Lost luggage on 280k award

[Nizar]

Hi everyone,

My parents left on Thursday as part of their 280k award. They travelled from

MEL-PER on QF
(approx 3 hour transit)
PER-DOH on QR
(approx 2.5 hour transit)
DOH-MED on QR

When they checked in at MEL, they were given boarding passes all the way through to MED and told that their luggage was checked all the way through to MED.

When they arrive in MED, their luggage is nowhere to be found, so the QR ground staff tell them that they will take care of it, and they will send it to their hotel when they find it, etc. Their first thought of the QR ground team is that it must have been left behind in Doha.

About 24 hours later, still nothing, so at this point my parents need to buy clothes and other essentials, as they only really had clothes and essentials in their carry on to cover for about a day or so. At this stage the QR contact my dad met with at MED when they initially landed called my dad to apologise and say that they can guarantee 100% that their luggage isn't in Doha airport, and according to the best of their knowledge, their bags were never loaded onto the QR plane in PER. He says he that they will follow up with QF as the bags may even be in MEL, who knows. And he also tells my dad that if he has a contact at QF, to contact them. So of course my dad calls me lol.

So I try to chase up with QF. QF tell me that that QR have already created a file for my parents missing bags and are working on it, but said that they will try to help. They call the ground handling people for QR in PER, who say that they can't find it either and its def not in PER. Btw the QF staff member on the phone was very helpful and told me that it could well be that they've already found the bag and put it on last nights QR flight to DOH and its on the way right now and that its not uncommon for that to have happened without any record of it.

Anyway it seems that that was indeed the case and about 12 hours later my dads QR guy calls him and told him that his bags are on the way to Doha and as soon as they arrive they will be on the next flight to MED. My dad, already not impressed, told the guy when the bags arrive to put them aside not let them out of his sight and my dad will come and pick them up to prevent a further fu*k up, for example sending it to the wrong hotel, sending him the wrong bag, etc.

So my dad went to get the bags and it was all good and he's checked the contents and it seems that the bags were not tampered with.

So now, onto the compensation, who should we chase up to repay my parents of the expenses they had to bear for their clothes and the cab ride to the airport and the inconvenience etc ?
Is this likely to be a hassle-free process, or, rather, a battle ? I fear the latter but that's ok they are entitled to it so I will fight for it.

Who is at fault here ? QF or QR ? And who should I be contacting ?

Thanks, any comments, feedback and advice is very much appreciated.

 

[JessicaTam]

I think it the final airline on the itinerary that is responsible for compensation. Regardless of how many different airlines in between.

For a delay of 12-24 you should be eligible for $100-200.

 

[Pushka]

Insurance?

 

[Nizar]

I think it the final airline on the itinerary that is responsible for compensation. Regardless of how many different airlines in between.

For a delay of 12-24 you should be eligible for $100-200.

They received the bags 48 hours after they were supposed to have received them. A$200 is about what they had to spend so we want to at least recover that.

Thanks for the info

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Is $200 really worth the endless phone calls and effort to chase it from the airline?

Insurance would be my first go to, but they would want to see what the airline gave you first (so you're not double dipping) and then you're back at square 1.

If your time is worth the $200 minus any excess on the policy then go for it.

Otherwise I'd ask for something easy like a duty free voucher that will be easy for them to give you

 

[mannej]

Just ensure that your parents keep their receipts on them.

It seems as if across the board airlines are making it more difficult for passengers to claim any compensation when it comes to delayed luggage. Previously you'd hear of airlines providing an upfront payment to cover some emergency supplies, now it seems as if the fob off is the standard treatment.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Hi everyone,

My parents left on Thursday as part of their 280k award. They travelled from

MEL-PER on QF
(approx 3 hour transit)
PER-DOH on QR
(approx 2.5 hour transit)
DOH-MED on QR

When they checked in at MEL, they were given boarding passes all the way through to MED and told that their luggage was checked all the way through to MED.

When they arrive in MED, their luggage is nowhere to be found, so the QR ground staff tell them that they will take care of it, and they will send it to their hotel when they find it, etc. Their first thought of the QR ground team is that it must have been left behind in Doha.

About 24 hours later, still nothing, so at this point my parents need to buy clothes and other essentials, as they only really had clothes and essentials in their carry on to cover for about a day or so. At this stage the QR contact my dad met with at MED when they initially landed called my dad to apologise and say that they can guarantee 100% that their luggage isn't in Doha airport, and according to the best of their knowledge, their bags were never loaded onto the QR plane in PER. He says he that they will follow up with QF as the bags may even be in MEL, who knows. And he also tells my dad that if he has a contact at QF, to contact them. So of course my dad calls me lol.

So I try to chase up with QF. QF tell me that that QR have already created a file for my parents missing bags and are working on it, but said that they will try to help. They call the ground handling people for QR in PER, who say that they can't find it either and its def not in PER. Btw the QF staff member on the phone was very helpful and told me that it could well be that they've already found the bag and put it on last nights QR flight to DOH and its on the way right now and that its not uncommon for that to have happened without any record of it.

