Baggage handler/thief stole our cash on Easyjet flight

mcfisco

boobies wrote: »

Yes, absolutely, which demonstrates the difficulty the OP will have in making a claim.

No more difficult than claiming for the said camera then?

Which I guess is an everyday occurrence

McKneff

Lord_Lucan wrote: »

I've not given the original post much more than a cursory glance, but feel suitably qualified to drone on with a superior tone about how it's all the fault of the OP for being so stupid as to follow the instructions of cabin crew/handling agent, then with even more foolishness think posting here may provide some helpful advice. I'm sure the OP hasn't remotely considered whether they could have done anything to prevent the incident.

On second thoughts, sorry to hear of your misfortune OP. Properly bad situation to find yourself in. I would wait for the response from easyjet, and assuming they initially brush you off then push the point that you walked out to the Aircraft thinking of said bag as your hand luggage and didn't feel that opening it to rifle though looking for the envelope at the foot of the Aircraft steps was a helpful move (perhaps you felt pressured just to hand the bag over and board swiftly....). I believe that as the cash was taken whilst in the care of an agent appointed by easyjet they do have a duty of responsibility but I'd be very surprised if they don't argue strongly that they don't. Hopefully you have already reported the theft to the Police somewhere and have a crime ref. number should you need to claim on insurance, unfortunately that may well be the outcome here.

Good luck!
L_L

:eek:

We've been looking for YOU EVERYWHERE
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

ben0239

I was recently on a flight to Prague from Luton Airport. At the bottom of the steps to the plane we were informed that our hand luggage could not be put on the plane due to lack of space on the plane. Bags were then taken off us and tagged and then put in the hold. At no time were we given an opportunity to transfer from our hand luggage to our persons.
When we arrived at Prague I checked my hand luggage and found that my Ipod was stolen. In addition another member of our group also had items stolen from our hand luggage. Through talking to other passengers on the return flight we know of at least one other person who also had items stolen while travelling through Luton Airport.
When we wrote to Easy Jet, they were apologetic however they refuse to accept any liability for the stolen items as they state they should of been transferred to our persons. We would of done this if a) we were given sufficient time to do so and b) if we had prior warning that we couldnt take hand luggage on to the plane.
Surely easy jet have a responsibilty to look after our hand luggage as they were the ones who stopped us from taking in onto the plans. Therefore what recourse do I have.
From my own research I know of at least 4 other cases on different flight of people who have used Easy Jet through Luton and been a victim of crime in this past year. Consequently this appears to be an endemic problem with easyjet or with Luton airport.

bagand96

Consequently this appears to be an endemic problem with easyjet or with Luton airport.

You have no way of knowing this happened at Luton. It could have happened just as easily at your destination airport.

In fact; it is much more likely it happened at the destination as it would be very hard for baggage handlers at Luton to go through, and steal from your luggage between the bottom of the steps and the aircraft hold. 1 reason for this is the very tight turnaround, and the fact that this is towards the end of boarding and turnaround which is always a frought time. The second reason being that the apron is in full view of everyone already sat down on the aircrat.

Far easier that it could have happened at destination once unloaded and taken to the carousel areas before coming through to reclaim.

Your anecdotal evidence of knowing of four people on your flight is hardly conclusive of being Luton either, as it could just as easily have been a problem at the same destination.

In terms of your claim, have you tried your travel insurance?

standing69

Letscatchem wrote: »

Flew to Barcelona on Wednesday 22 Feb 2012, Easyjet advised all passengers at the end of the boarding line that their bags may not fit in the cabin so we could check them in at no cost. In our suitcase was £450.00, in Euros. ...

