No Help for Stranded Passengers

February 5, 2005

Jack Williams
President and COO
Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.
1050 Caribbean Way
Miami, Florida 33132-2096                    

RE:    How Was My Family Treated by Royal Caribbean?    

Dear Mr. Williams:

I read with interest your statement on the web page of Royal Caribbean.   In pertinent part it said AWe=re a great company because of our people.  Wherever we go, whatever we do, we take our values with us.@  If you will take the time to read this letter you will find that your stated goals of Royal Caribbean were not met with our family.  The most troubling problem is that the failure was not on the part of what I would call the line staff people.  They performed admirably.  The problem was with management people who performed poorly, were not candid about what happened and had terrible communication and problem solving skills.

I took my wife, our four sons and my daughter in law on the Royal Caribbean cruise from December 19-26, 2004 aboard the Adventure of the Seas departing from Puerto Rico on the southern Caribbean cruise.   As we prepared to depart from St. Martin someone from the ship called our rooms looking for three of my sons.  My sons were not there.  I went to the 1st deck to check on the status.  As we pulled away from the dock I was met by the Chief Purser.  He took me to the computer and we verified that three of my sons had not checked in.  They were left by Adventures of the Seas at St. Martin on Dec. 21, 2004.  The Chief Purser asked me if my sons had money.  I told him that I had given one a credit card.  He told me that they would be taken care of.  I would later learn that Royal Caribbean did a very poor job of Ataking care of@ my sons.


What we did not know until my sons returned two days later was that my sons were running along side the ship in clear view of the bridge.  The port agent radioed the bridge and asked if my sons could be transported to the ship by another boat that was at the pier.   The bridge of the Adventures of the Seas promptly denied that request.  When I informed the Hotel Director of this he said he did not believe that my sons were on  the pier because they would have been seen by the bridge.  Am I to believe that my three sons were lying to me?  Or was the Hotel Director grossly mistaken?  Funny thing though was that my sons took a picture of the ship pulling away.  Maybe my sons were telling me the truth and the ship personnel either did not want to hear it or want to deny it.  The arrogance of the Hotel Director, as I will explain more later, was typical of the management on the ship that I dealt with in this matter.  

For one who makes a living by trying to learn the truth between competing versions of the alleged facts, I am extremely troubled by the double talk, arrogance, misleading and mistaken or flat out misrepresentations made to me and my wife by management on the ship. Truth should be the standard.  Nothing less should be acceptable to Royal Caribbean.  My family=s experience with management of the Adventures of the Seas was terribly frustrating (to put it mildly).  Royal Caribbean corporate management must care how its customers feel about how they were served by Royal Caribbean.  Unfortunately, the management on the Adventures of the Sea, in particular the Hotel Director and the Chief Purser, do not care, or if they do, they do a miserable job communicating it.  

Returning to the history of the events.  At the same time that my sons= request to be transported to the ship that was made through Royal Caribbean=s port agent was being denied, I was being told by various Royal Caribbean staff at both the security area and at the Guest Relations desk that if my sons got there quickly they likely would be able to be transported to the ship in the harbor.  After some time passed I was informed by the staff at Guest Relations that too much time had passed and that it was now too late for such a transfer.  Remember that unbeknownst to me at the time, my sons arrived moments after the ship pushed off, my sons were present with the agent when he  made the request for a transfer but that request was promptly denied without any discussion.   How should my wife and I have felt when my sons returned and we learned of the denial of the request for a transfer when we had been told that a transfer would likely happen if they were there soon?  My sons experience did not match with what I had been repeatedly told.  I was troubled about reconciling what I was told and what happened to my sons.

I then undertook a series of discussions trying to get to the bottom of the matter.  The management staff was used to giving some canned answers to questions but they were clearly intended to placate me rather than tell me the truth.  In a series of discussions with several staff members at Guest Relations I was given various possible reasons why the request was not granted.  I did not want to know possible reasons why my sons were not transferred, I wanted to know why they were not in fact transferred.

Ultimately, I had a series of discussions with the Chief Purser trying to find out why my sons= request for a transfer was denied when I had been told by the staff at Guest Relations that if they got there quickly that they would likely be transferred.  He did not know why a transfer was not made but assumed, among other reasons, that it was likely a safety issue.


