Guy Betsy

I always thought people exaggerated whenever they say that they lose bags especially when transitting at FCO. Maybe that's why I never fly AZ within Europe. But as I redeemed an award, KL+AZ from AMS to CAI was the cheapest option.

So I have a 3 hour connection. Arrived at Terminal B to Terminal H. Which looked like a war zone. Is this only temporary? Cos it certainly looked like it.

Anyway, arrived in CAI. No bags. Apparently, AZ left a whole bunch of bags behind. The rep at CAI had no idea of anything. AT least I was the first in line to file a lost baggage report.

But now its AZ+FCO+CAI = ?

I have travel insurance, but it doesn't kick in for 12 hours.

ShopAround

Are you talking about FCO? There was a big fire there a couple of months ago that caused extensive damage: http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-r...erminal-2015-5

Same thing happened to me in April and it wasn't even a connection - it was a direct JFK-MXP flight and they left some bags behind. For two days, I was told they had no idea where my bag was and then it turned up in the middle of the night - apparently it went to FCO at some point and was sent to me via courier to Milan. I'm still waiting for the promised reimbursement for my expenses... with AZ's abysmal customer service, I may be waiting forever.

straniero

similar situation here: FCO CDG, bag forgotten but immediately 'identified and waiting for confirmation'. it has bern 3 weeks now and they still have no clue even if it's in rome or paris.

good luck with your bags.

Guy Betsy

If it wasn't for my insistence that the guy at Alitalia baggage give me his personal cell number, I'd probably still be waiting for them to call me.

I was the first to file the report. Which was a good thing because afterwards the guy told me that over 40 people didn't get their luggage and that its still all sitting in FCO. That apparently is over 70 pieces of bags!

I saw online on WorldTracer that the bag was coming in on the evening flight so I called in the morning. No one picked up the phone. Again, it was only because the guy gave me his phone number that he picked up when I called from a local cell number. He said, yes your bag has been found but you can't come today because their office closes at 1pm. Come tomorrow.

So I did, at 10am, and there was already a queue forming. I went and handed in my passport. The girl behind the counter said to wait for 30 mins for them to issue a pass to enter the restricted area. The first batch of people went through and I was with 3 other passengers. That took 30 more minutes of waiting. Then we were led through the departures area and to a narrow road splitting between the that and arrivals. The luggage trolleys were there and personnel were just unloading the arriving airlines' bags to the belt. No ex-raying here !

We were then led through a dingy, smelly corridor that looked like the bowels of purgatory.. and into a smaller corridor with 'rooms' that looked like holding cells. In there are the unclaimed luggage. I picked mine up and checked for damage.. and then had to wheel it back to the arrivals area and through the throngs of people to Customs check. There we had to open all our bags to check.. and really, there is nothing for them to check but they wanted to anyway. Then the other couple disappeared and baggage hounds appeared to 'help' me close my bag and immediately put their hands out for 'tips'. I quickly grabbed my bags and made an exit.

All in all, it took over 2 hours for this. Compare that to Singapore when it can take as little as 10 minutes. But hang on, most airports will deliver your bags. I guess not so in Cairo.

From this experience, I will be avoiding AZ like the plague.

KLouis

Don't you think that you're a little unfair? Other than the original loss and the late forwarding of your suitcase to CAI, which is entirely due to AZ (I wrote "a little unfair"), what you describe above seems to me to be due to a) Egyptian rules and b) inefficiency of the local handlers of AZ. I doubt that with 1 (or is it two?) flights a day AZ would handle everything themselves.

benberg2013

I heard once that the word Alitalia stands for "Aircraft Lands In Tokyo, All luggage In Amsterdam"

beachfan

I submitted my forms twice online, no response, the first one was over two months ago. I have auto-confirmation of receipt of both submissions, but when I call AlItalia in the US, they say there is no-one to speak to, just to resubmit.

Any suggestions? This is compensation for delayed luggage (about $200+), not lost luggage.

ShopAround

I posted my recommendation for this on another thread: You need to reach out to them via social media.

I submitted a claim for expenses due to delayed baggage back in early April. AZ responded when I filed my claim but then ignored all follow up emails asking where my check was. After four months went by with no response, I stared posting complaints on Facebook and Twitter and only then did someone finally get back to me. I received the check within a week.

beachfan

Thanks, I'll give it a try. Any thought which is better? Did they respond after your first tweet?

thesaints

If I can, I never check baggage to FCO. It is not that they lose it, but it always takes forever to be delivered. Leaving FCO I don't think I ever had a problem.

As being separated from your baggage (temporarily, or permanently), if I recall correctly I only had one single instance involving AZ, or an Italian airport.

beachfan

made about 6 tweets, all they did was ask for the claim number which was in the original tweet, and then ask if I called Customer Service (there is no customer service phone number in the US that I can find).

Has anyone tried small claims court?

beachfan

No useful response via many social media complaints.

Anyone successfully call the Italy Delayed Baggage number when the US office isn't responding?

ShopAround

Sorry to hear that. Not sure what else to suggest, I had emailed them multiple times with no response but then heard back after I started posting on their Facebook page.