Comments on: Lost luggage, ignored claim

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:01:05 +0000

I arrived in Sierra Leone last Friday on a Royal Air Maroc flight. I flew from Casablanca. At the airport in Casablanca, I pleaded with the woman at check in to let me carry on my backpack. I offered to pay extra and told her that I was allowed to bring it as carry on when I came from Sierra Leone to Casablanca.

Nonetheless, she refused and, as I anticipated, my luggage was lost. It was sent to Guinea and then eventually arrived at the Royal Air Maroc office in Freetown. My camera was stolen from the luggage.

I reported this at the office and they explained that it was my fault because I put the camera in my luggage. They also said they are not liable for machinery that is stolen. I told them that they were entrusted with the care of my luggage and were liable for items reasonably contained therein when under their care. Still, they did nothing.

The terms on the ticket state that the Warsaw Convention applies to international travel. The Warsaw Convention states that the airline is liable for stolen items from my luggage.

I asked for the contact numbers for RAM in New York and Casablanca and received two booklets. Only one of the numbers worked and that person told me that since I was in Sierra Leone I needed to contact the airport in Sierra Leone. Since the luggage was delivered to me at the office, this made no sense. He told me there was nothing he could do as he was in Morocco and I needed to speak with RAM Freetown.

I called every number on the RAM website and have found them to likewise be disconnected, particularly the ones regarding lost luggage.

I emailed info@royalairmaroc.com and cargo@royalairmaroc.com about this last Saturday and have received no response.

I have tried to contact RAM France and RAM Ivory Coast and no one answers the telephones there either.

Without an ability to contact the company, I am unsure how to proceed. Were I in the US, I could file a claim in court. In Sierra Leone, I cannot.

Do you have any idea how I could contact someone at this airline?

Thank you,
Jonathan

By: Miguel Macia

Miguel Macia — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:06:33 +0000

I recently came from a trip to Europe where I took my family on a summer vacation on a cruise. There is five of us,and we checked 8 pieces of luggage.
On Barcelona, Spain, when we were coming bank to the state, I not only
check the luggage but I also insured it . We stoped at Newyork (John f Kennedy) and arrived at Miami later. We were missing 2 pieces of luggage.
We contact AA baggage sercice right away. They told us that they will located
them, and send them to me. After 48 hours, I contacted them, First they told me that they already deliver them, then they apologized and refer me to the central baggage service. Every time I called, thay do not have answers for me .It ‘s been 2 months. Today, I received a letter from them stating that the property described was not found and the result of the investigation is not substantive to support payment.
Please help me, I do not what to do.
REF 09/08-01510
BMAS : UHFCHE
You could contact me at rorobles@bellsouth.net
Thank you,
Miguel Macia

By: fola olanrewaju

fola olanrewaju — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:20:08 +0000

my husband travelled fom african to spain with B.A air line for the past six month our bag had been missing ,we call our customer service sereral times all they told us is to fill the reclaim form ,since two month ago,no responce from them

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:47:51 +0000

BA lost my bags when I flew to Uganda via Heathrow from O’Hare in September 2007. Despite having a 12 hour layover, I was told “there probably wasn’t enough time to get your bags on the connecting flight.” I spent $400 on new clothes, $150 in taxi fees going to and from the airport in search of my luggage, and $25 in telephone calls on top of the hours I wasted while attending a business conference. I didn’t ever get an apology or any money for incidentals. BA did eventually send me a check for $600 that did not even begin to reimburse me for my monetary, professional, and time expenses. BA is a lousy airline.

By: eileen

eileen — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:31:24 +0000

Could you help me please. By chance I found your very helpful website.

I too, lost my baggage in Africa for 5 days. I had nothing but the clothes on my back and my handbag. BA even made me check by carry on baggage from Heathrow to Africa. Ironically, the same carry on bags, I used from Washington D.C. to Heathrow were allowed as carry-on on the SAME airline – BA. I have scanned documentation if you need this please.

Thanks in anticipation! A very very disappointed BA traveller.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:05:32 +0000

I’m disgusted that you would agree to the need for reciepts. I could agree with airlines requiring an inventory before boarding, but lets get real. In 2004 while traveling to the Dominican Republic on US Air, they lost my luggage. This was after two weeks of fighting with the air line over massive delays, and being stuck for 4 hours on a runway. The luggage was returned to me a week later. The airline sent it to someone else, then called me to meet their driver in the middle of a strange city in a foreign country, because they couldn’t find my address. When I opened the suitcase, over half of my stuff was gone. Including the reciepts. They had searched through every pocket of every item of clothes and then some. I was out over a thousand dollars, and the airline ruined the suitcase. I spent 6 months trying to get through to them and never got a response. At one point airport agents even gave me a disconnected phone number to call. 3 years later when my flight was overbooked for the second straight day, they again gave me the same disconnected number. I don’t always have a choice of what airline to use, but I can tell you which I trust the least.