Safety is obviously a legitimate concern.  However, my sons informed us (and others that were left as well confirmed to us) that other passengers who were left by another Royal Caribbean ship (Navigator of the Seas) on the same dock as my sons made the same request for a transfer through the same agent in the same coast guard vessel in the same harbor and that reasonable request was granted.  I was confused why the safety concerns were different between the two Royal Caribbean cruise ships sailing from the same port at the same time.  I wanted to find out why my sons= request was denied while the request from others was granted. The Chief Purser told me that the decision was made by "the bridge."  I asked to speak to "the bridge" to know why that request was denied.  He told me he would see if I could talk to Athe bridge.@

Thereafter I was left a message on my state room phone that my request to talk to Athe bridge@ was denied.  The message that was left was that Athe bridge@ would not talk to me, that the decisions had been made and that no changes would be made.  What a great public relations move!  So I went to talk to the Chief Purser again.

At this meeting, my third or fourth meeting with the Chief Purser, I was then told by the Chief Purser that "the bridge" on this ship never allows a transfer.  I was shocked to be told this.  I have a hard time believing that representation to me by the Chief Purser.  If that were in fact the policy, then why didn't the Chief Purser tell me that in the several discussions that we had prior to that time?  If that were the policy, then why was the staff misrepresenting to me that if my sons got there soon that they could be transported to the ship?  Something is clearly wrong.  Either the Royal Caribbean has a staff that does not know the policy, or the Chief Purser was misrepresenting the policy to me.  

I have a hard time believing the staff had not in fact experienced transfers in similar circumstances in the past.  In a later discussion with the Hotel Director he backed up what the Chief Purser told me that this ship never does such transfers.  The Hotel Director did not even believe (because he did not know if they had) that the other Royal Caribbean ship had allowed transfers to be made as was explained by my sons (and the other left guests).  The Hotel Director did not want to hear about what the other Royal Caribbean ship did or did not do.

It was not difficult for me to test the truth of what the Chief Purser and Hotel Director told me.  I asked a number of the security personnel that work the gangway if transfers were made.  Every one that I spoke with confirmed that transfers were sometimes made on this ship. The circumstantial evidence was overwhelming that transfers were a possibility- representations by the staff at the Guest Relations desk and representations by randomly selected security personnel as well as a contemporaneous transfer made to another Royal Caribbean cruise ship at the same time.  Lastly, if the policy did exist then why did it take about four meetings with the Chief Purser to finally tell me that this ship had a flat no transfer policy?


How am I supposed to feel about what I am being told by the management on the ship about transfers?  Conflicting reasons, changing stories, refusal to discuss are lousy management styles!  They are lousy public relations!  Did I leave the cruise knowing that Royal Caribbean was candid with me and telling me the truth?  I don=t think so. Did I believe that Royal Caribbean was a great company because it had great people?  Hardly.

One of my questions to you is does Royal Caribbean in fact have a policy on transfers?  If so, what is it?  Is it written? How is that policy communicated to the personnel of Royal Caribbean so that they do not misrepresent the policy to customers like me?  If there is a policy, why didn't the Chief Purser inform me of that policy in the first discussion about why my sons were not transferred?  

For two days my wife and I were under the mistaken understanding that my sons were quite late because they were so late so as to be unable to make a transfer.  My understanding was a direct result of representations of Royal Caribbean personnel to me.  Were the representations true or were they misrepresentations?  Again, how am I supposed to feel about what I was being told?

Since a transfer was not made my wife and I could only conclude that my sons were quite late.  Of course we wondered if they had been in an accident or had some other serious problem.  But we did not know.  Funny thing though was that the bridge knew our sons were ok and had just missed the ship because a request for transfer was made as the ship was pulling away from the dock.

Why didn't Athe bridge@ (or whoever it was in fact that denied the request) show any concern to us on board about the welfare of our sons by passing that information on to the Chief Purser or someone else on the ship so we could be informed?  Where is the customer service?  Is it so hard to imagine that the family of the left passengers who were requesting a transfer might want to know that the left passengers were ok and had not missed the ship due to some accident?  Is there no protocol to pass on that information?  Common sense says that the information should be given to the family.  Somebody was asleep at the switch.

