OrbitTheOrb

Hello FT,

We are 6 weeks into a 1 year trip. Not going home anytime soon...so this kind of sucks. My wife and I carry small 35L backpacks. We carry this size so that we can board planes with them. Even Ryan Air lets us board.

Anyhow, we flew on Air Berlin, MAD -> TXL -> HEL. In Madrid, the ticketing agent made us weigh our bags and because they were over 8kg, we had to check them. I find this very ridiculous because the overhead bins on these A321's are huge. We have flown with them in recent past and this wasn't a requirement. We were the first boarding group for this flight...

I had her tag our bags for TXL since we were there overnight. They have lost my bag. It didn't show up at TXL. Still no record of it and it's been over 48 hours now and we are in Helsinki.

This really sucks because I have probably $2000 of valuables in my bag (cameras, etc.). Plus a giant stack of credit cards that I need.

We have contacted the lost and found in both Berlin and Helsinki already. They know to send my bag to Helsinki if they ever find it.

What are my chances of actually getting this bag back, at this point? It seems pretty slim. I am wondering if it was stolen or perhaps it just fell off of a bag cart and is sitting on the ground in Madrid?

Anybody know any tricks that I can use to get my bag? I paid the taxes and fees on the award flight using my AAdvantage Platinum. Are there any benefits on this card that will help me? Insurance/etc? We also have the amex platinum. It includes the travel concierge benefit. Can they do anything to help me?

Thanks!

Steve_19

Sorry to hear your situation but, to be frank, whhhyyyy would you check a bag with that many valuable items / credit cards inside? I can see maybe you could not bring the items on the plane with you due to size or weight, but surely the credit cards could have fit on your person?

I used to be AA Plat and would be surprised if they would offer to do much in this situation as lost luggage from another airline may be out of their scope (would think they will just tell you to go back and talk to Air Berlin).

For the Amex plat (is this one of the cards you lost?) I do not think they offer protection on loss baggage unless you sign up for it specifically. But others maybe able to tell you more. But if you did not use this card to pay for the trip / this trip segment I do not think they can do much....

OrbitTheOrb

Yeah, I guess we have never had to check a bag before, so we were very surprised and I was nervous because there was an extremely long queue waiting behind us.

In hindsight, it was really dumb to check all of this stuff, but in the moment I didn't consider these things.

I thought it was possible that AA might help, since it was a partner award flight I booked through their site.

I have the amex platinum on me. I have all the important cards that I use, on my person. I spent a year of earning credit card rewards, so i have all the cards for the accounts that I am not using regularly, in my bag.

Steve_19

Yeah maybe not the best idea to check the bag, I agree - but whats done is done.

You can try AA, but I would be suprised if they can do much for you. But at this point maybe does not hurt.

Amex Plat (I have as well) I think you do need to use to pay for the trip for most of their protections to be in place. I also think you need to signup for the baggage insurance to get them to cover these types of losses (see below)

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c...ance-plan.html

Again though, at this point does not hurt to call and ask if they can do anything for you...

YuropFlyer

Air Berlin very clearly states 8kg max. per piece of hand luggage. If you were just slightly above, you could have probably carried something/wore something. So I must assume you were massively over the limit. Why should Air Berlin be blamed for something which is your fault?

The good thing is: The airline will be responsible to send your luggage after you - it doesn't matter where you're going. If you're catching a flight to Singapore from HEL, they've to send it all the way there. That often happens when someone travels with 2 or more separate tickets and luggage get lost. Quite common, and the airlines know about this well.

Ummm.. I've no words for that... I guess you realized by now how extremely dumb that move has been..

What does their record tell them? Your bag never got into the plane to TXL? They simply have no record of it after CI in MAD?

The only trick will be to wait for it. Daily call them if they've any update, but otherwise it seems it either indeed got stolen in MAD, or fell somehow off the grid there (and you hopefully have some kind of personal information in it, so they can match it to you)

I suggest to call your credit card company to inquire about this. Their help will be limited on insurance, ie you MIGHT be allowed to spend money for clothes/toiletries. Or getting a replacement card. In fact, you'll have to contact all your CC companies and report when your CC got lost, otherwise you might be liable for fraud using your cards.

MSPeconomist

Many homeowner and renter policies cover lost luggage, although your deductible would apply.

84fiero

Sorry to hear about that. Unfortunately I'd say your chances of seeing your stuff back are slim to none, and slim is just pulling out of the station. With CCs and camera equipment inside, I'd be surprised if the bag wasn't stolen rather than lost.

Of course your first step should be to call your bank(s) and report the credit cards as lost/stolen. That way you can get the ball rolling on having replacements sent. With some issuers you can get a replacement card very quickly.

You can call and check with Citi on your card coverage...I've had that same card in the past but don't recall offhand what specific trip insurance coverage is offered - a call to Citi will inform you with certainty, though.

