exitcontrol

Hi Guys,

My elderly parents are in Istanbul (in Y) as of yesterday (28th June) and are due to leave on a 2 week cruise tomorrow morning and their checked luggage hasn't arrived.

All of the numbers they have been given in Turkey for the local handlers and the BA office are either not picking up/invalid/hanging up on them, so have no info on where the bag is (the tracker website is still showing unknown).

I've rang BA with no joy whatsoever and I'm informed that customer relations who will be able to advise on compensation etc. won't open until tomorrow, which will be too late to then go out and buy clothes/other essentials for a 2 week cruise.

Questions:

What would you guys do in this situation?
Am I right the normal compensation from the airline is 1000 SDR which is £907 (per person?) When does this kick in?

On a side note the handlers in IST say that this is a common occurrence and even had the process of "announcing a change the baggage belt" to delay the onslaught of delayed luggage filings.

Hope you guys can help!

PolandExpat

Sorry, I don't have good news. Thousands of travelers are being affected by IT problems with baggage. You can refer to this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ne-2014-a.html

botham

Sorry to hear of this and very worrying for you.

This happened to us in Houston and BA were fantastic. However, we were told on our flight that our bags may be lost! We assisted by BA groundstaff, given money to buy clothes and advised that if our bags didn't arrive the following day, we'd been given further compensation.

There must be someone at Istanbul airport representing BA. Maybe ask hotel concierge or cruiseline rep?

LTN Phobia

I think the "compensation" is something for lost baggage as opposed to delayed baggage. Currently your parents' bags are delayed rather than lost. Neverthless, and regardless of the cause (which has already been mentioned in the previous post in this thread), it's rather inconvenient for your parents and I'm sorry to hear about it.

Nowadays I carry one days' essentials (change of clothes, toiletries etc) for short haul and two days' for long haul in my cabin bag, but before that, when my bags were delayed if I really needed to buy something, I did so, but only the essentials for the next day and only up to the normal price of things I would pay and happy to foot the bill if the airline/insurance did not cover it. I have kept the receipts and sent the claim to the airline/insurance as applicable.

That way, for some technicality if I cannot have the items reimbursed, nothing is lost - they are just additional items that I would use anyway. However I have never had my claim rejected - the largest I have ever claimed for reimbursement was about £100 though, apart from a suitcase which I had to buy to continue the trip (my bag was delayed mid trip). I did get an agreement from BA to buy the suitcase beforehand as it was somewhat unusual to buy a whole new suitcase and I felt it may not be deemed essential for most circumstance, but in my case it was, so it was agreed after I explained the situation - without any quibble. All were settled promptly too. In case of doubt, it wasn't because I was a GGL. I was a BA Blue then (although Qantas OWE).

I assume your parents would have travel insurance, and they may have limits according to the period of delay, so it's worth checking that first.

I'd just go ahead and buy the essentials within reason (no more than 1 or 2 days' worth for now, although it's probably OK to buy a bit more since being on a cruise may make it a bit more difficult to access shops) and claim back the costs from the airline/insurance if I were your parents (it's really important that the receipts are kept, and also to keep it reasonable so that there are no grounds for rejection). One important tip is never to buy things that they wouldn't be happy with if they weren't reimbursed, so that there is no risk of disappointment, e.g. if they choose to buy 7 days' worth of items but they are reunited with the bag in 1 day, they need to be prepared to be allowed only one days' worth of items for reimbursement, although BA/insurance may well be more generous than that.

Hopefully the bags will be delivered before too long.

Keldin

As I understand it the accepted practice is to buy what you need one or 2 days at a time as you would normally expect your bags to catch up with you. Since they are about to embark on a 2 week cruise I would think that they may either not have the ability to go shopping if they are not going to be on land every day, the on board shop may not be suitable, they may not have enough local knowledge to shop when in port etc. In that case personally I would think it reasonable to buy several days worth of supplies before they leave and claim it back even if their luggage did eventually join them.

K

Prospero

What a terrible situation to be in - your parents must be distraught.

The only advice I can offer is to continue to check online using the World Tracer system (requires a baggage file reference number). The next flight out to IST leaves LHR at 17:50 today and if by that time the system is still showing "Tracing continues. Please check back later." assume the baggage has not been located in time to be loaded onto this evening’s flight.

