lost baggage

bluebaron

Following a 5 hour delay from Gatwick the other day due to staff shortages (not weather), I arrived in stockholm without my bag at 4am. I was due to fly to Thailand later that day (I am the pilot!) however without my bag this was not possible.

My company have now repositioned me to Helsinki to operate today and found me a uniform to operate in.

I have had to buy pants/socks and a phone charger (£50) i have made £25 of calls to there call centre (and not got though) plus i will now miss my return flight on christmas day (£200 non refunable) as i will get back a day later.

ON top of all this i still have to buy some clothes when i get to Thailand as i have been wearing the same clothes for 3 days already.

I have read in other threads that i can claim around £850 if i never see my bag again but what can i expect to claim for if they do eventually find my bag?

As usual i cannot reach anyone to speak to by phone to een find out if they have my bag.

Thanks for you advice people.

Kira000

From all my experiences, you will NOT get a compensatory amount just for having had your suitcase lost for a while. What the airline should provide is "reasonable" reimbursement for items that you have had to buy whilst without your luggage. So, for the first 24hours, you would usually expect basic toiletries ie toothbrush/paste, deoderant etc, plus socks, pants, maybe an extra tshirt. The longer the period of your loss, the more it would be seen as reasonable to have replaced. EG, If you are without bags for 2 days, the 4 tops, 6 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of trousers would be seen as excessive, but if you are without your bag for a week, that would seem more reasonable. Gnerally this means no big one shop, but rolling purchses as the time elapses.

Also consider the price of what you are buying - focus on the "reasonable" element. Dont go buying £600 suits, and designer gear- if you wouldnt spend that much usually, then dont spend it just cos someone else is paying. It should be reasonably equivalent to what you actually have in your case. If there is a very specific item, ie, DJ for a posh do, that you need to have, that is missing, then you may need to prove you had one with you.

Most of all, keep ALL your receipts. You wont get a penny if you can prove youspent it, and a CC statement with a one liner of "GAP EU50" isnt going to cut it as youcould have been buying anything for anyone.

HTH!

bluebaron

Thanks for advice, I need a laptop charger for my work as well as the phoneone i already got, hope they cover that.

Could have all been avoided if they answered the bloody phone!

stephb34

I'm trying to work out if your taking the pee, i thought all cabin crew took their little cases on the plane with them so firstly how did you lose your case and secondly if your the pilot why would you have to pay for a flight home surely thats part of the job return home for free.

Ponkle22

I don't think the OP is taking the pee - the first post states s/he flew to Stockholm and was THEN to be the pilot from there to Thailand. But what you are querying is beside the point - s/he wants to know what to do about the current situation.

stephb34

Ponkle22 wrote: »

I don't think the OP is taking the pee - the first post states s/he flew to Stockholm and was THEN to be the pilot from there to Thailand. But what you are querying is beside the point - s/he wants to know what to do about the current situation.

As you don't know for definite whether they're taking the pee or not why bother querying what i'm asking if your not going to bother giving a helpful answer to this person either.

Kira000

bluebaron wrote: »

Thanks for advice, I need a laptop charger for my work as well as the phoneone i already got, hope they cover that.

Could have all been avoided if they answered the bloody phone!

As i said, keep all your receipts and see how you go. It is not unreasonable to ask for this for an extended stay- especially if needed for work.

I've tried to be as economical with my purchases as i could, without going short of necessities, and i've never had a problem with any claims myself (3 times now!). I guess it does slightly depend on the airline how difficult they are! They MAY ask you to claim from your travel insurance for some or all of it, so worth ringing your insurance in advance of claiming from airline to see what insurers will pay. Then you can include the info in your claim letter, saves going round that loop with the airline CR department!

HXDave

stephb34, totally with you on this.

as far as i am aware, crew take their own baggage on board, and why would they cancel his duty just because his luggage went messing. then, finally, why would he be questioning things on here? Surely, as a pilot (or so he says), he would have adequate resources within his own company to answer these questions.

Sorry, but i smell a TROLL here.

bluebaron

Hi all thanks for the advice. Just to clear up a few things.

I was a passenger on a Norweigien Flight to stockholm.

I am a pilot with another airline.

My uniform/clothes etc were in my suitcase.

My compnay does not like pilots flying in jeans/t-shirt, would you like it if the captain of you plane was dressed like that? Doesn't install confidence does it?

Anyway i'm now in Thailand for 3 days and have brought some clothes for my stay. I'm up to about £150 so far.

I could claim on my company travel insurance, but why should I? Its the airlines fault they should pay not my insurer, this will increase the premium next time around.

I have just (3 days later) recieved an email stating that they are returning my suitcase to my home address. At least they have it i guess.

Will keep you posted if i get some money back.

Ponkle22

stephb34 wrote: »

As you don't know for definite whether they're taking the pee or not why bother querying what i'm asking if your not going to bother giving a helpful answer to this person either.

I don't agree with you.