Delayed baggage bad experience

[cmon0005]

Hi all,

Just got back from a trip, on the way there arrived at my final destination flying in J, MEL-SIN-BOM.

Landed in BOM at 2am and got the dreaded announcement to see ground staff once we landed.
Ground staff informed me that somehow my and my wife's 2 bags didn't get loaded in Singapore.

Upon sitting at baggage services for almost 2 hours filing forms .etc. all we got was a coughpy kit with a pair of tiny 'shorts and tshirt' and a couple of toiletries and basically told your bag will reach you when it can.

That same afternoon had to fly to DXB and my bag was shipped via another airline to the DXB baggage counter, where I had another 'fun' time trying to locate my bag there.

All in all my bags were delayed for 20 hours.

Other than that useless kit, what else should I expect from Qantas in regards to compensation?

 

[opusman]

I wouldn't expect you are entitled to any compensation at all, sorry. Just be grateful they got you your bags so quickly!

 

[nlagalle]

You would get reimbursed for reasonable expenses, that's probably about it.

 

[Robert K]

Claim on insurance?

 

[Fantic125]

If they hadn't arrived at all then compensation would be reasonable to expect, but the two times it's happened to me I was offered a toiletries kit (from Continental) and 500 RMB (from China Southern).

 

[harvyk]

These things happen, I've always been told that purchase what you need (within reason) and you will be reimbursed. Of course you can always use it to barter for lounge access which is what I did the first time my bags where lost (and didn't have access on my own yet)

I doubt you will receive any other sort of compensation...

 

[ajw373]

Other than that useless kit, what else should I expect from Qantas in regards to compensation?

Nothing, nor should you in all seriousness.

 

[cmon0005]

Nothing, nor should you in all seriousness.

Why shouldn't I? I flew Business class, and am a QP Silver, surely they would need to look after me a bit better than just 'sorry we forgot to load your luggage in Singapore, don't know when it will arrive, and here is a $5 kit for the inconvenience now sit here in the airport for a few hours wasting your time, thanks for flying with us please choose us in the future.'

At very least I would have expected a letter with an apology about the luggage, hell i've even read about people on this forum getting an apology letter and vouchers pro-actively sent to them when IFE failed in seats during a flight.
grrrrr... anyways email complaint sent in now.

 

[ajw373]

Why shouldn't I? I flew Business class, and am a QP Silver, surely they would need to look after me a bit better than just 'sorry we forgot to load your luggage in Singapore, don't know when it will arrive, and here is a $5 kit for the inconvenience now sit here in the airport for a few hours wasting your time, thanks for flying with us please choose us in the future.'

At very least I would have expected a letter with an apology about the luggage, hell i've even read about people on this forum getting an apology letter and vouchers pro-actively sent to them when IFE failed in seats during a flight.
grrrrr... anyways email complaint sent in now.

Simple lost baggage happens for a variety of reasons. In your ticket terms and conditions it is quite clear what the airline is responsible for and compenstation is not one of them for a 20 hour delay. Also it makes no difference what so ever if you flew business class or you are a frequent flyer. What the airline is responsible for is getting your bag to you, which they did in quite a reasonable timeframe too, especially considering you had moved on.

Also at least they paged you when you arrived rather than have you wait around, so good pro-active customer service there.

 

[enigma01au]

We had our luggage lost for 4 days.....Hubby QF Platinum, me QF Gold..
We arrived in Latvia in the middle of winter, with only the Australian jeans and jumpers that we were wearing. Our luggage was returned the night before we left Riga....
We received no compensation at all....although we could've claimed through our travel insurance if we wanted.
As we travel quite a bit, we expect luggage to get mislaid every now and then. Just make sure you carry medications / valuables in carry-on luggage, and if things go wrong, claim on your travel insuarance.

20 hours is nothing....

 

[cmon0005]

Simple lost baggage happens for a variety of reasons. In your ticket terms and conditions it is quite clear what the airline is responsible for and compenstation is not one of them for a 20 hour delay. Also it makes no difference what so ever if you flew business class or you are a frequent flyer. What the airline is responsible for is getting your bag to you, which they did in quite a reasonable timeframe too, especially considering you had moved on.

Also at least they paged you when you arrived rather than have you wait around, so good pro-active customer service there.

I don't care what it says in the T+C's, the fact is I've paid a lot and I am loyal to a particular airline so you would expect at least a basic apology letter, I am not demanding anything unreasonable I just want a recognition for a loyal customer that I was stuffed around and they are sorry for it.

One thing I didn't mention about the page was on the plane the crew announced around 8 peoples names to see ground staff, they didn't know why upon asking, walked down the stairs asked the ground staff they didn't know either.
Got to the baggage carousel and ground staff were not sure exactly what was going on and told me that a bag or two of mine may be missing and to stand at the carousel to see if any of my bags come out.... of course they didn't.

Also it wasn't just my bags missing, the baggage desk told me they somehow 'forgot' to load one whole baggage container in SIN.

 

[opusman]

Frustrating, but it happens.

 

[harvyk]

I don't care what it says in the T+C's

Well you should care, this tells you what your entitled to receive for the money you have paid...

Look I can understand your frustration, the worst one for me was one trip we where running a stand at an expo, and my colleagues bags went missing, in them was his shirts made specifically for the expo (had company name and logo on them) we finally received the bag at midnight, and we where to manning the stand as of 8am the next morning...

