United left one of our bags back in SFO but that’s not my real complaint. The complaint is how it all went down. So we checked in the day before online and were told we could use the quick drop for luggage. So the next day I used baggage quick drop curbside at SFO. The agent mistakenly didn't tag my bag as he put my bag on the conveyor belt untagged. We immediately alerted him he had not tagged the bag. I walked with him to the baggage service office to find my bag and tag it. We waited outside the office for 10 mins. He came out and said everything was ok and the bag was going to be tagged and on my flight. We received a text that one of our bags was on the flight but the other was not. I alerted my first class flight attendant immediately upon boarding the flight. She was helpful and said she’d get it sorted out right away. She called over the gate agent. The gate agent used my bag number and looked over information on her device. She said my bag was on the flight. The flight attendant was standing with her, looking at the device, and also said “yep it’s on the flight”. During the flight the flight attendant made reference to how reassuring it must feel knowing the bag was on the flight. Upon arriving to IAD we received a text that my bag was not on my flight. The text said my bag would arrive to my final destination LIS 24 hrs late. I understand that mistakes happen. I was totally ok with my bag mistakenly not getting tagged at the quick drop. I was fine with walking down to baggage services to tag my bag. But, what I am not ok with is that the United staff said they fixed the mistake two different times, assuring me twice that my bag would be/was on the plane…and it wasn’t. I expected better attention by the employees, for them to do what they said they were going to do. We also spent extra money to upgrade our seats to first class, including the entire return leg from Lisbon to San Francisco because we wanted a smoother and more relaxing travel experience. Our money was not well spent. We will not be using United for travel going forward.