Jenn

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:17:41 +0000

“For the rest, make sure you have a receipt (or can readily find a receipt).”

So your position is, every time you go on a trip you need to buy all new clothes, shoes, toiletries, and whatever else you need to take with you???

Most of us are not Paris Hilton and cannot afford to do that sort of thing. I’m really disappointed that you are supporting the airline’s right to be so unrealistic.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 23:42:18 +0000

I came across your blog while reading through various travel blogs. I wanted to pass along the name of the tags I use as additional travel protection – Global Bag Tag.

By: Trudi Behr

Trudi Behr — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 06:54:38 +0000

Our 3 pieces of luggage were also lost by BA at LHR on July 22. Tonight (August 2) a truck pulled up and brought my husband’s bag. The pockets were open and he’s missing many personal items. My luggage is still MIA although BA’s site says “Delivered”. What’s that about? I think Mr Walsh got more moldy boxers than he anticipated when he signed on with BA. It’s a mess.

By: Ned Soltz

Ned Soltz — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 22:22:35 +0000

I have responded to several posts about BA on this board. Essentially, my bag disappeared on June 29 transferring from AA to BA at Heathrow. BA has proven consistently difficult to deal with and refuses to accept any responsibility for the tens of thousands of bags (actually, it was somewhat in excess of 22,000 at its peak).

Well, on August 1, the FedEx truck showed up at my house (I’ve been back home since July 17) with a bag weighing 35 pounds more than when I checked it in. I had figured that they had removed the contents and packed it with body parts.

But no… the 35 pounds is totally attributable to water… and a month’s worth of black powdery mold growth. The bag and all of the clothing are ruined. I am trying to salvage most of the professional video equipment contained in the bag. So far, just a wireless microphone has been shorted out. Everything else just reeks of mold.

While our host at this site recommends FedEx letters to CEO’s only as a last resort, I think what I should do is FedEx a pair of moldy boxers to Willie Walsh.

Ned Soltz

By: Cynthia Kelley

Cynthia Kelley — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:40:51 +0000

My understanding is that BA has thousands and thousands of bags they are trying to get through that haven’t even been entered into their system. I do know that they have been FedExing them to their hub stations in the US (DEN, LAX) and shipping from there, and that they have also been putting them in vans to Milan and arranging shipping from there for bags that were headed to continental Europe. It’s also going to take them a long time to get through as many bags as they had following what happened in Glasgow.

By: Robert Heintzelman

Robert Heintzelman — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:33:17 +0000

Mr. Elliott, How is it that you always seem to get results from airlines regarding airline passengers complanints, but the passenger almost always seems to fail in resolving there problems? Do you have a magic formula that you use? We could certainly use that same formula that you use.

By: EdF

EdF — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:05:57 +0000

Is it not supremely absurd to expect receipts for items in luggage? Shirts and shoes I bought a year or two ago? And even if I did keep all receipts (and had the requisite numbe rof shoeboxes to keep them in), trying to figure out which receipt went with which lost shirt, etc., well … Sorry to see the author has reinforced this requirement.

Having travelled between 50,000 and 100,000+ miles each your for the past 10, almost always on UA, I’ve has misplaced luggage, most recently between LAX-LHR-and Rome. But UA has always delivered.

By: Michael Kaye

Michael Kaye — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 03:20:21 +0000

I too, have a missing bag. Lost by BA on July 2nd. I write on the 17th.
I have spent hundreds of dollars on the phone calling BA in the UK, USA and their handling agents in Oslo ( although the bag never made it on the flight to Oslo and probably sat at Heathrow).
No response, recordings that announce how busy they are and then disconnect…useless websites which are not current with the info…and not updated when I try to supply proper forwarding info…

Insult to injury on the 5th I email willie.walsh@ba.com the Chief. I got an apology a few days later from an assistant who claimed that my bag had been delivered!
I emailed a correction and she then said that she could “see” my bag at my hometown airport awaiting delivery…that was a week ago.

I would like to know of any contacts or resources i can use to get my property returned in a timely manner.

Please help!
Michael Kaye