Well... I don't find it any more amazing than the fact that they can keep most of their planes in the air. Why? Because that is the job they have agreed to do for the money I have agreed to pay. Sadly, they fail at their job... apparently 26 million times a year.
Sometimes I wonder if my luggage is even on the same flight as me. We have to check in so early these days, it would not surprise me if they chucked my bag onto any next flight that will get it to my final destination before I do. Probably not... but maybe.
26 million of what, though? I don't recall seeing that mentioned in the article. Are we talking 5%, 10%, 35%? What is an acceptable failure rate? Us programmers aren't perfect, either. Or course, it's not justification, but it would sure help put things in perspective.
A family member of mine worked for an airline on the ground post 9/11 and, barring a major issue at the departing airport, there weren't very many problems. The worst circumstances were short layovers (which usually arrived on the next flight and sent to their address) or reroutes to the wrong destination (which this person took the fall for, obviously, as it was all in their control).
True the numbers are not spelled out exactly. It does say the industry claims that more than 99 percent of checked bags arrive with their owners, and most late bags turn up within two days. But when it happens to you, you don't really care what tiny percentage you are. And two days is a long time when you're in a foreign country washing your single pair of underwear in the hotel sink each night.
Oh, I 100% agree with you, having been in a similar situation. It only happens once, then you learn to carry an extra set of clothes in your carry-on (when travelling internationally).
My point is just that 1% is a pretty reasonable margin of error. If I worked on a team with 1% or less of errors over a life of a project, I'd be ecstatic. But, reality prevails. Email/Gmail, websites, cell networks, car accidents with hours of waiting, etc. all happen. Usually, only a small number are affected (or for a small duration).
Some UK friends of mine were shocked several years ago when we found out our bags were not on the same plane as us. Don't know if it's still a requirement in the UK or not (they seemed to indicate it was several years ago, re: terrorism).
If a passenger is off loaded or doesn't show up at the gate their bags would typically be removed for security reasons. That doesn't mean bags can't travel unaccompanied - just that if a passenger voluntarily offloads themselves their bags can't stay on.
Pre-9/11, I curb checked my bag but I was running a little late so got bumped off my flight before I made it to the gate. My bag made it on though. But that was before 9/11, so I imagine that would not happen today.
Additional funny bit about that: The flight I got bumped from was from Seattle to San Jose with a layover in San Francisco (don't ask). I was able to get onto another flight to SFO a couple hours later but was going to be on Stand-By for the SFO-to-SJC leg. So I just arranged to have some one pick me up at SFO rather than stand-by for that last (short) leg. They picked me up at SFO and we drove straight to SJC to get my bag. Only... my original flight had been severely delayed so I actually made it to SJC before my bag... which left SEA a good 2 hours before me. o_0
You know what I don't find amazing? When websites and SAAS's don't operate on 100% availability time, even though that's what I'm paying them to handle.
I mean, seriously, this is the whole point of their job, and yet websites keep going down. Sadly, they fail at their job.
The physical world is much more difficult than the digital world. If the best and brightest can't maintain 100% uptime on a website, don't expect 100% success with something infinitely more complicated.
Sometimes I wonder if my luggage is even on the same flight as me. We have to check in so early these days, it would not surprise me if they chucked my bag onto any next flight that will get it to my final destination before I do. Probably not... but maybe.