The missing bag

Imagine the feeling when you’re waiting for your bag to emerge from the carousel after arriving from a US flight and it doesn’t show up.

You’re the last passenger in the terminal and you’ve just been told there won’t be any more bags coming out of the plane. You wonder if you’ll ever get your bag back. Never mind the bag but what about the stuff inside? Your bag wasn’t locked when you checked it in because US airport security wouldn’t allow it. So if the bag is recovered, will it have been pilfered? That’s exactly what happened to me when I arrived from Las Vegas via San Francisco last Tuesday morning.

Solar vice president for production Erick Tam and I took the 4 p.m. America West flight out of Las Vegas last Sunday to begin the long trek home. We almost didn’t make it to the boarding gate.

It was the morning after Manny Pacquiao trounced Erik Morales and Erick and I woke up a little late. We celebrated Manny’s win at the party the First Gentleman hosted at the Wynn Hotel’s Lure Bar with Solar chief operating officer Peter Chanliong, Solar vice president for finance Ronald Tieng, Tommy Ong of "No Fear," Brian Viloria and his father Ben, Sen. Lito Lapid, Rep. Monico Puentevella, Chito Macapagal, Mon Dizon, Raul Macapagal and many, many more.

I skipped dinner to write my stories for The STAR in our hotel room and Erick brought me a black angus burger later. I stayed up finishing my stories and column.

We checked out of the Wynn at 12 noon Sunday. Then we went to Manny’s suite on the 51st floor to say goodbye. Martin Nievera, accompanied by Katrina Ojeda and her parents Jose Mari and Christy, was in the suite to congratulate Manny. The First Gentleman, Gov. Tommy Joson, Rep. Puentevella and Rep. Prospero Nograles, among many others, were in the suite to join Manny and his wife Jinkee for a thanksgiving Mass.

We took a sumptuous lunch with Martin and his companions at the Wynn’s buffet then headed off to the airport after dropping in on Peter, Ronald and Tommy at another restaurant in the hotel.

At the airport, we tried to check in at the curb but after lining up, were told to go to the international counter inside the terminal because our bags would be taken straight to our final destination, Manila. We queued for over 30 minutes, were issued unnumbered boarding passes, brought our bags for security inspection and ran to our boarding gate.

But we were stalled by the strict security procedures on the way to the gate. There was no system of lining up and passengers jostled for position to get ahead, probably trying to make it on time for their flights. As usual, we were told to remove our laptops from their cases, shoes, jackets and anything metallic and push them in trays through the X-ray machine. The whole process took another 30 minutes at least.

We rushed to the boarding gate and got there less than 20 minutes before departure. We just barely made it. The flight was overbooked as out-of-towners were on their way home from a weekend in Las Vegas and America West attendants offered a $350 travel coupon for anyone willing to give up a seat. We were issued numbered boarding passes without any hassle.

We landed in San Francisco where we stayed a few hours before boarding the Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight to Manila at 10:30 p.m. The PAL flight was a breeze and the crew, led by purser Joy Manzano, was fantastic. Among Joy’s attendants were Tess Macainan, Ricky Escarez, Monet Fabrecante, Lino Lopez, Ann Ofina and Joy Coronado.

Monet’s special friend Paul Tordesillas owns the hobby store "Smallville," located on the third floor of Shoppesville Plus in Greenhills. It specializes in collectible items, including NBA figurines.

The crew was just as efficient and hospitable as the crew that took Erick and me from Manila to the US a few days before. That crew was led by purser Carol Lammoglia and her attendants included Jin Villanueva, Didi Rodriguez and Dexter Sison.

Then came the nightmare. The only bag I checked in never came out of the carousel. Erick’s bag emerged way ahead of the others. Erick knew how badly I felt and stayed with me until I reported the missing bag to the PAL authorities and we both went home. We touched down at 4:30 a.m. but it wasn’t until past 6 that we got out of the terminal.

My research materials were in the bag and so were my clothes, books and most especially, pasalubong for the family.

Edgar Veluz of the ground staff in charge of baggage assistance took down my flight and bag details. He was very reassuring and told me not to worry. He showed me a cargo manifest that listed my bag as not having been loaded, meaning "missing," despite an assigned tag.

I was told the PAL staff in San Francisco was advised to look for the "missing" bag which, as it turned out, was never transferred by America West and through the efforts of manager Norman D’Souza, located and loaded it on the next San Francisco flight to Manila.

At 9 the next morning (Wednesday), Joy Tabora of the baggage assistance staff phoned to confirm the bag had arrived. She offered to deliver the bag to where I was but I said I would just pick it up. Within the hour, I was at the terminal to claim the bag. The staff was helpful, efficient and courteous. I presented my claim stub and the bag–which had a "rush" tag–was released to me with all its contents intact. I was relieved beyond words particularly as the bag contained such priceless stuff like a "Team Pacquiao" jacket, the Pacquiao-Morales official souvenir program and of course, pasalubong for the family.

All’s well that ends well. Luckily, I flew PAL because nothing beats Filipino service.