United Express has major baggage issues at Denver airport

There were apparently two issues. The first is that the outsourced United Express ramp has just transitioned vendors. These rampers load and unload the planes but do not bring the bags to or from the belts or other aircraft. There were a lot of new employees on board and loading was slower than normal. The other issue is that United mainline ramp was understaffed. Mainline ramp is responsible for bringing bags to and from aircraft, even UAX. Because of the understaffing, they prioritized United mainline flights and UAX flights were left to suffer.

Traveled from Cleveland to Bozeman through Denver on Dec 22 and despite long layover in Denver, the bags were never put on the Bozeman flight. I received them the next day. There were several passengers on the Bozeman flight who did not get their luggage. Very poor service and clearly something wrong at Denver. The airline just doesn't get the idea that every employee and subcontractor involved should not be satisfied until each customer arrives at their destination on time with their bags. These feeder airlines just don't get the customer service deal. Once their flights get behind the snowball just builds along the multi-stop, or back and forth routs. They don't seem to do much about it.

I understand airlines must shop around for services like any other business. However, the idea of changing providers on December 4, right before the heaviest traveled time of the year is ludicrous.

I expect this kind of problem to grow at other airports and airlines as the "Mainline" carriers continue to outsource the "Regional" segments to the lowest bidder. Plus, since when does the SFO-DEN(DIA) segment belong in the "Regional" category?

DIA it self is a mess. A couple years ago I got to the airport 3 hours ahead of time on a holiday weekend. Made it to the gate 10 minutes before departure. Will connect through DEN but try to avoid checking in or leaving the airport if at all possible.

Hmmmm...wonder what one can expect when (I'm guessing here)a low bidder gets the contract? And being new to the job plus understaffing plus incredibly low wages...well, I get it. I like to think that people are doing the best they can 90% of the time. Also, let us not forget that some passengers are a real pain and complain about anything. I would suggest that they simply jump in their cars and drive from Denver to LAX or KLGA.

Well lets see seems that if the baggage eating system is even working correctly that would be a miracle if one reads about all the problems with it and the airport construction in general.