As time is of the essence, I am sure your wise parents will be spending today shopping for the replacement luggage, clothes, toiletries etc - everything they’ll need for the fortnight ahead. File all receipts in a safe place. BA will reimburse the cost of the essentials and the travel insurer will reimburse the rest.

LTN Phobia

With all of my (BA and non-BA) delayed bags, World Tracer continued to show "Tracing continues" even after I was reunited with my bags.
I find the system to be very non-indicative of the true situation. I wouldn't want the OP's parents unduly alarmed when the bags may be actually on their way but the system doesn't say so.

With most cruises around the Med (on the assumption that this is a Med cruise), I'd say there will be a number of opportunities to shop as they usually have a sightseeing/free tour days, so it may not be necessary to buy everything they need for the fortnight.

As the insurance is rather good at not paying out, a caution is needed to avoid over-buying, assuming that they won't be at sea without going ashore for the whole of two weeks.

merrickdb

Article 22 of the Montreal Convention doesn't actually differentiate between delayed and lost baggage and, under the convention, your parents can purchase replacement items for up to 1,131 SDR (EUR1,280.86):

(The 1,000 SDR limit was increased to 1,131 in 2009. See U.S. Department of Transportation, Inflation Adjustments to Liability Limits Governed by the Montreal Convention Effective December 30, 2009, 74 F.R. 59017-18 (Nov. 16, 2009)

I'd try to be reasonable with it, but you can force BA to adhere to the Montreal Convention and purchasing items reasonable for the cruise seems entirely justified.

Swanhunter

There are some world class malls in Istanbul. Get the concierge in your parents hotel to recommend one nearby and ensure they get there ASAP. They will find plenty of familiar stores to shop so they can start sorting themselves out.

Given BA's historic performance when there are baggage issues they would be best advised that the bags won't arrive in time.

wrp96

For a cruise I would buy 3-4 days worth of items and then use the ship's laundry. At least then if the baggage doesn't make it to them they aren't wasting valuable port days looking for essentials.

LTN Phobia

Article 19 could be a limiting factor though as it was a HAL controlled system that was down that probably caused the baggage to be delayed?

Anyway, I suspect BA will be reasonable about it (as they have been in all of the cases that I had - I have never had them query anything, but I have only claimed the bare minimum). The first course of action is not to cite things like the Montreal Convention - that could end up sending the case to the lawyers which will probably delay processing of the claim rather than being useful. Another thing is it is "up to" - it doesn't mean whatever someone buys up to the limit will be reimbursed.

mike&co

This has been an informative thread. I'm heading on a cruise holiday on Wednesday, 2 nights in Rome (via BA) then 10 nights on the ship. I fell foul of a serious delay 5 years ago and missed one night in New York before our cruise. It pays to stay 2 nights pre cruise, that way there's a better chance of being reunited with your bags or connecting with the ship if there's any problems / delays. I'll certainly take some of the advice offered here and get the family to pack a couple of essentials in their hand baggage.

It must be a worry and hopefully they will still enjoy the cruise holiday whatever the outcome. I know some of the bigger ships e.g. RCI and Celebrity have clothing outlets on board so there's always the possibility of stocking up if and when required.

merrickdb

You may well be correct on that, unfortunately for the OP.

I definitely agree that you shouldn't cite the Montreal Convention as a first course of action with airlines, but many airlines pretend the Convention doesn't exist and try to stick to what they'd like to reimburse for lost or delayed baggage. I've had experiences where citing the Montreal Convention yielded coverage for replacement items in line with the Convention after the carrier initially insisted on providing only minimal reimbursement for replacement items required due to delayed baggage.

LTN Phobia

It's certainly a useful thing to deploy further down the line. I have never needed to do that though. My claims were thankfully paid in full promptly by airlines (including calls made to baggage services from the hotel).

Regardless, it's the inconvenience of delayed baggage. My husband has recently "fallen victim" to that from QF and I nearly did too but for the intervention of the gate agent, so I completely sympathise with those inconvenienced by it.

exitcontrol

Thanks guys for all your responses! Really appreciate it - I'm a bit of the lurker on the board and I know we've got some great guys/gals on here!

I've advised my parents to buy 3-4 days worth of clothes etc. and to check the maximums with their travel insurance (hopefully they have some good cover).

Interesting to know that the Baggage Tracker website has been known to still say "locating continues" even when the bag has been located and is on the way. I was hoping to use that and the flight schedule to give them some sort of ETA.

Thanks again for all your help!