TAP refused damage luggage claim - what next

andykn

During a flight with TAP my soft sided checked holdall got heavily impacted and damaged my electric razor and toothbrush. I wrote to them but they replied:

"The packaging of the articles inside the luggage is passenger’s own responsibility and the derived damages cannot be attributed to the Airline."

I refuted this and asked them who I could take this further with, they didn't tell me just repeated the above.

Is there an ombudsman or industry arbitration body or is it just small claims?

LilElvis

The easier route is going to be claiming from your travel insurance policy.

photome

I had a case mangled by KLM, they replaced the case but not any of the damaged contents (there wasnt much so I didnt take it any further) was told to claim on insurance

ERICS_MUM

I can understand their stance. Baggage necessarily goes through a lot of rough handling throughout the process and it's wise to ensure contents are well protected. Ditto with toiletries - I'm paranoid about wrapping shampoo etc to prevent getting Head n Shoulders on all my clothes !

Try your travel insurance, although it might not be worth anything after the excess deduction.

visidigi

andykn wrote: »

During a flight with TAP my soft sided checked holdall got heavily impacted and damaged my electric razor and toothbrush. I wrote to them but they replied:

"The packaging of the articles inside the luggage is passenger’s own responsibility and the derived damages cannot be attributed to the Airline."

I refuted this and asked them who I could take this further with, they didn't tell me just repeated the above.

Is there an ombudsman or industry arbitration body or is it just small claims?

I would agree with them, you knowingly packed electronics in a soft sided bag with insufficient protection.

Best to wrap them up in clothes or inside shoes (additionally inside their own case) - including removing the head from the toothbrush.

Expecting luggage to have a fluffy cloud ride through the baggage systems is just not going to work out. Got tot he point now where when I do need to check baggage in I do so with all the tops of the bottles taped up with the roll of scotch tape which lives in the bag.

ajb69

I'm no expert, but I believe airlines are exempt from compensating for this sort of damage under the Montreal Convention. They have to pay for a new bag, if damaged, and - if the bag is lost on the outward sector - replacement essential items (up to a low limit and with wide exemptions): but if a bag's contents are damaged in transit, then travel insurance is your only option. Happy to be corrected by those with more knowledge though!

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/the-airline-has-lost-or-damaged-my-bag-what-can-i-do

shaun_from_Africa

ajb69 wrote: »

I'm no expert, but I believe airlines are exempt for compensating for this sort of damage under the Montreal Convention

You are correct.
What the relevant section actually states is that the carrier isn't liable if damage occurred because of the inherent quality of the baggage and I can see a judge agreeing that the contents of the bag were only damaged because the bag itself wasn't strong enough to protect the contents and the contents weren't wrapped well enough to prevent damage during normal handling.

andykn

Thanks for your replies.

The point I'd like to be able to argue with whoever I can appeal to is that the problem was the nature of the impact not the quality of the bag. The shampoo container in the sponge bag with the razor had been what I'd call stoved in.

Is there any sort of ombudsman I can appeal to or would it be small claims court next?

agrinnall

I think you would need to use the courts in Portugal, and as you have no case there seems little point in wasting any money. It was your decision to put unprotected fragile items in a soft case, not the airline's.

ajb69

There's no ombudsman. While you can of course take legal action, the protection afforded by the Montreal Convention (which, as an international treaty, trumps both domestic & EU law) is very strong.

Hence why everyone on this thread is mentioning travel insurance, which is designed to cover precisely your situation.

Sorry, but just my two cents as an anonymous internet poster.

Edit - you may find this useful for any legal action: http://www.ebookers.com/info/win?id=MontrealConvention

Edit 2: by the way, what is the rough loss you have suffered, in monetary terms? That also might help frame further discussion.

unholyangel

andykn wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.

The point I'd like to be able to argue with whoever I can appeal to is that the problem was the nature of the impact not the quality of the bag. The shampoo container in the sponge bag with the razor had been what I'd call stoved in.

Is there any sort of ombudsman I can appeal to or would it be small claims court next?

I dont think such an argument would work unless you have some sort of proof that you bag was handled abnormally.

You say to them that it was the nature of the impact rather than the bag and they'll just say "well why wasn't everyones bags damaged in the same way".

In your OP I got the impression it was physical damage to the electrical items. But from your post above, it seems like they have been damaged due to shampoo leaking?