You probably already know that the airlines have been setting records for losing luggage.

(If not, 2006 marked the third straight year for new depths in baggage handling: nearly seven bags lost, stolen or trashed for every 1,000 passengers.)

But what you may not know is how badly passengers can be jerked around after their luggage is found.

Emily Anelli can tell you about that. She lives in Hawaii, where her husband is in the Navy. But her family lives in Northeast Ohio, including a grandfather in the Uniontown area who reads this newspaper.

Anelli is eight months pregnant, so she should have better things to worry about than rescuing a tight budget from a $417 hit.

''I'm so stressed out about this,'' she said by phone. ''I just want it to be over.''

The problem arose when Anelli was only one month pregnant. You read that right — a routine baggage issue has dragged on for seven months.

It began in February when she, her husband and their infant son flew into the Akron-Canton Airport (CAK, in airline lingo). Delta Airlines managed to lose three of their five pieces of luggage.

At CAK, she was initially told she would be reimbursed $25 per bag per day. When she said that wouldn't cover clothing and toiletries, the airline agreed to reimburse her for her purchases, which eventually totaled $417.

One of the bags was delivered two days later. The others came six days later. And her check? Um...not yet.

When she flew home, the Delta folks at CAK made photocopies of her receipts — then lost them. She had to send copies a month later.

She repeatedly called the local Delta folks and kept getting the same story: ''We will resubmit the claim.'' At one point the person she was talking to told her he was increasing the amount to $550 to make up for the long delay.

Still...no check.

She tried Delta's 800 phone line for ''customer service.'' Apparently, it is staffed by people who have never set foot on American soil or taken a geography class. One exchange went something like this:

Customer Service: Where is (the Delta employee you've been dealing with)?

Anelli: At the Akron-Canton Airport in Akron, Ohio.

CS: And where are you?

Anelli: I live in Honolulu.

CS: You haven't went to see him?

Anelli: He is in Ohio and I am in Hawaii.

CS: And you can't see him? Why?

Akron-Canton Airport spokeswoman Kristie Van Auken says Anelli ''did everything right. She kept copies of her receipts — very smart. She's called customer service. She started with the (airport). It sounds as if she's been very reasonable.

''We're embarrassed for Delta.''

Is Delta embarrassed for Delta? Only somewhat.

The company cut her a check the same day we called. Senior manager Susan Elliott said Anelli should get her money within a week.

But, incredibly, Elliott found fault with the fact that Anelli was working with someone at the airport rather than initially using the national customer service line. Which is bunk.

How was Anelli to know that the people at the ''Delta'' counter aren't really ''Delta''?

Four different airlines fly in and out of CAK bearing the Delta label: Comair and ASA, which are wholly owned subsidiaries; Chautauqua, owned by a holding company; and Delta itself.

The last leg of her flight was on a Chautauqua plane. But the customer-service counter at CAK is run by Comair.

Now, wouldn't you think somebody working for Comair would be able to get ahold of somebody at Delta in less time than it takes to go from being one month pregnant to being eight months pregnant?

''It looks like there was just some confusion as to who was going to be handling it,'' Elliott said. OK then.

Consolation prize: CAK (not Delta) has offered the Anellis a free week of parking the next time they come home — no doubt via another airline.