Dealing with lost baggage

[Flashback]

This is the 3rd mid/long-haul trip in a row I've had a bag go missing, I usually don't check a bag but each time had a reason. In a way I found it slightly humorous...... as I thought no big deal, this time they at least knew where it was (JNU, even though we didn't fly through there!) and then eventually they confirmed it had arrived in ANC.

No worries, or so I thought ........

Anyway, to get me through the initial 4 days I bought a pair of jeans, a pair of hiking pants, some t-shirts and underwear. Given I was struck down with COVID my activities were going to be reduced anyway. I then went out into Denali NP and it was getting fairly cool, the forecast indicated it would be warmer (but as a regular hiker especially off piste you know to take that with a grain of salt) but I wanted to give the airline the benefit of the doubt and took their word the bags would be delivered and didn't want to take the mick on buying items they'd have to reimburse me for. The only options for a fleece and soft shell or down filled jacket around Denali NP were brands like Marmot, Patagonia etc. where for the 2 items you're looking at $300.

Now, of course, I have a fleece, down jacket and soft shell jacket in my bag that's still missing and if those are the only suitable (I found nothing in Wasilla before we left for Denali) then surely the airline can't quibble about it and has to just pay up?

I'm wondering what you would do in this situation? I'm now nearly a week into the trip, they didn't deliver the bag to my hotel in Fairbanks like they promised. This is even though I spoke to them at 6.30am in the morning, there were then 9 flights that day....... and then by midday the next day it still hadn't arrived.

We had already either missed activities, or put things on hold/delayed and right now I feel enough is enough. It was a long drive to Valdez so we had to get on our way. Given they couldn't do the easy delivery to Fairbanks, I fear especially with the Memorial Day holiday coming up there's no point asking them to try and get it to Valdez for the 2 nights we're there, so ........ I asked them to just sent it back to Anchorage and I'll pick it up at the end of the trip (which is another week away).

So it leaves me in a quandry, I still need something more than just the fleece (which I did end up buying at Denali NP), but I still have no soft shell jacket or down filled jacket. We're going to be hiking in/on some glaciers, and also doing a glacier cruise which even in the 'hot' days here I believe you still end up pretty darn cold, hence why I packed them in my bag in the first place.

So, what would you do? Shell out on that $300 USD jacket and fight Alaska Air to reimburse you for it?

I'm getting slightly confused by their policy.

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/baggage/baggage-claim/not-covered-limited-liability

Are we considered to be covered by the domestic limit because the leg was LAX-ANC? Or are we covered by international as the trip was CDG-LHR-SEA-LAX-ANC?

$300 is more than I'd spend on the item on a normal day, but I do need it to replace the item of similar quality (that I got for a bargain of course, from a hiking store in the UK), so I'm just concerned that maybe they won't cover it and I will be out of pocket.

I should note that given all the other items etc. I'm likely to end up somewhere around $700-1,000 for buying the essentials. We're in remote Alaska, Alaska tends not to be cheap anyway....... and they are all items I had in my bag that I packed, because I needed them! Ahhh!

 

[vetrade]

Everything's relative. If the clothes you need cost more in Alaska, I'd just buy them - and I'd expect the airline to pay. Sounds like you have gone out of your way not to be extravagant but having clothes to stay warm in Alaska is a pretty basic need.
As you said, they screwed up on getting your bags to you in Fairbanks, and you have suffered quite a bit of inconvenience so the onus should be on them.

 

[Flashback]

Everything's relative. If the clothes you need cost more in Alaska, I'd just buy them - and I'd expect the airline to pay. Sounds like you have gone out of your way not to be extravagant but having clothes to stay warm in Alaska is a pretty basic need.
As you said, they screwed up on getting your bags to you in Fairbanks, and you have suffered quite a bit of inconvenience so the onus should be on them.

I think that all sounds reasonable too. Especially when on our glacier cruise ticket it says "Please dress in layers. Temperatures at the glacier will be at least 15 degrees cooler than on shore in Valdez.".

I went whale watching in Iceland early April and that was a wee bit chilly, am expecting similar temps for this.

 

[Scarlett]

Can you get an answer from their customer service staff on what they’re prepared to cover?