I also learned that my sons had their taxi cab driver radio ahead to the Royal Caribbean agent about their status when they were some 30 minutes out.  Upon inquiry through the staff since Athe bridge@ would not talk to us, "the bridge" claimed that Royal Caribbean's agent never informed them of the call.  Who dropped the ball there?  Did the agent not pass on that information to the bridge?  Is there no responsibility of the Royal Caribbean agent to call the ship?   I was also informed by the Hotel Director that if the bridge had been informed by the agent that they likely could have waited the few minutes.  But Royal Caribbean either has no policy or the policy was not followed.  Where is the customer service here?  


The ship left six passengers at St. Martin.  The ship did not wait for them at all.  The ship refused to transfer the left passengers.  In contrast, the night before, on St. Thomas, the ship waited an hour and a half for some late arrivals (around 20 as I recall).  This was announced over the public address system during dinner.  There was no riot or outcry among the passengers.  I think we all thought it was the courteous thing to do.  But not the next night in St. Martin for the six passengers that were late by minutes.  Where were the same courtesies extended for an hour and half the previous night?

Soon after the ship left without my sons, my wife went to the Guest Relations desk and asked if my sons needed their passports.  She was told no.  That was a crucial error on the part of Guest Relations.  I was told that their ship identification was sufficient because they were going from one Dutch island to another Dutch island.  Again, another erroneous statement.

Royal Caribbean either did not have a policy of what to do when someone is left or the policy was not followed.  We should have been told to immediately e mail my sons' passports to Royal Caribbean's agent.  Instead, we were specifically told that they did not need their passports.  Why didn=t the Chief Purser tell me that they would need the passports when he asked if they had money?  They needed money and passports.  Two items.  Where was the customer service?

The Royal Caribbean agent on St. Martin sent an e-mail at 9:00 pm to the ship asking for copies of my sons' passports.  This was some 3 1/2 hours after they were left.  Unfortunately, that e mail was not received by the ship until after midnight.  Apparently no one on the ship reviews e-mails to the ship at night. Is that good practice and policy?  So there was no response.

My sons met the agent just before 8:00 am the next morning to finalize the paperwork to make the 10:15 am flight to San Juan.  The agent made a panic phone call to the ship again asking for the passports.  The agent, however, did not have the phone number of the ship.  My sons had obtained it from a travel agent who was also left by the ship in St. Martin.  Parenthetically, why wouldn=t the agent for Royal Caribbean have the phone number of the ship?  Why would the phone number of the Royal Caribbean ship have to be given to the Royal Caribbean agent by stranded passengers?  The response from the ship to the Royal Caribbean=s agent=s panic call was that my sons= passports would be there in a half hour.  After about 45 minutes and no passports, my married son, by using a pay phone, was able to get through to the ship=s phone system to his wife.  He frantically told his wife that they desperately needed their passports.  They were in high stress!  They were trying to make the only flight out of St. Martin to San Juan that day or they would not make it to Aruba and may be away for three days.  That was the first word we received on the ship that there was a need for passports and now it was a crisis. About the same time, my wife received a call from Guest Relations asking for the passports.  She immediately ran the passports down to Guest Relations.  The passports were copied and faxed to the Royal Caribbean agent.  


My sons had the faxed copies notarized.  They were then working with faxed silhouetted passports for their two flights and getting through customs in San Juan.  The Chief Purser did scan the passports and e mailed them to the Royal Caribbean agent but, of course, because of the delayed response by the Chief Purser, the e-mail with scanned passports never arrived in time.   My sons had several nerve racking discussions with ticket agents, customs folks, etc. talking their way through with the very poor quality faxed copies of their passports.  They were quite stressed over the very real possibility that was staring them in the face that they would be denied the right to proceed or that they would be delayed so as to miss one of their two flights and be away for three days.

All of this pressure and stress and complications were totally unnecessary and due to misrepresentations on the part of Royal Caribbean to my wife and me.  Royal Caribbean and its agent should know that passports would be needed.  (The Hotel Director acknowledged that in my discussion with him.)  Within an hour or so from my sons being left, the Chief Purser should have e mailed the passports to the Royal Caribbean agent.  But he didn=t.  The lack of timely passports was a terrific and unnecessary complicating factor due solely to Royal Caribbean.  My sons made the flight out of St. Martin by only minutes.  This was due solely to poor customer service on the part of Royal Caribbean and Royal Caribbean=s  misrepresenting to my wife and I that the passports were not needed.  My sons, who were already stressed out, were put through even more stress in a crazy morning of paperwork and a wild taxi ride to the airport and running through the airport, talking their way through with poor faxed copies  none of which would have been necessary if Royal Caribbean knew what they were doing.  Where is the customer service?  Where is the truth behind the repeated representations to my wife and I that they were in good hands and everything was being taken care of because this happens with some regularity.

