Delayed Baggage - how much compensation from airline?

Sor

Hi All,
I guess this is perhaps a vague request in that I suspect all airlines have different values they put on compensation but a ball-park figure would be really nice please.

I flew Sydney to Seoul on a Qantas ticket code-sharing with Asiana. The check-in guy checked me & my luggage in as someone else. I had to go back and get him to reissue my boarding card and luggage tag. My bag never got to Seoul. It ended up in London where I think the 'original' boarding card person was ultimately ending his trip.

I have spent the last week ringing Asiana and trying to find information and not getting any clear information - language and accent being alittle bit of a problem on both sides. All I eventually got, by ringing Sydney was that the bag wasn't there. Finally last night (Monday), I got a message saying the bag was in London.

I have only had the clothes I arrived in - I bought some necessities. I sent Asiana an email on Sunday to say I was going shopping on Monday to buy clothes and stuff so I could continue travelling and when my bag was found I wanted it to be delivered to my home address (N.ireland). I don't have an itinerary for my travels so I can't give them an address for when and where I'll be in Korea and I am leaving my boat not air.

They have offered me $60.... What the? Thats not going cover anything. And since I have been travelling for many months now, everything I had was in the bag (not electronics, I have those)!:mad:

They also said they could not deliver my bag to my home address which they thought was in Sydney. I tried explaining Belfast was near London but it might as well have been the moon.

So, can I expect them to deliver my bag to my home address even though I am still in Korea - I am not sure it would turn up in Seoul before I leave in 2 days (not really confident any more) and I am not coming back to Seoul. I would be happy to know it is safe at home. Also I have new stuff and can't actually carry everything now and please don't ask me to run around Seoul returning everything. *sigh*

What would you accept as reasonable compensation of a week of delay (actually a week and a half if they did manage to get the bag to Seoul before I left) with all the expected stress and trauma and time spent (wasted) contacting Asiana rather than enjoying my stay?

Sorry, somewhat stressed and very very annoyed to put it mildly. But I'm sure you can understand.:mad:

Oh, I have travel insurance so I'll see what they give me. I think its gbp50 total.

Thanks for your advice.

dmg24

It is not a case of what you will accept, it is a case of what is in the terms and conditions of carriage. You should have contacted your insurer as soon as this happened.

Pollycat

So, can I expect them to deliver my bag to my home address even though I am still in Korea - I am not sure it would turn up in Seoul before I leave in 2 days (not really confident any more) and I am not coming back to Seoul. I would be happy to know it is safe at home.

It sounds to me like you really need to put something in writing to the airline, telling them exactly what you want them to do with your luggage, it sounds to me that they are obviously not understanding what you're saying to them.

On the subject of compensation or re-imbursement of monies paid for emergency purchases (these are NOT the same thing), I don't think there are set rules for how airlines should assess baggage claims.
For delayed baggage, some airlines offer immediate one-off payments at a set amount to cover emergency purchases (such as toiletries or underwear). Some will pay a set amount per day up to a maximum number of days. And others will not make cash payments at the time, but prefer to reimburse expenditure on essential items on seeing the receipts.

What did the airline say the $60 was for?
What does it say in their T & Cs?

Polly

Sor

Thanks for the replies.

I did put everything in writing via email but I don't believe they read any of my emails. My bag is supposedly on its way to Seoul right now instead of my home address. This means I have another day of worrying about whether it will turn up or not - supposedly it will arrive before midnight tonight at my hostel. Wonderful! I'm leaving first thing in the morning. (BTW I had to ring them again to find this out. They have rung me once since this happened)

I should be extremely happy that they found it and I am but I did tell them on Sunday I wanted it sent home and I was going shopping to buy stuff I needed to continue travelling with. So now I'm going to have more stuff than I can carry. But they just ignored my email. They did say to me today, 'oh you want your bag sent home. It will be at your hostel before midnight tonight'....Er.... what? (today is Wednesday). I know the airline is supposed to get the bag to you wherever you are, but when you're travelling and don't know where/when/how long you will be anywhere it is difficult to give contact addresses - thus why I would be very happy for my bag to be safely at home with family.

It also means I can't go buy the expensive items I need like an english-language guidebook, in case my bag does show (i already have a copy). If my bag doesn't show then I need to spend another day here and buy said stuff tomorrow....so do I or do I not book accomodation for tomorrow where I was planning to be?

Agh.

Anyway, Qantas liability statements from their website is:
E. Liability for loss, delay or damage to baggage is limited to about US$20 per kilo for checked baggage and US$400 per passenger for unchecked baggage.
G. If your checked baggage on an international Qantas flight has been lost or damaged, you must notify Qantas in writing within 7 days and in the case of delay, within 21 days of delivery.

