Dave Noble

The Saudia site is great for looking at eticket information for many airlines not just Saudia

Athough your ticket was issued by KE for travel on HA and EK, the Saudia site may well provide the ticket information

Indeed

sandergerard

Will do, thank you.

sandergerard

Dave Noble

Looking at the ticket details

You are entitled to 2 pieces of luggage the whole way and any excess should have been per piece ( which was charged albeit slightly incorrectly by HA )

I cannot see any grounds for EK to be charging any additional excess fees for the journey undertaken ( other than potentially the $200 underpayment )

Looking at EK's own excess baggage fees would be for that journey ( should EK be trying to charge its rates ) would be 7 * $175 = $1225
( 1st 2 bags free plus 7 extra bags at $175 per bag )

Given, however, EK's allowance / fees are not applicable since it is KE's allowances and fees that apply , there is no grounds that I see for EK to be trying to charge $1225 other than perhaps the system not showing that you have already paid the fees

The only possibility I can see is that looking at the KE excess baggage rates, it does not have a rate listed for USA-Europe/Middle East
Asia – America $200 per piece ( after 2 free included )
Between Asia and Europe/Middle East/Africa/South West Pacific $130 for 1st piece and $200 for each extra ( 1 free included )

I would suggest trying to explain to EK that you have paid excess fees already

Do be aware of course , that you will be liable for excess fees when you return to USA

sandergerard

I applied for a job here so I wont be bring my bags back to Hawaii. Thank you for you help and advice. Do you think I could get financial compensation for not having my baggage almost 2 weeks now? This would be to give EK an incentive to give me back my baggage sooner than later. I have written a complaint to the DOT.

Dave Noble

I am not sure what the best way to approach it is since it is a strange situation

I would perhaps try and get in writing, a breakdown of how it has come up with the excess fees to see what its justification is

The only justification that I can see that EK may have is that the excess fees you paid only covered US-Asia and that the Asia-Middle East fees were not paid ( KE does not have listed US-Middle East in excess fees )

If the justification is simply that excess fees had not been paid at all, hopefully the receipt for payment in HNL will help

Either way, it is easier to respond if the justification for the charge is clearly described

If you can get EK to agree that it was wrong in its demands for money, then I would expect that EK would compensate for costs for buying things that were needed because of it

Hopefully the DOT may be able to help

sandergerard

Hay thanks! they finally agreed to release the baggage. However, they are not admitting fault.

This is what they say:

Hawaiian Airlines is solely responsible for the error and we would recommend that you take up any further claims with Hawaiian Airlines. It is regrettable that both yourself, and Emirates, has been impacted by Hawaiian’s actions, and we have sought an official letter of apology.

I still believe that Emirates has approached the situation wrongly, inaccurately and inconsistently. Its now three weeks that I have not received my luggage. I have lost opportunities to present my work. Who do I approach for compensation?

Dave Noble

It's good to hear that you got your luggage back. Did EK say what the error was?

It is possible that the underlying problem was with HA ( e.g. not providing details of excess payment to EK ) or just that EK was in the wrong but isn't wanting to admit it

If you are looking for compensation , I think you will need to start by actually getting to the bottom of the issue, since if you were to claim compensation against HA, I expect that without something to substantiate the claim, it will tell you to go away.

If the airlines are unwilling to divulge reasoning, since the journey originated in the US, it might be worth writing a letter to DOT clearly stating what happened and how no airline is prepared to explain what screwed up and see if it has a chance of gettinng to the bottom of it

flyerCO

In general you are not entitled to any compensation for "lost work opportunities". Under the contract of carriage and International Treaties (Warsaw Convention and Montreal Protocol) you are limited in what you can claim for delayed luggage. The contract of carriage I'm certain doesn't allow compensation for lost opportunities.

ACARS

EK never admit they are wrong.

Dave Noble

Which is why taking it to DOT may be worthwhile. Since it started in USA, worth writing a letter there methinks