Flew to Budapest with Easyjet from Luton last Wednesday. 13th June. 60000 HUFs (£200) in zip pocket hand baggage (rucksack). Just before boarding, at the gate, volunteers were asked if they would check their hand baggage into the hold in return for priority boarding. Seemed okay so we agreed, taking out the things we needed on the flight as Easyjet suggested. Left our bags on the runway in front of the aircraft steps with a few others. During the flight we discussed the money being stolen but dismissed the possibility because we thought we could trust the staff who operate around aircraft.
On arrival at Budapest two hours later our bags appeared in the luggage claim a few minutes apart, which seemed strange. We checked for our cash and it looked like it was still there. It was, but 50000 HUFs (£180 ) of it was missing. We reported it to Menzies and made a statement to the Hungarian police, who said this kind of thing happens all the time with aircraft coming from Luton. Reported it to Easyjet on arrival back at Luton yesterday. They just gave us a couple of UK police phone numbers to call. Did that. Got a crime number but the Police say there is nothing they can do about it. Took the day off work today spending hours on the phone getting charged whilst waiting in queues and emailed everyone concerned. This has to stop. There are ways. Plant spies, marked notes, dye canisters. People working around aircraft and luggage have to be trusted. If they can't be trusted how long before terrorists get in. The airlines and handling companies need to tighten up their vetting and monitoring of staff. Maybe they can't because they already pay low wages and wouldn't get any staff if they did. They also need to make sure that they have asked anyone who checks their hand luggage in at the gate if they have removed their cash and valuables. These things normally go in hand luggage because it never leaves a passengers sight normally. The thieves know this, and know that people will not think about removing cash and valuables. They prey on us like jackals. I hate them.

gregg1

luci wrote: »

It is easy to judge and take the high ground if you haven't been put in that situation yourself. Yes we all know, you don't put valuables in checked luggage.

However the OP didn't expect this piece of luggage to be checked into the hold. He was told at the last minute while boarding the plane that it would have to go into the hold and quite possibly didn't have time to think that there were valuables in it.

There was a similar situation on another forum. A couple were told they had to put their hand luggage into the luggage compartment of a coach on arrival as there wasn't room inside. When they arrived at their hotel the case was missing with all the elderly gentleman's medication. They ended up flying home 4 days into a 2 week holiday as they didn't know how to go about getting it replaced.

I think Easyjet have some responsibility here as they "instructed" the OP to put hand baggage in the hold. It wasn't by choice.

I don't think Easyjet have responsibility here. I agree with other posters, it is ludicrous to put that much money in a suitcase. Even if you thought the case was going in the overhead lockers, that is still not the same as having it with you or on your person. My dd has just gone to America for a few weeks with a lot of money but with strict instructions not to put it in her suitcase but keep it in her handbag and not let go of it until she puts it in the room safe the other end. It is common sense really.

peachyprice

standing69 wrote: »

Letscatchem wrote: »

things normally go in hand luggage because it never leaves a passengers sight normally. The thieves know this, and know that people will not think about removing cash and valuables. They prey on us like jackals. I hate them.

Sorry, but no way, no how, would I put a bag containing cash into the hold. You knew the cash was in there but you chose not to remove it before it being put in the hold.

Theft by baggage handlers has been around since day one, and is a well publicised problem worldwide. Yes they do prey on people, people naive enough to leave cash and other valuables in checked bags.

mgdavid

It beggars belief that anyone would be daft enough to put cash into a bag and not carry it about their person, in a money belt if need be. What on earth were they thinking of? (perhaps they weren't thinking at all).
I would have thought the usual policy phrases concerning the policyholder's responsibilities to take reasonable precautions and make best efforts to look after stuff would exclude any possibility of a claim.

Kezza8888

Do those you adding semi-derogative comments about leaving cash in hold luggage not think that those of us in this situation feel stupid enough the second we realise.....?

I notice many people mentioning how AA are very forthcoming and strict in prompting you to remove all valuables etc....I can firmly state that Easy Jet were very much the opposite: rush rush rush!

I flew from London Luton to Budapest on Friday 1st March.....same old story it seems! Boarding the plane with a small wheelie case, my handbag already rammed inside because of the Easy Jet strict regulations.....But before I could get onto the plane I am instructed to leave my bag at the bottom of the stairs as the overhead compartments were full............I felt considerably rushed and I was even advised we risked long delays if we missed the runway taxi slot and people don’t relinquish their bags.... I consider myself to be an educated person, but I was not very keen to create a protest on the runway while I rummaged through my bag…..thus reluctantly I left the bag.

First thing I did at Budapest was check the contents...and low and behold, all my concerns came to light and the cash tucked away and, may I say hidden within my bag, was taken - £300 (85,000 HUF).....Reading this post makes me consider that perhaps it is happening at Luton, which wasn't my first thought. However, I also experienced a long delay after my mum's case came out at Budapest, mine took a further 15minutes despite them going on together!

We too reported it to the police at the airport – all of them very quick and keen to tell us how often this is happening with low-cost airlines…?! Supposedly they went and search baggage staff whilst we waited also, but that was futile. So far, my Hungarian police report is also proving to be rather useless….

