In a time when Federal Express and the Federal government can tell you where your package is throughout its delivery status, the airlines can’t tell you where your baggage is if your flight is delayed, your connection is missed or you encounter another problem with your flight. Yes, if you are able to talk to a representative and complain, they will then issue a reference number that enables you to track luggage online…but your bag has to be lost before you can complain. There’s nothing you can do to track a bag en route.

When the weather is bad and flights are delayed, the airlines go into bunker mode. My recent experience on Delta airlines typifies this mentality: My son missed a connecting flight from Atlanta because the plane taxied on arrival on the runway for an hour, causing him to missed his connecting flight to Westchester County Airport. They put him on a standby flight the next day that was oversubscribed, and he bounced around like a ping-pong ball throughout the day with no idea when he might be able to complete his flight. When I inquired on his behalf what he might expect from the day, none of the “great people” could give me an answer. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, I was put on permanent hold.

Delta also couldn’t tell us where his baggage was because no one in baggage would pick up the phone.

On another occasion, traveling with American, the luggage from a missed connection — again caused by the airline — was sitting at the arrival airport but no one there or with American knew it. They routed us to a call center in New Delhi, India. It was only after my 90-year old father drove to Reagan National and physically lifted our bags out of baggage claim — two days after we had left the area — that we were able to retrieve them.

You may think being nice and expecting the best from people is enough. But the airlines have a more cynical attitude: Create enough friction for the consumer so that they give up trying to get decent service. Put people on the front lines that have no control over the system or information about it, and let them take the heat. It’s no wonder people are disgusted.