Lost baggage, advice needed
Discussion
In Sicily on a family holiday currently and so far it's been one disaster after another. Flew to Zurich first from UK, we were supposed to then fly to catania. This flight was cancelled (no great surprise considering Etna was erupting at the time). We then re-booked to fly to Palermo the next day. Arriving in Palermo, only 1 of the 5 bags arrived on the carousel. I filed a report for the missing bags but have received conflicting information since from various Web chats (this was 2 days ago). We have an air tag in one of them which says it's at Palermo, I have just received an email saying another in in Ibiza airport! This still leaves 2 missing.
Anyway, the question is, somebody will be paying for this, should I be pursuing the airline or everything through the insurance?
Anyway, the question is, somebody will be paying for this, should I be pursuing the airline or everything through the insurance?
Read the Ts&Cs of your travel insurance and maybe ring them for advice.
I would rely on the insurance to deal with this. but in the end if anyone else is liable pursue them later.
The quickest way with the least impact on your holiday will be to do whatever the insurance allows you to do.
Years ago, I was delayed by 52 hours on my return from my honeymoon in Jamaica. The airline put us up in a dreadful hotel that was overcrowded, and the food was awful.
Had I actually read the terms and conditions of the travel insurance that came with my bank account's Gold Card, I would have realised I could have booked myself into a much nicer local hotel. As long as I paid for everything with the card and kept the receipts, the insurer would have covered the costs.
Lesson learned: always read the terms and conditions, and the insurance would be more generous than the airline.
I would rely on the insurance to deal with this. but in the end if anyone else is liable pursue them later.
The quickest way with the least impact on your holiday will be to do whatever the insurance allows you to do.
Years ago, I was delayed by 52 hours on my return from my honeymoon in Jamaica. The airline put us up in a dreadful hotel that was overcrowded, and the food was awful.
Had I actually read the terms and conditions of the travel insurance that came with my bank account's Gold Card, I would have realised I could have booked myself into a much nicer local hotel. As long as I paid for everything with the card and kept the receipts, the insurer would have covered the costs.
Lesson learned: always read the terms and conditions, and the insurance would be more generous than the airline.
+1 to travel insurance, give them a call and find out what their policies are. This kind of thing is exactly what you buy travel insurance for.
Good luck with the airline, as you mentioned Zurich, I can take some guesses which large airline group this is and I know first hand their customer service is woeful... which is why if you can go through your insurer, the better.
Good luck with the airline, as you mentioned Zurich, I can take some guesses which large airline group this is and I know first hand their customer service is woeful... which is why if you can go through your insurer, the better.
captain_cynic said:
+1 to travel insurance, give them a call and find out what their policies are. This kind of thing is exactly what you buy travel insurance for.
Good luck with the airline, as you mentioned Zurich, I can take some guesses which large airline group this is and I know first hand their customer service is woeful... which is why if you can go through your insurer, the better.
Thanks for the responses all. The airline is Swiss, although booked through Brussels airlinesGood luck with the airline, as you mentioned Zurich, I can take some guesses which large airline group this is and I know first hand their customer service is woeful... which is why if you can go through your insurer, the better.
G321 said:
The airline is Swiss, although booked through Brussels airlines
I've no personal experience with Swiss when it comes to delayed (will be about a month before the bag's considered lost) baggage but they are a full service airline so shouldn't be massive dicks about it. Booking via Brussels airlines may complicate things a bit as Swiss may try to say you need to claim back from Brussels/Brussels that you need to claim back from Swiss - but both are part of the same Lufthansa Group.As such you should be good to buy essentials for your holiday - which depending on the holiday/what's in the delayed luggage could be anything from a new toothbrush, through changes of clothes, right through to golf club hire or ski jackets and salopettes. OK those last 2 are more specific to a golf trip where your clubs were one of the delayed bags/a ski trip where the purpose of the trip is skiing and that requires specific equipment that can't be hired. More likely you're on a summer holiday but even then I'd say fair to classify things like swimware as essential items. The main thing though is to keep receipts for everything as anything you claim for but don't have a receipt for is something that can try to wriggle out of.
I've only experienced delayed bags with BA who in both cases paid up really quickly, in one case before we'd bordered the flight home - and that was for ski clothing bought in an expensive resort so quite a penny! Hopefully Swiss/Brussels will be the same...
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