Luggage set on fire

Most frequent-fliers have tales of checked-luggage mishaps. But even the most grizzled traveler would probably have a hard time coming up with story to top that of Chicago flier Shannon Tadel. Her tale began Dec. 1 as she prepared to board a return flight to Chicago O’Hare from Syracuse. That’s when the Chicago Tribune says a United employee came up to her and asked if they could speak in private.

“He said, ‘Your luggage has been set on fire,’ ” Tadel tells the Tribune for a story that runs in today’s paper. “I kind of chuckled at him because it was so unbelievable. I was like, ‘Um, OK.’ ” So, how did that happen? The Tribune writes “the employee explained that her bag, containing most of her wardrobe, had been placed too close to the exhaust of a belt loader used to deliver bags to the cargo hold. Someone turned on the equipment and, voila, luggage flambe.”

Then, after an already “dumbfounded” Tadel boarded the plane, one of the flight’s pilots was the next to contact her. He asked her to the cockpit, where Tadel tells the Tribune he said: “Do you see that over there? That’s your luggage.” The Tribune writes “that” was “a man with a hose and a big plume of smoke.” The paper says the pilot proceeded to tell Tadel the airline would not be able to put her “smoldering luggage” on the plane, adding that she simply “nodded in agreement.”

Of course, such stories usually don’t hit the press unless there’s a dispute or customer-service issue. And, that’s the case here, though the story seems to have a satisfactory outcome. First, Tadel tells the Tribune the flight’s crew was apologetic and upgraded her to first class. But she says when she returned to O’Hare, the remnants of her luggage were given to her “stuffed into a much smaller bag,” the Tribune writes. She estimates as much as two-thirds of her belongings were gone –- presumably destroyed in the fire incident.

Tadel says she filed a claim, as required by the airline, in which she asked for reimbursement of $3,300 for her items destroyed or lost. Then, Tadel claims the process bogged down. She says her request went unfulfilled for nearly two months. Finally, she contacted the Tribune’s “What’s Your Problem?” consumer help column. The Tribune contacted United, which acknowledged the incident but disputed some of Tadel’s claims about how long her paperwork had been pending. Nonetheless, the airline told the Tribune it was already in the process of settling the matter. “I’m relieved that it’s just kind of over with,” Tadel tells the Tribune.