In all cases I'm aware of, whatever trip insurance a credit card offers is normally contingent upon having paid for the full cost of the trip on that card. Whether they consider taxes & fees on an otherwise free award flight to qualify for coverage purposes, I don't know, but again they can tell you for sure - no harm in asking. Of course you'll need receipts and documentation of the items you lost. If there are items you need replaced soon, just go replace them, because even if you eventually get reimbursed it may take awhile.

The airline's liability for a lost or stolen checked bag is rather limited, and wouldn't cover electronics like your camera equipment.

As you've discovered now, many airlines outside the US have not just size but also weight limits on carry-on bags. Depending on the airline, enforcement can sometimes be consistently strict or sporadically variable. But I'd strongly advise checking the websites of every airline that is part of your itinerary for these types of restrictions. I guarantee this won't be the last time your carry-on is weighed over the course of a year long RTW trip. Buy a good quality luggage scale and weigh your bags yourself before arriving at the airport so you're prepared and can spread stuff out as needed.

Consider using a travel vest for use when flying on airlines with carry-on weight restrictions. There are expensive $100+ vests but I got one from Amazon for about $20 that does the job. You can load stuff onto the vest to cut down on the carry-on weight so as to stay within limits.

Often1

1. There is no way to assess the chances of seeing your checked bag again. It could be sitting on a cart somewhere and will catch up with you or it may have been stolen and the non-valuable contents tossed in a bin somewhere.

2. The Montreal Convention covers this situation. After 21 days the bag will be considered lost and you will be due a maximum of approx. US$1,600. That will be measured at today's fair market value. In other words, is the $2,000 for the cameras measured in replacement cost or what they are worth used?

3. As others note, you may have coverage through your homeowners / renters, a credit card or even your employer (even though this is not a work-related trip). Don't rely on generalized answers by others. You really need to look at your own written policies to see what they specifically say.

It's water under the bridge for OP (but he does have onward travel for a year). So:

1. Read the carry-on rules. Whether AB's rules are stupid or not, they are the rules. They are published and known. OP clearly didn't read them or he would have dealt with this problem.

2. Always carry a cheap tote which fits in the larger item. In the event that you must check, dump the valuables into it and carry that on.

3. Do not publicly discuss what is in your bag. Not suggesting you did, but if you said anything at MAD about camera equpt., all it takes is one crooked agent and that was the end of your bag, At 8.5 kg. I would argue. Over that, just smile and deal with it.

4. Travel insurance. If you are on the road for a year, it's not just about luggage. There are a zillion things which can go wrong and over time they catch up with you. If you are prepared to accept the risk, that's fine, but this sounds like a trip where medical, evacuation, luggage and trip interruption are all basic necessities.

gfunkdave

It's still quite annoying how stingy European airlines are about carryon weight limits. Drives me crazy!

warakorn

Its a good idea to always check in online, that way you wont confront any agent at the check in desk.

FindAWay

OP - Did AB provide you with a claim number/file reference? Have you searched/found their tracing website: http://www.worldtracer.aero/filedsp/ab.htm

When LOT misplaced my bag for a couple of days about a year ago, I was very proactive with calling different LOT departments & local airport desks (and checking the tracing website). However, in the end, the bag just showed-up without anyone being able to tell me anything prior to it arriving on my doorstep.

YuropFlyer

That's no European thing. It's more like how the rest of the world (outside the US) goes. We've rules not to bring half the house with us, and it actually works.

Sant

I believe it's more of a safety issue in case the bag falls on a pax when the bin is opened.

Correct as it's definitely not an European thing. QF & XL both have carryon weight restrictions. At DFW, QF has a scale in front of the Econ check-in desk.

pinniped

Who knows where the bag is...

We flew AB (DUS-VIE) a couple weeks ago. Two of our three bags came out on the belt with the rest of the DUS bags, third one didn't. I went over to fill out a lost-baggage claim with a generic third-party baggage guy. (AB didn't have its own baggage agent in Vienna.) As I'm walking away, preparing to leave the airport, I notice out of the corner of my eye our third bag on the carousel with the Aegean Airlines ATH-VIE bags.

Totally different airline, different alliance, 3 baggage carousels away from the AB flight. Somehow, my bag was in the midst of those bags, and we were the only DUS pax making a lost-luggage claim: wasn't like they accidentally dumped a cartload of AB bags on the A3 belt.

In other words, your bag could be anywhere right now, including sitting in a lost baggage office somewhere where AB doesn't have a real presence at all and, presumably, some airport contractor has to figure out where it should go.

I have a smaller backpack I use for Europe, one that fits my camera gear and little else, mainly because of that 8kg carry-on rule that I know can sometimes be strictly enforced.

wrp96

Complaining to AA will do no good. Under IATA rules, for baggage issues, you need to go back to the last carrier that carried you on the itinerary, in this case Air Berlin. Even if you had checked in with AA in the states and connected to Air Berlin, you would still need to file a claim, deal with all issues, etc with Air Berlin.