How long is too long for lost baggage ?

[Pbucking]

I've been sat now for a week in the UK waiting for Cathay Pacific to deliver the 3rd of 3 bags I checked in at BNE domestic on the 01Sept24. Having been told zero by Cathay, and fruitlessly checking the Cathay bag tracking link for a week now...when should I become concerned?

Some facts...

I was told my QF bag receipt (i flew BNE to MEL to catch a Cathay flight) had no bag tracking details....what does that mean ?

Note: I checked 3 identical bags in together...and rec'd 3 receipts from QF at BNE domestic..

Does this mean my bag had no tag? If so, I suspect an unidentified bag at Brisbane airport would have raised some security alarms...
or,
my bag was tagged but never loaded in BNE..meaning someone did something with it (maybe removed the tag and the bag at the same time).

After a week of the Cathay Web site telling me "tracing continues. Please check back later", I sense my bag is gone and Cathay are simply going through the motions. Not once has Cathay rung or emailed me, and to be frank, I don't think it takes a genius to work out that it either wasn't tagged at BNE or worse...someone removed the tag and then the bag...

Thoughts and advice...anything ?

 

[Mwenenzi]

After a week I would be concerned. As your flight is CX they should resolve
Do you still have the 3 bag tag receipts from QF at BNE?
Not really a QF problem, but baggage contact details here https://www.qantas.com/au/en/support/contact-us/baggage-services.html
BNE-MEL-HKG-UK all on 1 ticket?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The Montreal Convention determines a bag is officially ‘lost’ at 21 days. Once that passes you can claim from the airline for compensation of 17SDR per kilo (roughly £17 per kilo). You should be claiming any consequential costs from the airline until the bag is found, the airlines set a daily limit. Your insurance may also cover incidentals.

A week is a long time. It’s possible the tag somehow came off the bag.

Lost bags are pretty rare, but given the sheer volume of passengers there are probably hundreds or thousands of bags caught in the system worldwide. I think you just have to wait and see what happens over the next couple weeks!

 

[Pbucking]

The Montreal Convention determines a bag is officially ‘lost’ at 21 days. Once that passes you can claim from the airline for compensation of 17SDR per kilo (roughly £17 per kilo). You should be claiming any consequential costs from the airline until the bag is found, the airlines set a daily limit. Your insurance may also cover incidentals.

A week is a long time. It’s possible the tag somehow came off the bag.

Lost bags are pretty rare, but given the sheer volume of passengers there are probably hundreds or thousands of bags caught in the system worldwide. I think you just have to wait and see what happens over the next couple weeks!

 

[Pbucking]

Hi Mel_Travellor....thanks for the heads up.

Noting there was no scanning history, and assuming the tag "came off", would you agree that the bag is likely still in BNE ?

To me...this means it shouldn't be overly hard to find...there cannot be that many untagged bags at the BNE domestic terminal..appearing on Sunday morning at 0700h.

Maybe I am overly simplifying things....

Kind regards

 

[p--and--t]

I've been sat now for a week in the UK waiting for Cathay Pacific to deliver the 3rd of 3 bags I checked in at BNE domestic on the 01Sept24. Having been told zero by Cathay, and fruitlessly checking the Cathay bag tracking link for a week now...when should I become concerned?

Some facts...

I was told my QF bag receipt (i flew BNE to MEL to catch a Cathay flight) had no bag tracking details....what does that mean ?

Note: I checked 3 identical bags in together...and rec'd 3 receipts from QF at BNE domestic..

Does this mean my bag had no tag? If so, I suspect an unidentified bag at Brisbane airport would have raised some security alarms...
or,
my bag was tagged but never loaded in BNE..meaning someone did something with it (maybe removed the tag and the bag at the same time).

After a week of the Cathay Web site telling me "tracing continues. Please check back later", I sense my bag is gone and Cathay are simply going through the motions. Not once has Cathay rung or emailed me, and to be frank, I don't think it takes a genius to work out that it either wasn't tagged at BNE or worse...someone removed the tag and then the bag...

Thoughts and advice...anything ?

What travel insurance do you have. When we had a bag go missing for 24hrs ANZ Black Card gave us $500 (with receipts). If it had been missing 72hours $1,500. Declared lost by airline - significantly more.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Agree. Time to contact your travel insurance company

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Since this is an international trip, the provisions of the Montreal Convention come into play meaning the airline will simply have to reimburse you for any items you need now that were in your luggage (keep receipts). Additionally after 21 days the luggage is considered lost and the airline will have to reimburse you for the contents of the luggage. Note there is a hard cap that the Montreal Convention imposes of roughly $1700 USD.

So unless you packed something very valuable (which I would strongly advise against without getting insurance with the airline), I wouldn't be stressed. Oh and one more thing, the airline hast hand deliver the bag to your doorstep wherever you are in the world. You never need to go to the airport to pick it up, that's an expense that's borne on them. This is why airlines hate misplacing luggage (particularly with passengers who know their rights under the law)

-RooFlyer88

 

[Pbucking]

All...thank you for all your replies and help. I wanted to close this out and tell you what ultimately happened.

After 14 days..I received a call from. Dnata at Heathrow..."we have your bag".

I asked them to deliver to my parents on the South Coast of England... as I was in Manchester.

Three days later..I travelled to my parents..utterly intrigued...

What did I find....

Yes..it was my bag...with no bag tag (other than a hand written one with my Cathay case number as a reference)...with MAD and LHR written on the tag. No sign of the original tag that BNE domestic should have/did put on it.

So..it didn't have my name anywhere on the bag...and I never provided a photo of the bag...so how did they work out it was mine ??? A mystery for the ages....

I want to thank Cathay..I don't know how they did it...and they very kindly covered all my clothing expenses..with out any question.

I will never know where that bag went...and what fun it had...but Cathay...well done.....

Once again...thanks to all for your support in this forum...

Rgds

Paul