Whilst the general guidance should be for a ‘suggested’ amount per day, your circumstances would be at the higher end and with valid reasons. Hopefully staff can note that on your baggage irregularity report and save problems when it comes time to submit receipts for reimbursement. If not the airline covering all costs, will travel insurance cover any gap between what the airline will cover and your actual expenses?

To balance out the higher cost of your likely claim, SAS recently caused a five day delay to Mstr. Scarlett’s bag and their guidance was ‘up to EUR75 per day for necessary items’. As we were in the pleasant climate of Cyprus we only spent a grand total of EUR35. So we were definitely at the low end of likely claims. (different airlines I know, but the higher and lower claims for reimbursement are likely repeated for all airlines)

 

[vetrade]

I went whale watching in Iceland early April and that was a wee bit chilly, am expecting similar temps for this.

Off topic, but a quick question to save starting another thread.........we're going to Iceland in August - which is preferrable for whale watching, Husavik or Akureyri?

 

[Flashback]

In Valdez now and found a shop selling North Face (rather than Uber expensive Patagonia) and managed to pick up a much cheaper waterproof jacket for $100 so feeling a bit more chilled now. Compare that to the $80 I spent on a Marmot fleece the other day

Only 5 more days till I get my bag back.. hopefully! Nearly a week without it and have survived on what was the only open shop, good old Walmart but scored some Lee t-shirts for a tenner each, and some Wrangler jeans and hiking style pants for just over $20 a pop too. All of that was easy .... The underwear was the hardest as they tend to only do briefs or long leg boxers and not trunks!

Re: whale watching, not sure, from Reykjavik is pretty good but we hit a bad week. They gave us a voucher though so we can head back any time in the next 2 years to try again. Easy for us as it's only a 3.5 flight from London.

Akureyri isn't a bad option either but a bit harder to get to unless you are already up that way.

 

[Scarlett]

To follow up on the first sentence from @Flashback in this thread, I fell like I’ve inherited the same sort of luck.

Last five international trips for the family Scarlett:
1. Apr 22 - Mstr. Scarlett’s bag delayed five days getting to LCA by SK, due to going missing during transit through LHR.

2. May 23 - Mrs Scarlett’s bag not delivered to NCE by LX. Delivered home after concluding the holiday, nine days later.

3. May 23 - Mstr Scarlett and my bags not delivered to CGK by LH. Delayed by three days.

4. Jul 23. Mstr. Scarlett’s bag not delivered to SID by TP. 24 hour delay as it was left at LIS during a transit.

5. Jul 23. My golf bag not delivered to DSS by IB. Ongoing. Hopefully it was located in MAD and will be returned to me shortly.

I’m nearing my 1000th flight (vast majority with checked baggage) and in all that time previously had only ever had one baggage non-delivery incident.

Plenty of airlines and airports not match fit!

 

[albatross710]

In these claims above the emphasis has been on the airline re-imbursing. Travel insurance has coverage for lost bags which increases by each day. I had a claim recently, spent what we needed to do to get on with our holiday within the travel insurance coverage, in the end the airline reimbursed it all anyway and the travel insurance was a backup. Most policies don't have excess on Lost Baggage claims

 

[bussyboy]

Would love to hear more from others and their approaches to delayed baggage - both while away from home, or after returning.

 

[Flashback]

Would love to hear more from others and their approaches to delayed baggage - both while away from home, or after returning.

After returning there's not much you can do, other than simply wait / follow up; there's usually no coverage for when you arrive back at your home port.

While away.......... it depends on the location and the airline. When I flew into ROB and mine went missing, for days and days no one could even tell me where it was. I then decided to have my driver take me down to the Royal Air Morocco office in town and made it quite clear I wasn't leaving until I had some answers. That seemed to work. They only flew once a week back then so I had to wait till the day I was flying out for the bag to arrive..... they wouldn't reroute it via any airline partners to get it there earlier.

With Alaska Air, similar, I had to keep chasing / asking where it was, when it would arrive etc. In the end, I detoured via ANC a week and a half after we arrived to pick it up as they didn't deliver to Fairbanks as promised.

Air France........ that was on arrival back into LHR, very little communication but it did arrive a few days later via courier at my home address.

 

[Danger]

Would love to hear more from others and their approaches to delayed baggage - both while away from home, or after returning.

For me, it begins with the same approach I take with almost every big business: Trust no one; document everything.