Having only experienced this once, it is easy for me to understand the protocol that should be followed by Royal Caribbean. It is fairly straightforward.  For those left on St. Martin, they need money and passports. That should be put into operation forthwith.  There is one flight back to San Juan at 10:15 am the next day.  This information could be quickly explained to those of us on the ship.    

In addition, Royal Caribbean had a golden opportunity to help make lemonade out of the lemons that my sons were forced to eat.  Royal Caribbean could have used its economic muscle to potentially ease the costs to its customers.  But, par for the course, Royal Caribbean did absolutely nothing for my sons except show them to a hotel.  What a terrible lost opportunity.  Doesn't Royal Caribbean have some leverage to get reduced rates in hotel rooms, meals, flights, etc.?  I bet Royal Caribbean does have leverage for their corporate folks in St. Martin.  But not for stranded passengers.  Stranded passengers can fend for themselves. It is their fault that they missed the ship.  All Royal Caribbean needs to do is ask if the stranded passengers have money.  But where is the customer service?  Were my sons being well taken care of by Royal Caribbean?  I do not think so.  I do not think Royal Caribbean public relations would think so.


Where are the Royal Caribbean marketing and public relations folks?  Are they totally asleep at the switch?  People left at a port by Royal Caribbean cruise ships are by far and away the most likely people to have a problem with Royal Caribbean.  So what is Royal Caribbean's plan to mitigate that problem?  Will Royal Caribbean do whatever they can to minimize the expense and inconvenience of the problem?  Will the stranded passengers return saying that Royal Caribbean went out of their way to help them?  Or will those passengers  return extremely frustrated that they were basically left to fend for themselves?  I can tell you that my wife and I as parents of stranded sons felt like we were misled by Royal Caribbean when we were told that this happens with some regularity and that the Royal Caribbean agent would take care of them.

My sons have always taken responsibility that they were late.  The cab ride that took 20 minutes out took over an hour to return (due to traffic problems on St. Martin).   Something that Royal Caribbean was very good at was consistently reminding us that it is not Royal Caribbean=s fault that my sons were late.  That states the obvious.  We never once said that Royal Caribbean was responsible for my sons being late.  That is not the issue at all.  That is an accepted fact.  

The issue for discussion is, however, once Royal Caribbean had left them, how did Royal Caribbean perform in comparison to what they represented they would perform and what a professional cruise line should do to assist stranded passengers  not necessarily out of some legal obligation, but simply from good public relations and customer service.

In reality, Royal Caribbean performed poorly in its efforts to help solve the problems of my sons all the while Royal Caribbean was  repeatedly telling my wife and I that this happens all the time, that my sons were in good hands, that everything was being taken care of etc.  They did not have specifics for us but we were comforted by what they said and trusted them.  We later felt that we were being misled.

When my sons arrived in Aruba, they tried many times to reach the ship by phone to let us know that they had arrived and where they were staying.  Why couldn't Royal Caribbean have done that?  Because Royal Caribbean left it up to them to find lodging and confirm that they arrived.  When my sons did get through to the ship they left a message that they had made it to Aruba leaving the name and number of the hotel.  They were promised that the message would be immediately delivered to us.   The message was typed up with the time of 8:00 pm.  Contrary to the representations to my sons, however, the message was not immediately delivered to us.  Not even close!

Why were we not told that our sons would catch the 10:15 am flight from St. Martin, fly to San Juan and catch a flight to Aruba?  Apparently there is only one flight from St. Martin to San Juan.  Why were we told that they would be flying from St. Martin to Aruba?  Why were we told that they would not need passports since they were going from Dutch St. Martin to Dutch Aruba?  Others told us they probably would not fly until we docked in Aruba in case the ship did not go to Aruba.  We obviously never knew what was really going on.  Why wasn=t the Royal Caribbean agent able to confirm flight arrangements within a couple of hours and have that information sent to us on the ship?  As it was, the flight information for both flights was sent by the agent in his e-mail to the ship of 9:00 pm (that arrived sometime around midnight).  My wife was verbally told, by staff at the Guest Relations, about the flight information on the flight from St. Martin to San Juan.  She never was told about the flight information on the flight from San Juan to Aruba. Who knows why we were never given a copy of the e-mail.


