Delayed luggage compensation

Hannah0817

Hello everyone,

I’m hoping this is the correct forum to post on and I’ll try and make this as short as possible.

I’m currently living out in Australia and my mum recently flew from Manchester to Sydney via a short stop over in Abu Dhabi with Etihad. When she arrived in Sydney, her suitcase didn’t and she got told it had gone missing and they were unsure where it was. They set up a case for her and told us they would try and locate it.
That same day that my mum flew into Sydney, we both flew out to The Cook Islands (actually a surprise for my mum).
When we were in The Cook Islands, etihad told us they had found her suitcase and would send it out to us. A couple of days later a suitcase arrived, unfortunately it wasn’t hers.
Anyway we holidayed in the Cook Islands and then holidayed back in Australia and she flew back to Manchester over two weeks later... still with no suitcase.
When she arrived in Manchester she again complained to a desk there and got told they would continue the search.
They actually found her suitcase that day and had it returned to her (it had been sat in Manchester airport the whole time)

Now comes my question... is there a minimum or expected amount of compensation she should receive from etihad?

She obviously had to buy a lot of new things because we were holidaying in two different climates (winter in aus) and simply for the inconvenience of it ruining her holiday. She also had items for me in the suitcase which she will now have to send in the post.

She has already submitted all of the receipts to Etihad but I thought I would try and get some advice as I’m pretty sure Etihad will come back to us with a standard minimum amount first.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the longgg post!

mgdavid

it 'ruining her holiday' might be over-egging it a bit.....
she hasn't actually lost anything so any compo will be for inconvenience only.

sazaccount

Does she have travel insurance? Most cover for lost luggage at a certain amount per day,

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

Have a good section on what airlines are likely to pay for it could be a set amount each day or just for the bare essentials and not New for old replacements.

TELLIT01

Did you contact Etihad to tell them that the case received wasn't your mothers? If not I would assume any compensation would only be for the period before that case reached you as Etihad would assume everything was OK after that.

stephb34

mgdavid wrote: »

it 'ruining her holiday' might be over-egging it a bit.....
she hasn't actually lost anything so any compo will be for inconvenience only.

Quite a large inconvenience going on holiday with only the clothes your stood up in especially for 2 weeks not just a few days. I think most people would be pretty annoyed and want the money back that was spent on the new stuff and some compensation for the distress and i'm not a compensation seeker just realistic.

Hannah0817

Well apart from the fact she only had the clothes she had on... it’s winter in Sydney and we were travelling to the Cook Islands that very same day. She managed to find one swimming costume which cost her $190 and a couple of pairs of shorts. So I’m pretty sure it would put a downer on anyone’s holiday especially she has flown over 24 hours to see her daughter when she hasn’t seen me for over a year and we had to spend the day running around Sydney trying to find some clothes

Hannah0817

That’s great! Thanks for the helpful link!

bradders1983

Hannah0817 wrote: »

Well apart from the fact she only had the clothes she had on... it’s winter in Sydney and we were travelling to the Cook Islands that very same day. She managed to find one swimming costume which cost her $190 and a couple of pairs of shorts. So I’m pretty sure it would put a downer on anyone’s holiday especially she has flown over 24 hours to see her daughter when she hasn’t seen me for over a year and we had to spend the day running around Sydney trying to find some clothes

Sorry, what? Australian dollars? So thats around £105

Ethiad are going to think she is taking the mickey if she claims that.

sazaccount

Hannah0817 wrote: »

She managed to find one swimming costume which cost her $190 and a couple of pairs of shorts.

:eek::eek:

K mart, Big W, the whole of westfields mall at bondi junction (great place to get mani and pedi for $50 btw)??

jackieblack

stephb34 wrote: »

Quite a large inconvenience going on holiday with only the clothes your stood up in

Quite irresponsible going all the way to Australia with only the clothes you’re stood up in, I’d have thought.
Personally, I always assume that my hold luggage could be delayed and pack at least a change of clothes and overnight things in my cabin bag :huh:

Hannah0817 wrote: »

Well apart from the fact she only had the clothes she had on... it’s winter in Sydney and we were travelling to the Cook Islands that very same day. She managed to find one swimming costume which cost her $190 and a couple of pairs of shorts. So I’m pretty sure it would put a downer on anyone’s holiday especially she has flown over 24 hours to see her daughter when she hasn’t seen me for over a year and we had to spend the day running around Sydney trying to find some clothes

You created the problem of having to run around buying clothes the same day by booking your Cook Island flights for the same day! Presumably your Mum wouldn’t have packed suitable clothing for The Cook Islands in her luggage anyway as you say it was a surprise, presumably she’d packed clothing suitable for winter in Sydney? :think:
(Personally, I would have been considerably less than thrilled having just got off a flight to Sydney to be ‘surprised’ with the fact we were getting back on another plane the same day! :eek:)

While neither you nor your mother created the original ‘lost bag’ problem, you both certainly exacerbated it - her by not having the common sense to mitigate any potential losses by carrying a change of clothes in her hand luggage and you by whisking her off to a completely different destination the same day (the climate of which it is likely she would not have packed suitable clothing for in any case).

I agree that she should be refunded for having to buy a few necessities, but $190 for a swimsuit! :eek: Good luck with that one! :rotfl:

gettingtheresometime

jackieblack wrote: »

Quite irresponsible going all the way to Australia with only the clothes you’re stood up in, I’d have thought.
Personally, I always assume that my hold luggage could be delayed and pack at least a change of clothes and overnight things in my cabin bag :huh:



You created the problem of having to run around buying clothes the same day by booking your Cook Island flights for the same day! Presumably your Mum wouldn’t have packed suitable clothing for The Cook Islands in her luggage anyway as you say it was a surprise, presumably she’d packed clothing suitable for winter in Sydney? :think:
(Personally, I would have been considerably less than thrilled having just got off a flight to Sydney to be ‘surprised’ with the fact we were getting back on another plane the same day! :eek:)

While neither you nor your mother created the original ‘lost bag’ problem, you both certainly exacerbated it - her by not having the common sense to mitigate any potential losses by carrying a change of clothes in her hand luggage and you by whisking her off to a completely different destination the same day (the climate of which it is likely she would not have packed suitable clothing for in any case).

I agree that she should be refunded for having to buy a few necessities, but $190 for a swimsuit! :eek: Good luck with that one! :rotfl:

I think that's a little harsh - I certainly don't take any spare clothes with me in my hand luggage regardless of the length of flight.....and having flown to Sydney twice I had enough carp to keep me occupied without worrying about spare clothes on my hand luggage!