Club Arnage

My suitcase seems to have been driven over at some point on its journey from Norwich to Aberdeen yesterday, and I've got to put in a claim to the airline. The thing is, you can't seem to get hold of them anymore, and lookng around, £90 is about the starting point for something decent. £180 isn't out of the ordinary.

Where do I pitch my claim? (IIRC I bought the bag 4 to 5 years ago in a major discount designer goods outlet, can't remember how much it cost tho')

It has been <properly> damaged, the handle has been worn down to less than a half of its original thickness, and the handle end of the bag is smashed, and the main body of the bag has been crushed from 9 inches to about 3 inches thick. Bloody glad I didn't have any booze etc. in it. To be honest, it looks like it was slung inderneath the aircraft on a rope for the duration of the journey.

On a flight last weekend I watch em drop a bag off the side of the conveyor belt that goes from the hold to the trailer from a fair height, they picked it up threw it at the trailer and it fell through and off the other side, they went round picked it up n did exactly the same thing in the other direction!!!  Lets hope there werent have too many liquids in there.....  :-\

As to your claim, check the small print, what you claim may be limited or might be new for old... are you trying to claim from the airline or from your insurers - either way I guess there will be small print...? 

F

I'm claiming off the airline.

small print

the air carrier is liable for destruction, loss or damage to baggage up to 1000 SDRs (Approx UK £820)

I've got a week to find a £820 suitcase  :D :angel:

LOL I think you would have to have lost the contents as well for them to agree to that much!!!

Reasonably speaking, you should get a brand new case of exactly the same quality - ie.  if it was a Sampsonsite you should replace with the same quality, if it was M&S you should replace with equivalent to that.   Realistically I dont know if they would actually bother to check what you are replacing ....but the theory is that you should be no worse and no better off than you were.

F

 ;DUnfortunately all the identifying marks have been ground off ;D

It was a rather nice pierre cardin hand luggage sized rollerbag. Wish I'd caried the bloody thing on now, and it was one of a pair. :(

On a lighter note, I was checking into the hotel in Norwich with my work colleague, I was told that the room was a twin, and then looking at my mate, she asked if that was OK with us. I thought about what she might have meant, until the penny dropped, and I told her that my mate should also have a reservation for another room.  :-[ :laugh:

 Years ago, did my apprenticeship at Heathrow, and was working in the central area (where the planes are loaded) and I saw a bag fall off one of those baggage trolleys, while been towed around the terminal.

Said to the guy, who was driving the van I was in, to stop and I’ll pick it up and give it back to the baggage driver. He told me to leave it and not touch it, as we could be considered as nicking it.

So when I looked back at the bag, and thought oh well, just as it run over by a big aircraft tug (the thing that tow’s the aircraft out).  Bag looked like a pancake.

Nice way to end or start some ones holiday  :-\

Well,  If you don't have the original receipt and if the case is not recognisable as whatever it was  I guess your YMMV.

I think you will be on pretty safe ground if you find a bag of equal quality and specification.   I guess it depend on how you think you would get on in the Small Claims Court if you can't come to a mutualy agreeable arrangment. 

t.

Going by the title, I thought this was a thread about my wife  :angel:

You might want to have a look on http://www.flyertalk.com to see if your airline has a forum (many do) and do a search on what their procedures etc might be like.

Flyertalk is a great community which tends to have very frequent flyers and airline staff on there, as well as lots of newbies...

cheers
Ewan

Which airline and which airport?

Eastern Airways betwen Norich an Aberdeen. Have gone for the £90 option. We'll see....

Did you report it to (anyone) from the airline at the time? If not, you may be out of luck as there's bound to be a clause hidden in the small print somewhere stating they must be notified before leaving the airport os suchlike.

I got a bag nuked by Ryanair once when they were just a small regional airline to Ireland and sent them a letter, lots of photos and backed it up with a fax to their customer services as well. Heard nothing for about 6 weeks then a cheque turned up for £100 and as the bag only cost £60 in the first place I took that as a major result. I doubt they would be as accomodating today though  ::)

YEah, I reported it at the time, and I'm sure you'r right about ryanair now. Their customer relations department consists of 2 people  :o

That many?  ;D

So that's one word each then... ;D

Check who the handling agent is.

We flew back to Gatwick from some place abroad once and were waiting in the baggage hall for our bags.  An announcement came over the tannoy for my wife to go to the ??? baggage handling agents desk.

They informed her that her (rather ancient and tatty) bag had been damaged by the handlers and they gave us, there and then, a direct replacement new bag (from a couple of choices of generic bags).

We had a similar experience to Steve, but we weren't called to customer service, we just discovered a damaged bag when retrieving it from the conveyor belt.

We'd flown with BA to Denver and cheapo cheapo suitcase (bought from Auchan in Clais for circa €6 Euros IIRC) had the wheels and supporting legs ripped off and the handle smashed.  :(

Reported it to the BA helpdesk, no questions asked about it's initial cost or condition, they simply produced a brand new suitcase of the same size (or larger) and comparable (or better) quality there and then. We ended up with an Antler case that was slightly larger than the one we had originally!  :D

Must remember to take a suitcase with broken wheels on my next flight then and say that they broke it!

Can't work out if this a good bag or not to take on a plane?

(http://www.tanomi.com/shop/images_item/2767_01.jpg) (http://www.tanomi.com/shop/images_item/2767_02.jpg) (http://www.tanomi.com/shop/images_item/2767_03.jpg)

(http://www.tanomi.com/shop/images_item/2767_05.jpg) (http://www.tanomi.com/shop/images_item/2767_04.jpg)