My sons were waiting at the pier in Aruba when the ship arrived.  But my sons could not get through security even with their SeaPass cards (which we learned were eliminated from the system).  It took some time for them to talk their way to get back on board.  Would it be difficult for Royal Caribbean to alert security to expect the returning passengers?  

Why did my sons have to spend over $100 in phone charges from the hotel in Aruba trying to reach the ship to notify us that they had arrived and where they were staying?  What role does the Royal Caribbean agent have in Aruba?  Was that agent informed about my sons?  No.  When my sons arrived at the port in Aruba, the agent had no idea who they were.  Why didn=t Royal Caribbean notify the Aruba agent that they would be arriving and do something to assist them in Aruba?  I know why.  It was their fault that they missed the ship so they were on their own.

Back to the message that was typed up at 8:00 pm that was promised to be immediately delivered to us.  That did not happen.  We did not know all day Wednesday and Wednesday night whether or not our sons had made it to Aruba.  Why didn=t we know?  Because it took the staff 12 hours to deliver the message.  After the ship docked in Aruba on Thursday morning, we scanned the pier from our deck and saw our sons on the pier waiting to board the ship.  As we were leaving the room to go down and meet them we were handed the message.  Great timing! What customer service! Royal Caribbean was grossly  negligent in getting important information to us.  

There were two families on board with family members that had been stranded- our family and the wife whose travel agent husband was left.  Another couple was also left but had no family members remaining on board.  That is a small group for Royal Caribbean to be aware of and follow up with.  Did Royal Caribbean take a proactive role in helping mitigate the stress, costs, impacts etc. arising from this terrible event in the midst of the cruise for those two families? Unfortunately, the answer is a RESOUNDING NO.  Not a soul from Royal Caribbean sought out my wife, my daughter-in-law or the wife of the stranded husband to see if there was anything they could do to provide information about where they were staying, what the flight information was, etc.  With 1200 crew members assigned to feed us, clean up after us and entertain us isn=t it pathetic that no one is assigned to communicate with nor help the two most stressed families on the ship who have family members left for two days?  What is the message that those families have of the concern of Royal Caribbean?

On the morning the cruise ended, I learned that the Hotel Director was actually on board the ship so I sought him out to speak to him.  The Hotel Director invited me into his office to talk about my concerns.  But he was clearly not interested in understanding my concerns.  He had already discussed them with the Chief Purser.  He did not believe that my sons had been along side the ship.  He did not believe that others had been transferred to another Royal Caribbean ship.  He did not really want to talk.  He stated he preferred that the matter Ago legal.@  What a cavalier attitude!  He does not get it.  


By analogy to the strict no transfer policy, the Hotel Director said that if someone were ill they would be isolated as a matter of policy.  Fine. No problem with that policy.  Then the question would be, once isolated, how would they be treated by Royal Caribbean?  Would they be ignored?  Would they be cared for?  Would they be fed bread and water?  Would anyone from Royal Caribbean be assigned to check on them during the time of isolation?  Would those in isolation leave the cruise experience with the feeling that Royal Caribbean did what it reasonably could to make the experience tolerable or would they leave feeling that Royal Caribbean mistreated, neglected and abused them?  

The Hotel Director again made sure I knew that it was my sons= fault that they were left and that I should be glad they were back safe.  True on both counts but ignoring and sidestepping the points of my concern.  Why was I getting the run around about Royal Caribbean policies?  Why was Royal Caribbean failing to provide reasonable support to us?  Why isn=t Royal Caribbean being proactive in dealing with left passengers as a positive marketing move rather than leaving the passengers feeling like they are fending for themselves?  But he did not want to talk about those matters.

For something that must happen with some regularity (passengers being left at a port) it is astounding to me that Royal Caribbean apparently has no policy or protocol of what should be done to help lessen the blow to the family members left on board the ship.  Royal Caribbean should have a handout that it gives to family members on board that outlines what Royal Caribbean is doing and what the family can do.  The handout should be port specific that outlines information about flight(s) and how they will likely catch up with the cruise ship.  Information about where they could stay would be nice etc.    

