Missing Items From Luggage

[mmatchu]

Has anybody ever had items missing from their luggage? My wife and I had a flight canceled from Maui to LAX. We had to be placed on a flight with another airline. Our luggage did not make get transfered to our plane so we had to submit a lost luggage claim. Our luggage was found and the airline had a courier service deliver it to our house. Well upon opening our luggage it looks like someone must have dumped all our stuff out. We are missing 3/4 of our luggage contents and what is left in there appears to have been just thrown back in. I believe I need to file a claim with the airline that flew us home. However, I left a message 6 hours ago and no one has called back. Do I need to provide receipts? Is there a limit on how much I can claim? This is very frustrating. Has anybody else been through this and if so what steps did you take?

[cruzegirl]

I've also had my luggage lost twice.... And now carry a carryon with the important stuff.. I've never had anything taken or removed but 2 years ago while coming back from Mexico City, my luggage was gone through.. Nothing was taken but I somehow ended up with a womans frequent flyer card from another airline.... Very wierd.... I called the airline but nothing was done... I just returned the ladies card to the other airline....:confused:

[Nliedel]

You will need to fill out a claim form. You should go back to the airport that the luggage was delivered from (your local airport) and go to the lost luggage counter. Have photos and lists if you can. If it is too far away you will have to rely on the phone.

[jimc_usa]

This direct from NorthWest's page

 

For passengers who have traveled on a domestic itinerary (defined as the 48 contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii), reports of property which is missing from within checked luggage must be filed with the airport location where travel was completed. All claims must be made within 24 hours of arrival in order for Northwest Airlines to accept liability.

 

For passengers who have traveled on an international itinerary, all missing property reports must be made within seven (7) days of arrival.

 

Once all necessary information is obtained by our Luggage Service personnel at the airport, the report will be electronically transmitted to our Central Luggage Service Department in St. Paul, MN, where all claims are reviewed and handled to conclusion. Customers will be contacted in writing, by our Central Luggage Service staff approximately 20 days from the date the initial report was filed.

[makai 7]

Several years ago we flew American Eagle Boston to Newark and then transferred onto TAP (code share flight) to Lisbon Portugal.

 

We trusted American to get our luggage onto the TAP flight. First mistake.

The luggage did not arrive in Lisbon. After 24 hours it still had not arrived. We were getting on a ship (SeaDream 1) for a transatlantic crossing in another 24 hours, so the TAP rep requested that we give them the combination to the locks on the luggage so they could have customs inspect them once they arrived if they were going to send them to us. Second Mistake.

 

6 Days after our arrival in Lisbon, we were told both bags were in Funchal Madeira, and we went to the airport. Only my bag was there. Apparently, some TAP employeed had decided to go 'shopping' in my husband's luggage instead of forwarding it to our first port of call.

 

17 days after our arrival in Lisbon, we picked up my husband's bag in Palm Beach.

The bag still had the lock on it, and it was locked. However, it contained very little of the items that were packed in it. All that was left was his t-shirts, underwear, socks, prescription eyeglasses (but they stole the eyeglass case!) and his sneakers.

 

Fortunately, we had purchased travel insurance, since international coverage is limited to a few dollars per kilogram.

 

It took several months, but we finally were reimbursed for most of our losses by the insurance company (Travelguard, and they were very good to work with). I think the airline sent us a check for around $60.00!

 

It is critical to keep records of all luggage claim checks in order to get any compensation.

 

Check the fine print of your ticket receipt for details regarding the airline's liability.

[CruisinMatt]

Makai 7, that's awful, was that pre-9/11/2001 or after?

[CruisinMatt]

Makai 7, that's awful, was that pre-9/11/2001 or after?

[makai 7]

Hi CruisinMatt-

This was post 9-11; it was October 2002.

 

We do not intend on flying with TAP any longer. For our next open leg air (doing the Valpariaso-Ft Lauderdale Regal Princess cruise in March 2006) we decided to book through Princess- then they have some minor liability.

 

And we will most definitely get insurance again.

 

We learned some very important lessons:

1. Distribute our clothing in both bags- if we only get one bag, at least we each have some clothes!

2. You really do not need alot of clothing in order to have a wonderful time! We pack 1/2 of what we used to.

3. El Corte Ingles is a very nice place to go shopping if you have no choice but to buy new clothes in Lisbon, and the people there are extremely friendly and try to speak English or find someone who does (since we do not speak Portugeues).

 

If you are in Lisbon and see someone wearing LLBean dress shirts with the initials "KMF" on the sleeve, or they are wearing a shirt with "Shipley" on it, they belong to my husband!