 

[albatross710]

Would love to hear more from others and their approaches to delayed baggage - both while away from home, or after returning.

Know you rights before you travel, know your travel insurance.

Expect little support from the airline. The airport staff will get you to complete a form "Baggage Irregularity Report" either in person or online. Probably they already knew your bag was left behind but have already left you at the baggage carousel until you are the last one standing.

We our bags were not loaded, the airline did have a nice form, provided some online tracking of resolution but are not providing information on compensation unless you ask. The offshore call centres ie are not able to deal with the complexities of so many countries, destinations etc. Once the bags were delivered I uploaded receipts etc. Then expect lots of to/fro as some low wage offshore employee attempts to wear you down over a few weeks. Eventually you will get paid. At the time I thought I was being a little extreme but after a few weeks of email tennis with their contact centre you realise that even though both my flight connections had been on time, a manager somewhere had made a decision on staff scheduling, prioritising tasks in order not to get the bags loaded. It's not my job to hunt around discount stores to reduce cost of the airlines own poor decisions.

Travel Insurance is much easier to deal with although they will have expected you to exhaust airline compensation first and will want copies of everything including the Baggage Irregularity Report

As Danger points out, document everything, screenshots and keep track of numbers.

 

[bussyboy]

I was wondering also about what to do on the ground - arriving (potentially) in a strange country and having to find time and shops to buy the things you need to get through the trip but still manage to do your planned activities in amongst what I presume are endless phone calls to airlines and their service providers.

Touch wood, I've never lived the experience - but always have a day or two's clothing in hand luggage, just in case.

 

[bPeteb]

Off topic, but a quick question to save starting another thread.........we're going to Iceland in August - which is preferrable for whale watching, Husavik or Akureyri?

Reading through and saw this question. Might be a bit late. We met one of the whale watching boat owners while sat by Husavik Harbour. Super nice guy and for that reason only I'd go with Husavik. We were staying at Akureyri at the time.

 

[Flashback]

I was wondering also about what to do on the ground - arriving (potentially) in a strange country and having to find time and shops to buy the things you need to get through the trip but still manage to do your planned activities in amongst what I presume are endless phone calls to airlines and their service providers.

Touch wood, I've never lived the experience - but always have a day or two's clothing in hand luggage, just in case.

Let me tell you, that downtown Monrovia in Liberia was not an easy place to find clothes to tide me over for the week till my bag might have reappeared!

Alaska wasn't too bad, Walmart/Target etc. had a decent range of clothes/brands to get me by.

Reading through and saw this question. Might be a bit late. We met one of the whale watching boat owners while sat by Husavik Harbour. Super nice guy and for that reason only I'd go with Husavik. We were staying at Akureyri at the time.

I'd also highly recommend Akureyri, though. Elding was fantastic and if you don't see any whales (less of a chance there compared to Reykjavik as they come into the bay), you'll get a free voucher to go again any time in the next 2 years (which is how we ended up doing Akureyri).

 

[albatross710]

I was wondering also about what to do on the ground - arriving (potentially) in a strange country and having to find time and shops to buy the things you need to get through the trip but still manage to do your planned activities

It's actually quite a pain. Our experience was late Saturday night arrival so we had stores opening late on Sunday morning and just trying to buy what we needed for one day, then next day we were more organised which is when I started using the museum gift shops and fitting the purchases into our travels.

So, if for instance, you had this SCTI policy and you know your bags are > 12 hours away then you can spend $1,000 on reasonable essentials.

This Qantas policy pays $200 for every 6 full hours of delay up to $1,600. Had we had that policy we would have had up to $1,200 to spend.

The above amounts are per person. I think for the two of us we got to $800 over two days including a nice cabin bag to carry all this stuff

As I said earlier, know the basics of your policy and have the PDS handy.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I was wondering also about what to do on the ground - arriving (potentially) in a strange country and having to find time and shops to buy the things you need to get through the trip but still manage to do your planned activities in amongst what I presume are endless phone calls to airlines and their service providers.

Touch wood, I've never lived the experience - but always have a day or two's clothing in hand luggage, just in case.

Somewhere like the USA is pretty easy with late opening hours. SE Asia pretty easy with night markets. Europe can be a bit tricky if everything is closed by 6pm. Having to do it in a developing country can be difficult.