Travel Technology - Damaged HD in checked bag - chance of a successful claim against carrier?

Hello.

I took a flight today, and when I arrived at my destination, I tried to access a hard drive I'd packed only to find that the hard drive had stopped working.

Now, the hard drive itself was functioning before I put it in my luggage, and I know the damage was caused in transport, and it would be difficult to prove except for one thing: I packed an accelerometer (a tool I use in robotics) in my checked bags, and neglected to turn it off. It recorded freefall for half a second followed by a 37 Gee spike, which looks like it fell off of something and hit the ground.

Now, the hard drive itself was blank, but it was still an expensive disk. How successful would I be in pursuing a claim? Is the airline liable in this case?

CodeMercenary, welcome to FlyerTalk! Although your general Q. about contents of checked baggage is entirely appropriate for our TravelBuzz forum, I believe that you might get better help from our Travel Technology forum. I'll retitle your thread and move it to its new home. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

First to the mod: I'm not sure where this came from though it may be more appropriate in the forum for the respective carrier as that is where the OP will find the most experience dealing with a baggage claim.

To the OP: Interesting story, didn't realize an accelerometer could work like that. I always think of it in a more applied setting in my iPhone per se. With that said, I don't think you have to much of a shot here going through the carrier, unfortunately.

You'll need to look at the contract of carriage for the airline you flew with. AA's excludes any coverage for the item you checked. You might get a voucher as a goodwill gesture, but think you'd have a hard time asking for reimbursement for the damage. Here's their contract of carriage on that topic:

American assumes no responsibility for loss, damage or delayed delivery of transferred baggage not acceptable for transportation by American as checked baggage, items damaged as a result of items contained in checked or transferred baggage, and items accepted by American pursuant to the execution of a release form. American does not accept in or as checked baggage any of the following items: antiques, artifacts, artwork, books and documents, china, computers and other electronic equipment, computer software, fragile items (including child/infant restraint devices such as strollers and car seats), eyeglasses, prescription sunglasses, non-prescription sunglasses and all other eyewear and eye/vision devices whether lenses are glass, plastic, or some other material, furs, heirlooms, items carried in the passenger compartment of the aircraft, liquids, medicines, money, orthotics, surgical supports, perishable items, photographic, video and optical equipment, precious metals, stones or jewelry, securities and negotiable papers, silverware, samples, unique or irreplaceable items or any other similar valuable items. American does not accept these items in or as checked baggage and assumes no responsibility or liability for such items, regardless of whether American knew or should have known of the presence of such items in checked or transferred baggage. If any such items are lost, damaged or delayed, you will not be entitled to any reimbursement under American's standard baggage liability, or under any declared excess valuation. Do not attempt to check these items. Carry them with you in the passenger cabin (subject to carryon baggage limitations).

Every IATA carrier excludes electronics from liability in checked baggage. Your chances are zero. It is not unheard of for bags to fall several feet during loading (just watch the conveyor belt as they load and unload from the plane). This type of damage is expected; and factory packaging for hard drives are specifically designed to absorb this kind of impact. Those little bits of foam do wonders. Next time keep the packaging for use during trips, or have it mounted in a suitable enclosure.

That sort of thing happens to baggage. I doubt you have a case.

Since you have an accelerometer, i assume you are familar with gee load impacts. what kind of a hit is necessary for a 37 gee decel (that's about 10000 fpsps?)assuming the bag was moving at say 10fps?

i did this stuff about 60 years ago. is it not a stop in 1/100 of a foot? or 1/10 of an inch?

if this is correct, please mail to me an advanced credit in memory.

if those numbers are correct, i think the accelerometer would have to be against the side of the bag, with no give and no flex. the hd if it got the 37 gee hit, had no packing.

would the accelerometer not have to be attached to the HD to get a correct reading?

The OP should be happy either or both the hard drive or the accelerometer was not stolen by the baggage gorillas or the TSA.

MisterNice

Which carrier was this?

37 gee decell. reminds me of the lh dc 10 landings back in the 70's. some of the monitors fell out of the racks onto the floor more than once.

pound those babies into the ground. remember the applause after the landing??

You could ask, but unless you claimed it before and paid for insurance on it, I wouldn't expect any coverage.

They would probably require proof of proper packaging too.

IMO, the chances of receiving anything from the carrier for this kind of damage is nil.

Most specifically exclude that kind of equipment from coverage--regardless of what any accelerometer says. Some trade groups offer third-party insurance that might provide coverage.

It recorded freefall for half a second followed by a 37 Gee spike, which looks like it fell off of something and hit the ground.

What was the duration of the spike? Modern 3.5" desktop drives are rated to survive a 2ms 300-350G 1/2 sine pulse, and 2.5" laptop drives ~1000G, when not operating. Server-grade drives have lower ratings.

Although not quite ethical (well, if it didn't survive a shock it was rated to...), I suspect you have a good chance of getting your drive replaced under warranty by its manufacturer, especially if there is no obvious physical damage indicative of mishandling inside the drive.

Personally, I would never put a hard drive, pretty much the last remaining mechanically delicate computer part, in checked luggage.

Personally, I would never put a hard drive, pretty much the last remaining mechanically delicate computer part, in checked luggage.


Also good advice.