I still think $60 (about gbp30?) is ridiculous after over a week of stress, no information, no clothes. What do airlines consider necessities? Soap/toothpaste&brush/shampoo? I don't have the body to be rounding around naked in the laundry doing my washing. Would a change of clothes be a necessity? They told me that is all they are allowed to offer from here and if I am not happy I should ring Qantas when I get home. I don't think they quite grasped the concept of 'I won't be home for 3 months'. I declined the offer and will find a phone number and ring Qantas. I did email Qantas but their system is 'we'll get back to you in 30 business days'......

So from their liablility statements, how much should I expect from Qantas? Of course I want as much as I can get, who wouldn't. But right now I am feeling very er....hard done by, and have not enjoyed my stay in Seoul as my mind is preoccupied by worrying where on the earth my bag is/was.

Sorry for the rants. I'm abit flustered....

u2o

have you not got travel insurance??

Anyway I hope u r enjoying Seoul despite the mishaps, was there in Easter and loved it

Donnie

Someone has been pulling your leg. Even ten years ago when my luggage was delayed, I would get an allowance of up to £100 for clothes etc.

Sor

Yes I have travel insurance and that should be the easy bit of this whole thing!

The funny thing now is my bag never made the flight so it is still sitting in London. Aghhhhhhhhhh. Another day wasted! Have told them if they won't fly it to Belfast that they can send it to my brother who lives in London. I'm getting desperate for this to be sorted. It's ridiculous.

Have to ring Qantas themselves about the compensation. Asiana are only the messengers for this.

It's getting really hard for me to deal with them as I am getting more and more worked up everytime I have to talk them in the hope that someone listens.

First 3 days were fun in Seoul, when I was still at peace and finding the whole situation of no clothes abit amusing. Now...its sort of like any big city. But loving the street markets and street food at night. Yummy. Did the USo tour of the DMZ which was interesting cause we got an american soldier guide who kept telling us not to point or wave at the enemy.....

Shona99

The Montreal Convention governs liability for delay in baggage in relevant international carriage by Air.
Korea and Australia are both parties to the Montreal Covention.
Amazingly the Qantas website you quote would appear to be obsolete as this relates to the previous Warsaw Covention as amended by the Hague Protocol.
What you need to separate is the notion of the amount an airline will volunteer to pay you and their legal liability to you. (The site www.flightmole.com is interesting on this point).
The montral covention does not now have a weight based tariff but rather a limit of 1000 special drawing rights per passenger ( around £850). This is a maximum and you need to prove your loss.

Article 19 Montreal Covention

The carrier is liable for damage occasioned by delay in the carriage by air of passengers, baggage or cargo. Nevertheless, the carrier shall not be liable for damage occasioned by delay if it proves that it and its servants and agents took all measures that could reasonably be required to avoid the damage or that it was impossible for it or them to take such measures.

Your case would appear to be that the passenger service agent made a mistake-and that this avoidable mistake caused the delay and hence the damage.

The rules on determining precisely what would be the allowable-(court determined) damage-would broadly be subject to the law of the country that heard the case. On the assumption that this was a Qantas flight ticket-Australia-Korea,
either Korea as place of Destination or Australia as principal place of business of Qantas would be the available fora for a suit. (Article 33 Jurisdiction )

One overriding principle would appear to apply in that the Convention does not appear generally to allow damages for "mental anguish" in the absence of physical injury-therefore simple sleepless nights would not be an allowable head of damage.

However other than that -an applying english common law priciples that a court in Australis would presumably understand you could claim damages that reasoably and naturally flow from the breach.

Therefore what could be reasonable in your claim.
As you have mentioned toileties, change of clothing for the delay, telephone and other communication charges, perhaps even purchase of another bag in reasonable anticipation of not receiving your delayed bag in time.

My suspicion is that you would need to write to the airline setting all this out and requiet reimbursement within 14 days-problem is that to enforce your claim you would need to sue in Australia or Korea. (Time limit is 2 years)

Incidentally you can also make a (concurrent) claim against your Travel Insurers and advise them of the action you are taking against the airline.

You must notify your claim in writing to the airline within the relevant time limit

I suppose the intersting question is whether an airline is obligated to deliver your luggage to N Ireland rather than its intended destination Korea, other than as an attempt to otherwise mitigate the losses you might otherwise suffer due to the delay in the deliver of the luggage in a timely fashion.