Whilst I wasn’t truly surprised, I was hugely disappointed to have my Travel Insurance (HSBC) reject my claim immediately when they knew the bag went into the hold (despite the “grey area” of these circumstances). I am now pursuing the case with Easy Jet - especially after the return flight staff of Easy Jet openly admitted that our story suggests proper procedures were not followed (strong advise/reminder to stop and remove valuables etc...). I strongly believe they are somewhat negligent not to clearly reinforce the issue of having valuables in your case….not everyone onboard is a frequent-flyer, well travelled, street wise human being!
However, I am more than likely to be [EMAIL="s@#t"]s@#t[/EMAIL] out of luck on this occasions.....the lesson has been learnt the hard way indeed! But I still felt it worth adding my experience to this thread as the very least it should do is remind others of the pitfalls!

DEANO

Hi All,

Sorry to join so late on this, but trawling the web for stories similar to mine and bingo... and I also apologise in advance for the long post, but could really do with some advice (and if anything its quite cathartic typing it all out again)..

We were on an Easyjet flight from Gatwick to Gibraltar. Due to the limitations on hold luggage, we had a small case (within the limit) as one of our hand luggage bags, and when checking in the attendant asked if we would to check our hand luggage in the hold at no extra cost. With handfuls of screaming kids, buggies and other assorted items on our person, we gratefully accepted. At no point did the attendant ask if there was anything valuable in the case and with the pre occupation of the afore-mentioned screaming kids, we didn’t think to take our camcorder out of the bag.

Upon arrival at Gibraltar our bags weren’t there, and to cut a long part of the story short, ill just say that after much chasing and harassing, we discovered our bags had been all over the place and our bags weren’t ready for retrieval until two weeks later when we headed back to Gibraltar airport to go home.

Upon checking the bags upon our eventual reunion, we discovered that our camcorder was gone, along with it four years worth of memories of my children. To add to my whole Easyjet experience, because of a damaged engine, our flight was delayed and after hours of waiting (with the afore-mentioned screaming kids), following the consumption of the EUR 6 pittance dished out by Easyjet, we were shipped to a hotel for the night which we eventually arrived at for two in the morning for a few hours sleep before going back to the airport for more waiting before finally flying home 24 hours later.

So, I thought my claims to Easyjet would be plentiful here, but seemingly not.
1. Delayed Baggage Claim - First claim would obviously be for the delayed baggage. Despite the photocopying and sending of the receipts for purchased items several times, Easyjet still claim they don’t have them. I am still droning through the communication with them, although for the maximum £25 a day for three days, it hardly seems worth it, but that’s a work in progress.
2. Claim for the lost camcorder – We reported this at Gib airport at the time and then at Gatwick when we eventually got home as instructed by the Easyjet representatives, and we got a crime reference for reporting it to the local police when we got home. Easyjet refused liability as they claim it’s in the conditions of carriage that we should remove valuable items from hold luggage and travel insurance refuse to pay out as they say that any liability is with the airline.
3. Claim for the delayed flight under EU rule 261/2004 – The obvious response came from Easyjet that they have no responsibility for liability under this because the delay was for exceptional circumstances.

For those are still reading and are awake. Thank you. What I am after from this is advice of how to proceed for 2 and 3.

On point 2, I’ve seen people post that the Montreal Convention covers for liability of loss of valuables on a flight. I have reserved the pleasure of perusing the 76 page document on the train in the morning, but can anyone advise if there is coverage for liability under this convention. Is there liability on the airline as they checked it in the hold last minute and should have asked us if we adhered to their terms of carriage? Any advice on how to proceed would be gratefully received.

On point 3, we know for a fact that recent precedence dictates that the delay does not fall under exceptional circumstances, and despite continuous stressing of this to Easyjet, they still refuse the claim. I think the only way to proceed on these is via the small claims court, can anyone advise if there is another way to approach this.

I am beginning to think the only way to pursue this is via the small claims court, which I am willing to do, although would obviously rather avoid. Can anyone advise how I go about raising such a claim in the small claims court and what they think my chances of success are?

Please can any dullards with unhelpful “you should have taken the items out of the luggage”, “it’s not their fault you had screaming kids” or "you should have downloaded your memories before" or any other similar flashes of inspiration please not bother posting and condescend someone elsewhere.... thanks.