£1500 stolen from checked bag: Compensation?

Goods

Hello everyone,

I flew Turkish airlines and on my return my bag was not on the carousel. I reported it missing and collected the PIR form. The next day I received the suitcase and the padlock had been ripped off (including the handles) and around £1500 worth of personal items (included a couple of electronic items) had been stolen from my luggage.

I submitted a written claim to Turkish Airlines for the damaged bag and included receipts for the missing items.

Turkish airlines sent a letter back stating that they would offer me $405 (equivalent to around £250) with the following statements:

1) The airline's liability is limited by the Montreal Convention.
2) Valuable items including valuable electric equipment (underlined by them) should not be included in the checked baggage.
3) If the carrier offers an excess valuation facility, a declaration can be made prior to the flight and applicable charges can be paid. As this was not done in my case, my missing electrical items will not be taken into consideration.
4) If I accept the offer, I have to sign a release saying no further action will be taken

I've read a couple of online articles that says the Montreal convention does not make any distinctions for valuable items - "Airlines may try to say that they are not liable for valuable items. But, the legislation makes no exceptions, therefore they are liable for items such as cameras," bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/moneybox/3862749.stm

Also this website states that if my claim is not met, then I should consider the Small Claims Court: thetravelinsider.com/travelaccessories/lostbaggagerights.htm and that my chances of winning if I have receipts and the claim is not huge.

Turkish Airlines own website states the maximum they will pay according to the Montreal Convention is 1,131 Special Drawing Rights, approximately £1,101 turkishairlines.com/en-INT/services/passenger_services/pursuant.aspx

Is my claim for the full amount £1,101 valid and can anyone suggest the best way to write back to them and try to persuade them to pay out the maximum amount?

If not, could anyone tell me the best way to go about a Small Claims Court action? Can I have any input on the the venue and the timings?

Thanks everyone

(PS, anyone posting that I should not have placed electrical items in checked baggage will be ignored. Kicked myself enough over this.)

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

If you aren't insured (and they definitely wouldn't cover valuables in the hold), then I would say this is a pretty darn good offer. But they may make a significantly lower offer based upon the weight of your case.

If you are insured through travel insurance or an all risks household policy, you may be able to claim the difference from them, as they are only liable for what is not covered elsewhere.

Mankysteve

Small claims will only work if the company is UK based, if they based in say Turkey then Turkish laws apply and you'd have to sue though there courts I'm afraid.

Did you have travel Insurance?

bingo_bango

Try the UK arm of the EU consumer centre network. Although Turkey aren't currently in the EU, they might be able to give you some decent advice on taking this forward.

mamabuddah

£1500 worth of personal items? in one bag?....what were you carrying? and if required, do you have receipts for those items?...after all...once the bag was "broken" open...it's only your word that you actually had those items in your bag.

Flyboy152

mamabuddah wrote: »

£1500 worth of personal items? in one bag?....what were you carrying? and if required, do you have receipts for those items?...after all...once the bag was "broken" open...it's only your word that you actually had those items in your bag.

The OP has already stated that they have receipts.

What is wrong with putting that much stuff in a bag? Would the airline tell you that they don't trust the people they use to load their aircraft? It doesn't take much to add up to that value.

As this will be a civil case, the onus would be on the airline to show some proof that they know the items were not there. Liabilty will be based on the balance of probabilities.

OP, do you have travel insurance and have you checked your household insurance?

Goods

Hi, yes I do have travel insurance through HSBC Premier but have not tried to claim through them yet as I thought I would inform the Manchester Airport police first and get a crime reference number and then to get Turkish Airlines Manchester office to begin an investigation.

My letters have been to the Manchester office of Turkish Airlines and their General Manager responded with the £250 offer. I am pretty sure that this is a deliberately low offer to try and get rid of me so will write to them again, but wanted some advice off here first about my rights and how to draft a Letter Before Action (and whether I can go the Small Claims Court or MoneyClaim Online route?)

As they have a sales office in Manchester and at Heathrow, then I am pretty sure that they will be bound by UK laws.

If they pay me the full amount according to the Montreal Convention (£1100) then I may write the rest off to experience.

Any advice welcome

baza52

why go after £1100 and write the rest off when you have travel insurance.
That would have been my first phonecall after i had the case back.

Claim off your insurance and let them deal with it.

I get a feeling there is more to this than meets the eye.
Out of interest, what items are you claiming for that were stolen?
Perhaps they can compare the weight of the bag when checked in to the weight of the bag when it was recovered. thats if it was weighed again

geordieracer

Flyboy152 wrote: »

The OP has already stated that they have receipts.

What is wrong with putting that much stuff in a bag? Would the airline tell you that they don't trust the people they use to load their aircraft? It doesn't take much to add up to that value.

As this will be a civil case, the onus would be on the airline to show some proof that they know the items were not there. Liabilty will be based on the balance of probabilities.

OP, do you have travel insurance and have you checked your household insurance?

The OP may have receipts but are these receipts to show that they were bought in Turkey and thus in all likely hood in the bag on the way back?

Also why are you prepared to write off £400 ?

Norfolk_Jim

Why on earth are you not just claiming on your travel insurance? Is there a limit on the baggage claims section?

shaun_from_Africa

All insurance policies will have a claims limit in place and this will normally be a total sum payable, a maximum amount for individual items, and very often there will be a maximum allowable for high risk and electronic items.

The policy details below are from my policy document, and I wouldn't be surprised if the cover given to the OP is very similar.

Personal possessions and luggage £2,000

£300 is the most we will pay for high-risk items in total for each
person. This can be raised to £750 if you bought extra cover (annual
policy only).
£300 (£750 if you bought extra cover, annual policy only) is the most
we will pay for any single item.