Sor

Ta for the reply. The info helps. I still haven't got my bag and the airline haven't sent it to either my home or my brother (in London). They have eventually sent it to Seoul - after I had left and told them my only contact was my UK details. I have now left S.Korea by boat, I had told them this when I was trying to sort this all out in Seoul (spending 10 days there instead of 5)! They just didn't listen to anything I said. I said I might not be able to access my email everyday which is true; not everywhere I stay has internet.

Its really really annoying me!!! Letter time!

kiwi_saver

Hi,

My bag was delayed for 41 days (my whole trip and more.) last Christmas out of LHR by BA. I wrote a letter and asked for £270 for my expenses and £300 compensation.

I didn't provide receipts, but did breakdown costs in an Excel spreadsheet and included costs for taxi and additional phone calls etc.. They asked for receipts and I said no, that I considered my expenses reasonable and were holding what I had back pending any court action. They immediately paid :j the £270 expense claim, but ignored the compensation.

I went back about the compensation, they sent me a £100 flight voucher valid for 1 year, I stated that wasn't good enough as I had no plans to fly, they have now offered a different voucher I can use for goods purchased through an online BA store. I am likely to decline this also and ask for cash, if they don't I will sue for breach of contract in county court and see what happens. I would settle for compensation of £100 cash and by offering me the vouchers they have in essence admitted liability.

I'll keep you informed

Kiwi.

dookerman

Sor wrote: »

Hi All,
I guess this is perhaps a vague request in that I suspect all airlines have different values they put on compensation but a ball-park figure would be really nice please.

I flew Sydney to Seoul on a Qantas ticket code-sharing with Asiana. The check-in guy checked me & my luggage in as someone else. I had to go back and get him to reissue my boarding card and luggage tag. My bag never got to Seoul. It ended up in London where I think the 'original' boarding card person was ultimately ending his trip.

I have spent the last week ringing Asiana and trying to find information and not getting any clear information - language and accent being alittle bit of a problem on both sides. All I eventually got, by ringing Sydney was that the bag wasn't there. Finally last night (Monday), I got a message saying the bag was in London.

I have only had the clothes I arrived in - I bought some necessities. I sent Asiana an email on Sunday to say I was going shopping on Monday to buy clothes and stuff so I could continue travelling and when my bag was found I wanted it to be delivered to my home address (N.ireland). I don't have an itinerary for my travels so I can't give them an address for when and where I'll be in Korea and I am leaving my boat not air.

They have offered me $60.... What the? Thats not going cover anything. And since I have been travelling for many months now, everything I had was in the bag (not electronics, I have those)!:mad:

They also said they could not deliver my bag to my home address which they thought was in Sydney. I tried explaining Belfast was near London but it might as well have been the moon.

So, can I expect them to deliver my bag to my home address even though I am still in Korea - I am not sure it would turn up in Seoul before I leave in 2 days (not really confident any more) and I am not coming back to Seoul. I would be happy to know it is safe at home. Also I have new stuff and can't actually carry everything now and please don't ask me to run around Seoul returning everything. *sigh*

What would you accept as reasonable compensation of a week of delay (actually a week and a half if they did manage to get the bag to Seoul before I left) with all the expected stress and trauma and time spent (wasted) contacting Asiana rather than enjoying my stay?

Sorry, somewhat stressed and very very annoyed to put it mildly. But I'm sure you can understand.:mad:

Oh, I have travel insurance so I'll see what they give me. I think its gbp50 total.

Thanks for your advice.

Hi All

Not sure if I'm doing this properly but would be grateful for advice.

We went on holiday as a family last July for 2 weeks to Lanzarote, a holiday that took us years to save for. In a nut shell we travelled with GB Airways using a BA plane. On arrival at Lanzarote it became apparent that our luggage was lost. Filled in the appropriate forms before leaving the airport and was advised to contact the airport everyday for updates on lost luggage as well as given a baggage trace telephone number for BA in the UK (what a joke that is). We bought bits and pieces of essencials especially for the kids which took away from holiday time and made numerous phone calls to try and trace our luggage to no avail. On the sixth day we decided to purchase enough items to get us through the rest of the holiday as nobody new where our luggage was.
On return to Uk I claimed travel insurance, which covered some of our out of pocket expenses, but want compensation from GB Airways for basically ruining our holiday as it was not my idea of a holiday to have to take the kids to clothes shops everyday and not to the beach.
I have been fighting with GB for six months now and feel as if I'm hitting my head off a brick wall instead of theirs.
Sorry for the rant but I am still so angry that this company can be so incompetant to lose our luggage and take no responsibility for it.
Would love some advice from anyone with similar experience.

Thanks.