This was basically something that couldn't be replaced by walking into the nearest shop and buying a shirt off the rack...

I can easily understand your frustration, but it is also a part and parcel part of traveling, that at some stage something will go wrong... Also the fact you are PS + QP means to QF that you are PS + QP, nothing more... They don't like to lose any luggage in the process, but it does happen from time to time. Be it to a PS + QP or be it a WP, it's not like they planned for it to happen.

 

[mannej]

What is a letter going to achieve in all honesty?

There can be reasons why baggage isn't loaded.

I wouldn't bother with the I am this status and loyalty in the complaint, as that probably won't add any great deal to the content itself.

 

[cmon0005]

What is a letter going to achieve in all honesty?

I wouldn't bother with the I am this status and loyalty in the complaint, as that probably won't add any great deal to the content itself.

One thing you missed is I flew J, I paid lots of money to make sure my baggage was tagged as priority, to get off the plane quickly and through to immigration in the express queue to be out of BOM airport quickly (anyone who has travelled to this airport here will know what I mean) instead I got stuck in this hot mosquito infested airport, at a baggage desk 'scrum' with staff that didn't know what to do or even what Qantas's own policy was.

Even my parents who flew JQ on a cheap fare MEL - AKL got delayed from Melb one night by 4 hours, they got a letter in the mail from JQ with $100 voucher for future travel for each person... this is what I am comparing my situation to.

 

[mannej]

I didn't miss anything.

 

[ajw373]

I don't care what it says in the T+C's, the fact is I've paid a lot and I am loyal to a particular airline so you would expect at least a basic apology letter, I am not demanding anything unreasonable I just want a recognition for a loyal customer that I was stuffed around and they are sorry for it.

**** happens and it makes no difference about how much you have paid or how loyal you are. They did what they are supposed to do which is get your bag to you, in quite a reasonable time.

I, and every single frequent flyer in particular could give dozens of accounts of lost luggage. The worst one for me was when Air France went on strike and my bag was 'lost' for about 1 week with zillions of other bags at CDG. Fortunatly I was flying home to London so it wasn't a big issue, but still frustrating. But expecting compensation and letters of apology just because you flew business and are Silver FF is asking a bit too much.

 

[dajop]

Airlines don't need to provide any form of monetary compensation in these circumstances. If you read the legal contract, airlines only responsibility is to get you from A to B at random point in time or provide a refund to you if they can't (OK, I exaggerate a little ) . Now only few airlines do operate this way, perhaps those at the very bottom of the LCC spectrum, most seem to offer a decent level of customer service.

In my opinion it is not unreasonable to expect some form of service recovery - I wouldn't expect to be offered any apology, or any general monetary compensation, and indeed I don't think it is justified. What may be reasonable is reimbursement for things like underwear, a new shirt/socks etc for you to wear during the intervening period etc, and have heard of this happening in the past.

FWIW, I had some delayed luggage on UA twice - first time I didn't see luggage for >48 hrs, they gave a $50 (or $100, can't remember) voucher for use on UA in the next 12 months (essentially useless to me, but I guess the thought that counts), second time, luggage was on next flight, so all OK - but gave me some toiletries. Then last year luggage missed a connection at LHR travelling WAW-LHR-SIN/ separate ticket/SIN-MEL. (long haul with SQ, with 2.5 hr connection at SIN). SQ happily provided cash (a more than generous amount ) for us to catch a taxi to home and back to get fresh clothes, and forwarded the luggage on to later MEL flight. So some airlines do care a little.

If you are not happy with what QF provides - try someone else next time! It's a free market.

 

[BD1959]

I'm sure I read somewhere that 5% of baggage gets mishandled ... which makes me wonder how I've been so lucky to date to only have it happen to me a couple of times.

A better question for the OP might be "Given the amount of baggage which doesn't arrive at its final destination on time, why didn't I buy Insurance?"

If you *had* bought insurance, you'd realise that you don't get a lower premium because you're flying J because the airline would look after you better than if you'd flown Y. The chances of something going wrong at some stage are just as likely and - the last time I looked - there was nothing on the QF website which suggested that, as part of the J service, misplaced baggage compensation was better.

How did you pay? If by Credit Card: did your credit card not have automatic cover which you could have claimed against?

Regards,

BD

 

[JetLagged]

One thing you missed is I flew J, I paid lots of money to make sure my baggage was tagged as priority, to get off the plane quickly and through to immigration in the express queue to be out of BOM airport quickly

mate, what you thought you paid for and what your ticket was actually for can be at wide divergence (frankly, I pay more for the seat and rest rather than the ancillary, though as I travel to LHR the mostly then priority bagge usually doesn't rate as LHR must surely have one of the slowest bagge delivery systems, especially for priority bagge). And yes, I always travel in a paid J seat (though I don't make an issue of the amount of $ that I spend on it, unlike some), once or even twice in F.

In all of my travels my bags have been delayed (not lost) only twice: surprisingly, both times happened when flying through CDG.

As others have said, it is simply one of the frustrations of flying, but on the whole statistically low occurence. Regular travellers accept the chance and get on with their lives. Suggest you do the same. Also, T&C are there for a reason - to stop you wasting youtr time, and the time of others, by seeking to claim something for which you are not entitled.