Indianapolis – US Airways is having trouble explaining how a checked bag ended up in a retention pond 24 miles from the Indianapolis International Airport.

Passenger David Dever says he waited in baggage claim Sunday night until he could wait no more. He had to take a taxi home because his car keys were inside the missing bag.

It wasn’t until the next day, Monday, when he received a phone call from the Sundance Apartments off Southport Road that he realized where his suitcase “landed.”

“It definitely would have been taken behind the scenes at the airport because I saw all the bags that came off the carousel and none were my bag,” said Dever.

Fox59 News was there when Dever got his bag back from the apartment maintenance man who saw it in the complex retention pond.

“I just pulled it out by the handle and it was just sticking right up out of the green algae,” said the maintenance man who identified himself only as Brian.

Airport Police and US Airways are investigating.

Dever says a couple of children’s gifts from his trip to New York City were missing and so were a pair of running shoes.

Lucky for him his car keys were still in the bag and not stolen. His new Apple iPad was not stolen either because at the last minute he had removed it before checking the luggage.

Thanks for your piece. I am glad to know I am not the only one who had a bad experience with the pissed off reps that US Airways hires.

Mr. Daniels,

Thank you for the reply regarding my concerns with US Airways. However, it was clear from your response that you did not read all of my letter as it appears you missed the entire point of my complaint.

Your response seemed to revolve around explaining that the weather was beyond US Airways’ control. Of course, I said multiple times in my letter that I fully understood the weather issue with statements such as, “I knew that the weather delays had forced the cancellation of numerous flights and many people would be calling to reschedule,” and “I lived in the snow belt of Cleveland, Ohio, for 18 years; trust me, I understand that bad weather happens. I understand that airports are busy, and delays are a normal consequence of flying. I can forgive that.” My issue was with the abysmal customer service experience.

You didn’t explain why in the year 2009 you don’t have something set up on your website which allows people to reschedule flights, and as a result reduces the strain on your 800 number. This point especially seems like a no brainer. It’s convenient for the passengers who have access to the Internet, cuts down on wait times on the phone for other passengers, and simultaneously reduces the workload of your employees answering the phones. As an added benefit, it would also difuse the tempers of increasingly irate customers.

Additionally, you didn’t apologize for your employees being unbelievably incompetent and leading a slew of passengers to believe that they were in the right line for over an hour when they weren’t. You didn’t provide a reasonable explanation for there being no one at the ticket counter for 30-40 minutes when people were lined up to reschedule their canceled flight. You didn’t apologize for an employee openly complaining about not wanting to be at work and wishing she was at home. And you definitely didn’t explain how you can possibly give away ticketed customers’ seats to standby passengers.

To top it off, you said yourself that, “Cancellations such as this are considered uncontrollable and are not subject to the compensation that is normally offered as a result of controllable delays, such as maintenance or crew.” Can you explain then why we were not compensated when the crew was late and ultimately did not show up with no explanation given? If your poilicy is to offer compensation for controllable delays, does this not fit the criteria you specified?

While I appreciate the relatively quick response and attempt to gain back my respect with your airline, it did nothing to address any of the concerns I had. I would still like to request a full refund in the amount of $391.20 for my atrocious experience. Of course, until then, I have no problem posting my thoughts on as many websites and publications that I can find while telling everyone I know about this experience. I look forward to your response again, and have a very Merry Christmas.

Dear Mr. Maroun:

Thank you for contacting Customer Relations at US Airways. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you experienced when your Flights were cancelled due to weather issues. You have every right to expect our flights to operate as scheduled. We certainly don’t intend to cause difficulties for our customers and realize that any service failure, even when weather is involved, creates a negative impression of our company…. See More

Deteriorated weather conditions made flying to Indianapolis an impossibility. It became apparent an improvement in this situation was not going to happen. Safety considerations are paramount to all concerned and override flight schedules. We realize the long hold times and long lines were frustrating situation and apologize for the inconvenience. Due to all the cancellations caused by the weather our volume of calls increased significantly, which caused increased hold times for callers and long lines at the airport.

Cancellations such as this are considered uncontrollable and are not subject to the compensation that is normally offered as a result of controllable delays, such as maintenance or crew.

Again, thank you for contacting US Airways. We appreciate your giving us the opportunity to explain our position. Thank you for understanding.

Sincerely,

Justin Dannels
Representative, Customer Relations
US Airways Corporate Office