Claiming money back - Airline wont cough up!

MissieMai

A french airline(am I allowed to name it?) That we had no choice but to fly with had lost mine and my partners luggage on the 23th of july, it ruined a 2 week holiday and the following 3 weeks after. As they insisted they had found it and it was on its way..then they lost it again this happened over and over again until it was irretrevably lost.

The baggage was worth £1034 (mostly cheap clothes and makeup) but thats not including any compensation I want to recieve. They have taken 6 weeks with poor customer service, very rudely may I add.. and offered me £304.

How can they think that is acceptable and where do I go from here? I've spoken to a holiday advice company and they advised me speaking to a travel claim company, but who? Anyone had this issue before?

I have travel insurance and opened a claim but was told I'd only get a fraction from them and I'm best to speak directly to the airline.Which now means my insurance claim is probably outdated, they're smart these companies aren't they?

missbiggles1

Are you saying that they lost it for 5 weeks?

Nick_C

You can complain through the CAA.

See https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/holiday-cancellations-and-compensation/get-airline-compensation-for-lost-or-delayed-luggage/

and

https://caaportal.icasework.com/form?Type=Complaint&Login=false&Title=none

Ultimately though, your insurance should make good any loss, and you will need to inform your insurance company of any amount of compensation that you receive from the airline, as you can only be compensated once.

photome

I thought lost luggage was an insurance issue rather than an airline issue

Voyager2002

Air France are generous when baggage is delayed: they will reimburse you the cost of essential purchases to replace delayed items, up to a fairly high limit. I experienced this and submitted scans of the receipts on-line, and the money was paid promptly.

Compensation for lost checked-in luggage is based on the weight of the luggage, and follows a scale laid down in the Warsaw Convention. The amounts are tiny, so if your luggage contained anything of value you should rely on your travel insurance.

Cheap clothes and make-up worth more than a thousand pounds? Or did you mean Zimbabwe dollars... either way, if you tried to claim that amount I think you were "extracting the proverbial" and are fortunate that your entire claim was not rejected as fraudulent. Depending on the weight of your suitcase, an amount in the hundreds of pounds is likely to be far more than they are legally obliged to pay you and probably includes compensation for the delay.

As for your comments about rudeness and poor customer service: there are cultural differences in this respect between France and the UK, and after the Brexit vote you can hardly expect that they would have been licking the boots of an English couple.

Finally: you could not be "out of time" for an insurance claim. You contacted your insurers promptly and did as they asked you to do, so they are obliged to process your claim at this stage.

Nick_C

photome wrote: »

I thought lost luggage was an insurance issue rather than an airline issue

Usually it's both. Insurance is there as a last resort. If you have other avenues through which you can pursue a claim, you should follow those as well and keep your insurance company informed. Airline liability is limited through the Montreal Convention. Your insurance may well pay additional amounts on top of any airline compensation.

Nick_C

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Compensation for lost checked-in luggage is based on the weight of the luggage, and follows a scale laid down in the Warsaw Convention. The amounts are tiny ... so if your luggage contained anything of value you should rely on your travel insurance.

Cheap clothes and make-up worth more than a thousand pounds? Or did you mean Zimbabwe dollars... either way, if you tried to claim that amount I think you were "extracting the proverbial" and are fortunate that your entire claim was not rejected as fraudulent. Depending on the weight of your suitcase, an amount in the hundreds of pounds is likely to be far more than they are legally obliged to pay you and probably includes compensation for the delay.

The Warsaw Convention was replaced by the Montreal Convention over 10 years ago.

Compensation has been increased and is no longer based on weight.

A suitcase full of "cheap" clothes could easily be worth more than £1000.

Obviously_the_best

The best thing to do would be to claim through your travel insurance.
Not worth going back and forth with the airline.

Voyager2002

Obviously_the_best wrote: »

The best thing to do would be to claim through your travel insurance.
Not worth going back and forth with the airline.

Agreed: although the insurance company would need evidence that the luggage is really lost and that the airline has refused to pay any more.

martindow

Nick_C wrote: »

A suitcase full of "cheap" clothes could easily be worth more than £1000.

I suppose it depends on your idea of cheap. I think a suitcase of my best clothes would be worth only a few hundred.

Voyager2002

martindow wrote: »

I suppose it depends on your idea of cheap. I think a suitcase of my best clothes would be worth only a few hundred.

To me that is expensive! If I travel on business I take a one or two suits costing a couple of hundred pounds each, and I have been known to pay as much as a hundred pounds for a pair of shoes, but other than that I don't think I have ever paid more than five pounds for an article of clothing.