YXXFlyer

http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelin...e/delayed.html

$1,500 max if not returned within 21 days. They can authorize an expense limit when you file the claim. You'd then have to submit expenses as per the link above.

The most I've been offered was $100 at 6PM when my bags would't make it until noon the next day. I have never bothered and just filed a claim with Amex which was kind enough not even to ask whether I'd pursued carrier claim. (You are supposed to).

canadiancow

I've only had an issue once. It was shortly after I had moved to the US, so wasn't eligible for any decent credit cards. Now I'm covered.

But good to know that I should be able to call in. Thanks.

croco

I have now been waiting 5 days and they are still tracing ....

I lost a lot of clothes, toiletries, gps and some other stuff. I cannot continue to wear the same clothes day after day. Should I be able to go out and buy new clothes and have AC reimburse me?

Thanks

jasdou

I was flying WAW-BRU-YUL-YQB yesterday and apparently my checked luggage stayed somewhere in Europe. My connection in BRU was tight and we came in late from WAW so I suspect it didn't get loaded in BRU. I waited at the carrousel in YUL to clear customs, it never came out so I filled out the paper work to have AC clear the customs for me. Of course, all of that took time so I ended up missing my connection to YQB and ended up standby on a later flight.

I eventually managed to get a seat and completed the delayed baggage claim in YQB but forgot to ask for any compensation. So I called in this morning, using the number on the back of the card, and managed to speak with someone within seconds (!). Quickly the agent granted me 100 USD as compensation for the first 24h after I stated that I was E50K. She did say that unless I gave her a temporary address, I would not get any compensation - i.e. they don't compensate if you give them your home address. I am not sure if status had anything to do with the level of compensation.

Also, she tried to track my luggage and apparently it has not been located yet so she told me to call back tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

flyquiet

I just had a EU-CAN-USA itinerary. The bag seemed to come through at YYZ - I mean, they scanned my claim ticket, and when my flight's baggage was processed, they called me forward at the In Transit post, and sent me through to USA preclearance. A guy showed me a monitor purporting to be my bag (I couldn't make out anything on the crappy image but he said that was it.)
However, bag never arrived at the end of that leg. No bag handling rush involved. That preclearance bag identification thing at end of 2nd leg was over 2 hrs before start of 3rd leg. At final destination, they checked the computer and claimed there was no record of the bag at all.
He affected a blank look on his face when I pointed to the line about the form saying to get a "baggage declaration kit" at the time of signing the missing bag report form.
They did not fill in the Baggage Tracking File Reference number on the card they gave me.
I'm dealing with them on Twitter. I have had absolutely no success with the lying weasels on the phone line in the past. They will say they've located the bag and then not be able to describe it or tell me where it is or when I can get it. Lying liars. The bag tracking website will still show it as being looked for days after it's dropped off on your porch.
Terrible service.
But IF you convince them you know your compensation rights, they will compensate. I had to demand an explanation why they did not believe the Montreal convention pertained to an ex-EU flight in the past, and they never acknowledged I was correct, just sent a cheque covering the receipts I provided, while in their emails, they kept saying they would consider some compensation as a special exception.

FlyerTalker683455

I just use Amex insurance. Up to $1000 for incidentals every time outbound bags are delayed more than four hours. This happens at least 3-4 times per year. I have never ever had a bag actually be lost.

jasdou

That only works if you are booking with Amex card though. In my case, all my travels are booked through a TA and paid by my employer. I will have to check with the TA what kind of coverage we have for such eventualities. It's the first time I have had to deal with such a situation.

FlyerTalker683455

Yes indeed. And ALL segments have to be paid by Amex. That becomes a hassle when I combine multiple tickets, especially with TG who doesn't accept Amex for online bookings outside of Thailand. I have to call a reservation office and beg them to allow me to pay over the phone by Amex.

If you travel on business, your employer should either have proper travel insurance (maybe included with the TA contract), or provide you with compensation for incidents like this. Did you ask?

jasdou

I have not yet had the chance to talk to the TA because of the long weekend. Will do it for sure on Tuesday. Maybe my suitcase will reappear in the meantime.

flyquiet

AC is being evasive about mine. "It's been located", but they won't say where. It was to have been flown here this morning but no call as yet. The code on the bag tracing site finds no record, but that error message is different than the error given for a made-up code. It makes me think that "it's on the way to you" is just a blow-off message and they really have no idea where it is, or they know where it is but do not want to say.

jasdou

That sucks, sorry to hear that. What kind of compensation are you entitled after the initial 24hrs for which they offer 100 USD?

flyquiet

The compensation depends on where you're flying. If it involves Europe, the European rights apply, and that is well over the $100 they offered as a "special consideration". (They told me I wasn't entitled to the $100 either, as I was "home", but that is little use when I need what is in the suitcase to pack to travel again, and I don't have duplicates of everything. I didn't need toothpaste; I needed a suit.)

When I asked them to explain how the Montreal convention did not apply, they wordlessly sent me a cheque for the rest of the value of receipts I sent. I had bought an outfit needed immediately due to all that category of clothing being in the suitcase. The suitcase did turn up two days later, so I did not have to replace anything else.

Incidentally, the endorsement side of the cheque has a line saying by receiving this money, I relinquish rights to further claims, or something like that, so I did not cash the first $100, just replied as above, and cashed it when I received the second cheque.

In this case, they claim it will be delivered this afternoon, and I need the stuff tomorrow, so cutting it close, but the EU compensation doesn't come close to even covering the two pairs of Rx progressive multifocal glasses, let alone all the cosmetics and clothing, so I am ecstatic to get it back.

I hope you are able to recover yours. I used the online chat (the dude at airport was useless) and I escalated it a bit by a few public tweets using the @aircanada name, and Twitter DMs with AC. I don't like to think you have to be a squeaky wheel to get taken care of, but they do have a very attentive social media team so i do make use of that for both compliments and complaints.

FlyerTalker683455

In this day and age, actual lost baggage occurs nearly never. 0.000001 percent of delayed bags end up lost.

flyquiet

Yeah, I figured a bag has to be somewhere (except I was flying into a station with fairly frequent reports of baggage theft). What bothered me was the lack of transparency about where it was.
And it turned up with no accounts of its whereabouts, other than a sticker saying "USDA inspected". Of course, no food or other agricultural products in it. I received a gift of truffles on the trip and I scarfed the entire box while packing to make sure I didn't have food to declare!

FlyerTalker683455

I take food to Canada all the time. Hard cheeses from Europe, rice and curry pastes from Thailand, dozen fruit juices etc etc. Declare and go.