Posted on 11/23/2004 12:29:29 AM PST by kattracks
Battle-weary Marine Sgt. Juan Jimenez thought two weeks' combat leave meant no fighting for a while — but he discovered he was wrong when he landed in the clink at Newark Airport, all because his bag was missing.Exhausted and eager to get home to Orlando, the frustrated leatherneck said he "raised a ruckus" with American Airlines officials.
Jimenez, 25, said Port Authority cops detained him for three hours, apparently hoping the problem would be resolved by the time he was sprung.
[snip]
Jimenez — whose battalion suffered four dead and 39 wounded in its house-to-house search for rebels in Fallujah — had flown on a military transport from Kuwait to San Diego with the two duffels, only to have them disappear after he boarded an American flight to Newark.
[snip]
Eventually, he got word that his gear had ended up in Cancun, Mexico, and hopefully would arrive at Newark this morning.
But he was still fuming last night when The Post caught up with him — in his desert camouflage — in the lobby of an airport hotel. He was in the lobby because American had failed to reserve a room for him — as promised — and his wallet and all his other clothing were in his duffel bags, he said.
[snip]
After learning his plight, a sympathetic hotel guest treated him to a room.
American couldn't be reached for comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Maybe the airlines should change its name to Anti-American for leaving that soldier without a room.
God Bless the sympathetic hotel guest that gave this hero a room!! Shame on American Airlines!!
American Airlines could learn a thing or two from this hotel guest
That is if he decides to ever fly with them again.
"After learning his plight, a sympathetic hotel guest treated him to a room"
I bet she was sympathetic. ooh-rah!
That's the least they should do
Her response was that "if you can find a runway from 35,000 feet up, in the dark, at 650 mph, you can find my luggage.
Something tells me AA will make amends. Unless of course they're morons.
-T
I remember a Sienfeld show where Elaine and Jerry were returning from KC to NYC. She gave the skycap a piece of her mind and after she walked off, he tagged her bag for Hawaii.
I hate American Airlines. They've been on the low end for a while. I avoid and have avoided them.
All of this after he participated in and endured the long, violent battles in Fallujah...
I don't blame him one bit for letting off some steam. Those American Airline employees could have been a lot more understanding and instead they chose arrogance.
Wonder why on earth he carried his wallet in the duffel bag? Also, never mind lower-end American Airlines, why didn't the hotel give him a room before a sympathetic guest had to? Wonder how often this happens to our guys and we don't hear about it? At any rate, God bless this soldier and may his homecoming be even better now.
I can understand his losing his temper but carrying his wallet in his checked duffle bag was just plain stupid. He brought some of his problems on himself.
As the story repeatedly stated, Jimenez is a Marine, not a soldier.
They're morons.
Southwest operates a large hub out of BWI, an east coast entry point for a lot of our troops returning from the Middle East. Last year on Thanksgiving they hosted a huge Thanksgiving buffet and sent employees around the airport to round up soldiers who had time for some free food.
Thank you for sharing this information albeit very rudely. I simply did not know you don't call Marines Soldiers. Now I know and I could have learned the same thing had you informed me in a kind and polite way.
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