
According to an American Airlines baggage employee at the airport, there weren’t enough employees to unload three flights of worth of luggage that arrived Saturday night. PHL Airport says airlines are responsible for baggage issues.
A spokesperson for American Airlines said in a statement, “We strive to ensure that every customer’s checked baggage arrives to its intended destination on time. We apologize to customers onboard flight 2870 for a delay in receiving their bags.”
More than 100 unclaimed bags were piled up inside Terminal C Sunday morning, though by that night American Airlines said most customers had been reunited with their luggage.
The spokesperson added that there were no “widespread issues” on Saturday and added that employees worked “around the clock” to reunite customers with their bags.
Gregory and Alicia Harrison were among the passengers who were reunited with their luggage Sunday, though the couple waited even longer to get their bags back after flying out of Philadelphia earlier this month.
The Harrisons flew to Miami on Aug. 3 for a cruise with their three children, and the flight crew told them during the journey that passengers’ bags didn’t make it on board. That made for a pricey problem, the couple said.
“We had to buy some clothes from the ship,” Alicia said. They plan to save their receipts and try to get reimbursed.
“The cruise you saved up [for], you have a little bit of money to go enjoy yourself, but you spend it on clothes,” Gregory said.
Other passengers who spoke with CBS News Philadelphia said they were still dealing with luggage issues Sunday afternoon, and waited up to three hours for their bags after landing earlier in the day.