When I worked in customer service for American Airlines I was asked during holiday time each year to help out in the lost  baggage department. This meant talking to a lot of angry people. Let me tell you, when Aunt Rita calls from Palm Springs because her carefully chosen and lovingly wrapped Christmas gifts are en route to Dallas, she can get pretty feisty. Saddled with the oh-so-satisfying position of being nothing more than a deliverer of grim tidings – there was nothing I could do from the call center but provide the status of the lost luggage...