Anyway it seems that that was indeed the case and about 12 hours later my dads QR guy calls him and told him that his bags are on the way to Doha and as soon as they arrive they will be on the next flight to MED. My dad, already not impressed, told the guy when the bags arrive to put them aside not let them out of his sight and my dad will come and pick them up to prevent a further fu*k up, for example sending it to the wrong hotel, sending him the wrong bag, etc.

So my dad went to get the bags and it was all good and he's checked the contents and it seems that the bags were not tampered with.

So now, onto the compensation, who should we chase up to repay my parents of the expenses they had to bear for their clothes and the cab ride to the airport and the inconvenience etc ?
Is this likely to be a hassle-free process, or, rather, a battle ? I fear the latter but that's ok they are entitled to it so I will fight for it.

Who is at fault here ? QF or QR ? And who should I be contacting ?

Thanks, any comments, feedback and advice is very much appreciated.

The final airline is technically and legally responsible. Under international rules this applies to all airlines.
We had an issue in 2010 which was clearly the fault of AF but the last flight was by Lufthansa and in the end they paid the €2500 claim for delays and lost luggage ( which arrived back home 6 weeks after us and my suitcase had been invisibility broken into and $1000 of stuff stolen).

talk to the airline and make a claim.

 

[Nizar]

Is $200 really worth the endless phone calls and effort to chase it from the airline?

Insurance would be my first go to, but they would want to see what the airline gave you first (so you're not double dipping) and then you're back at square 1.

If your time is worth the $200 minus any excess on the policy then go for it.

Otherwise I'd ask for something easy like a duty free voucher that will be easy for them to give you

Hmm the way I saw it, I thought claiming from the airlines would be much more hassle free than travel insurance ?
The airlines already know the problem, already know the story, already know all the details.
To go through travel insurance we would need to start from the very beginning PLUS pay excess.

But yeh if you reckon that that travel insurance is the easiest approach then maybe I need to consider that.

I thought the airlines had a standardised thing for this and would happily give an upfront amount maybe like $100 per day per bag, or whatever it may be.

I know when QF broke my bag it was a hassle free procedure I went to the QF baggage section at MEL, showed them my bag and boarding pass, they gave me a voucher. I took the voucher to the shop which QF directed me to and the guy was thrilled to see the QF voucher and told me to pick any bag I wanted lol.

Doesn't need to be cash a voucher will do they just want something to show a bit of accountability.

 

[RooFlyer]

Airline will try to get you to claim on insurance first; insurance will try to make you claim on airline. Claim on airline and be firm. As you say, they know details etc. As others have said, the final airline holds the bag so to speak, so no matter what happened QR are responsible for consequences, being the final airline.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

As already mentioned, the final airline is responsible for luggage.

When this happens to me, I ask the airline their policy and how much I can spend. I do this at the point of filling out the missing bag form. Insurance is a back up.

Can you claim for the taxi to go collect the bag when the airline has offered to deliver it? I don't think so. It is an expense you have chosen to incur.

 

[JohnK]

From memory a few years ago AA offered USD100 for delayed/lost luggage without receipt. I should have taken it at the time.

I called travel insurance company later and they authorised ~Euro170 (~AUD250) for clothes and damaged bag.

I received small bag (luckily had all the gifts in it) ~3 days later and my own luggage did not arrive until ~7 days later and I was lucky to find it at ATH airport otherwise it would have been lost forever.

 

[bPeteb]

We claimed on insurance last year when one of our bags arrived in HKG 48 hours after we did. We'd only gone for five nights and had functions on each day or night from day two onwards so my partner needed to buy to attend. We spent and claimed $549 for clothes, toiletries and phone calls. We were paid $500 (we pay to remove our excess). Phone calls weren't reimbursed and limit per person was $500. We were very happy with the outcome. We couldn't see the point in even approaching QF.

 

[NM]

Airlines typically have a standard amount they pay, and only if the delay exceeds 24 hours (as it did in this case). Sometimes they pay more to business/first class passengers than to economy.

The best option for obtaining the airlines payment is likely to be at Doha airport on the return journey. However, when I had a similar claim from MH, they were unable to process it at KL and I had to sort it out on arrival back in Brisbane, where I was met by an MH rep and handed $90 cash (would have been $60 for economy). The airlines will normally pay this in cash without any need for receipts. Some countries/regions have legislated compensation rates,

Then claim any additional via travel insurance. In my experience, this was painless and quick. Just need to ensure they kept receipts for all things they needed to purchase. IN my case, we were on a resort island in the Maldives so even things like a hat cost around US$50 and US$90 for a shirt since the only place to purchase clothes was the resort gift shop. Insurance paid up without question. Just need to deduct any amount the airline pays from the insurance claim. The fact that the airline pays compensation is justification to the insurance company that they claim is legitimate.