The arrogance of Athe bridge@ in refusing to meet and discuss why they left my sons was very frustrating.  Doesn=t Royal Caribbean management know that the best way to solve frustrations is to get people to communicate about their concerns?  A "we will not meet and discuss attitude" leads to discussions between attorneys and ultimately discussions in depositions  just a tad more inconvenient and less productive than a discussion on the cruise.  They certainly had available time as we were in port for some 16 hours.  Refusing to even talk is a poor dispute resolution procedure and a very poor marketing program.   It just reinforces the Royal Caribbean philosophy that it is your own dumb fault and don't bother us about solving your problem.

So that you have my overall view of the cruise I will tell you that the service by the line staff on the Adventures of the Seas was great.  Our waiter and assistant waiter were charming, helpful and most pleasant.  They did all we asked of them.  They even helped us tease the returning sons.  The stateroom attendants provided more service than we expected.  The rooms were well maintained, cleaned and straightened.  The towels folded as animals was a nice treat.


We enjoyed the entertainment particularly the ice show and Yakoff Smirnoff.  The Kareoke contests we also fun to watch.  We enjoyed competing on arcade games as can be observed from the substantial sum we spent there.  My wife and daughter-in-law enjoyed shopping in the promenade.  Everyone enjoyed the great food on the ship.  My sons all enjoyed the availability of the food.  Royal Caribbean provided all of the services on board with flying colors.

But where was that same expertise and service in dealing with solving a tough problem of passengers being left at port?  Royal Caribbean is judged, as are all companies, by how it deals with the problems it faces.  The current show >The Apprentice@ focuses on how well people respond to challenges.  Top quality firms and individuals shine in problem solving and dealing with challenges.  They earn their customers loyalty.  Those that do not handle difficult situations well are fired.  Donald Trump, if he had the opportunity to review Royal Caribbean=s performance in this situation, would say ARoyal Caribbean- you=re fired!!@

After all the frustrating discussions with the Chief Purser and his staff, they did send us complimentary wine at dinner.  We told the head waiter we were grateful for the gesture but we did not drink alcohol.  We heard nothing more.

No one ever asked what they could do to make it right?  No one ever asked what they as Royal Caribbean could do to express their concern for us.  My son suggested to Royal Caribbean that they ought to consider something like a Acastaway party@ upon their return.  Maybe something like a T-shirt with a logo about missing the ship if they were willing to laugh with them.  Or maybe a polo shirt, bag, coupons, lunch or dinner with captain, tour of the ship, arcade credits, photographed upon return, etc.  What about expressing concern to the wives and mothers of left passengers?  Notes, cards, flowers, calls, visit by the Hotel Director, the Captain or someone?  Why did nothing like this happen?  

It is amazing to me that we are even making suggestions to Royal Caribbean.  Why isn=t the Royal Caribbean Marketing department way ahead of us on this?  Does Royal Caribbean do nothing throughout its entire cruise fleet in dealing with passengers that are left and their families?  Is what happened to us and our sons typical of Royal Caribbean or was this an anomaly?  If what we experienced is typical, I would hope that Royal Caribbean will change its protocol.  If what we experienced is not typical, what is Royal Caribbean going to do about it?

As we were flying home, my wife pointed out a quote from Duke Ellington in the magazine she is reading AA problem is a chance for you to do your best.@  I hope that Royal Caribbean does much better in the future.  I await your response to this letter.

Sincerely,


Robert F. Babcock



P.S.    As a post script, now that we have been back about a month, it should not come as a surprise to Royal Caribbean what the most talked about event was of the cruise.  Is Royal Caribbean pleased with how people react when they hear about this series of events?  I would hope not!

P.P.S.  I wonder how efficient Royal Caribbean was in getting one of my son's only bag which was lost finally located and delivered to the ship on day six of the cruise.  We were repeatedly told by staff at Guest Relations that they were doing all that they could.  I hope that they were but I have reason to doubt it.  By the way, my son did not miss his only bag too much since he was left off the ship for two of those days anyway.

P.P.P.S.  We did receive a nice form letter from Royal Caribbean for our use in dealing with the airline that lost our luggage.  Royal Caribbean apparently has a protocol to follow up with lost bags.  How about a protocol to follow up with left passengers?