msian56

Hi All, I've just flown AUH-LHR in J class last night and was surprised to see my baggage delayed. Contacted their ground staff and was given a £39 immediate cash compensation. Am not sure whether this is their normal rate albeit being told so. I'm a Gold member too.

Was told they will courier my bag to my home address (London) asap. Anyone else had delayed baggage with Etihad before and have been compensated?

Am asking this because I was once compensated by Lufthansa at Cairo for a delayed bag for $200 a few years back. Was travelling economy class too.

irishguy28

As you are at home, the need for compensation doesn't arise to the same extent as when you are on the road. It's different when you are away from home, without access to all the rest of your belongings, and where airlines will either issue you a nominal amount up front for the purchase of essentials (toiletries, change of clothes, etc) or else reimburse these after the fact. The purchase of such essentials is, however, not necessary when you are at home.

Valuables, medication, car/house keys, etc, should never be put in checked luggage. You should always have the essentials either on your person or in your carry-on. The savvy traveller knows that luggage will, eventually, be delayed, or worse, lost, but this can be mitigated by packing sensibly.

I'm surprised that they gave you cash - £39 is quite an arbitrary and unusual amount. But I wonder why you suspect that this is not their standard amount. Did you expect more? (I, frankly, would not have expected anything). You say the ground staff immediately gave you the compensation, though I suspect it was not actually in the form of cash, and if not, then I doubt the ground staff there have the ability/discretion to "vary" the amount.

I certainly wouldn't expect anything more, unless your baggage is delayed for several days. It's never happened to me with Etihad, but it has, several times, with Air France/KLM. Other than couriering my bags to me several days after my arrival, the only thing I ever got was a €25 voucher attached to the bag when it arrived.

eddibabyyeah

I had 3 cases delayed by over 24 hours auh-man. I did not receive any compensation. I was not expecting any either.

I was on a economy ticket and I was silver at the time.

msian56

Thanks for sharing your experience. I should've made it clear that I've received a receipt with a handwritten £39 on it by the agent at the counter - I guess this is why I'm asking. I've cashed in the receipt at the Travelex immediately after customs at T4. Having said that it has been 3 days already yet with no concrete reply from Etihad. The agent (which is a general lost baggage agency at T4) at the counter did give me a lost baggage tag number which I've keyed in their website only to find out it's not even in the system. Tried calling the agent but after 12minutes on hold I've decided to call Etihad London office to enquire. They've yet to locate my bag. I guess I need to keep calling..

msian56

Thanks for sharing. It seems I'm very lucky to receive something. Though I very much prefer having my bags with me rather than getting cash.

MAZ199

Once they delayed my bag from AUH-ICN but they delivered it in 24h to my hotel with no issues. I was given a cash compensation of about $45, I used it for dinner that night

I'm Gold and was flying economy.

msian56

Received my bags after 10 days! Received a call from Etihad baggage acknowledging that my bag was on its way to LHR again. Delivered to my home after 3 days from the phone call. Bags were delivered by a LHR baggage agent to my home just after midnight.

No further compensation or email, but they did apologise through the phone call and at least I got my bags back with the content still in there.

sicklyman

if I were you, I'd have already drafted a complaint letter requesting compensation for that. Polite, but firm...

Often1

What exactly does OP need to be compensated for. Perhaps it is GBP 0 and perhaps it is GBP 500. Isn't that really a function of the damage he has suffered?

The original GBP 39 seems more than was necessary has OP was at home. While traveling, this would pay for immediate necessities (although I cannot imagine that in this day and age of generous cabin baggage allowances, people do not pack what they need in that).

If OP has something concrete to which he can point, he should send in a request for that. "Demands" and the like are generally met with a lauigh or a cut & paste denial.

sicklyman

erm... well when I buy an air ticket, I expect that some of it will go on providing me with baggage within... oooh, say, a week of me arriving at my destination, let alone 10 days.

Glad you're not too fussy

I really didn't think when I wrote that. I shouldn't have used the loaded word 'compensation'. All companies appreciate feedback to improve their services. I've never yet regretted sending a letter simply describing the inconvenience caused and letting them know how they have responded to it. I haven't regretted it because, almost without fail, it usually results in some form of benefit being offered. But, different strokes and all that...

Smoozy

420253/KULEY22738.Our baggage was lost at ABU whilst travelling LHR to KUL. Went on wildlife tour into rainforest the next day so we had to buy clothing, essentials and specialist gear for 4 day tour. Luggage arrived after we commenced tour. Registered loss at KUL 12/1/16, have given full receipts and explanation by 28/1/16 and ever since have just got a few emails saying they are dealing with it and passing buck between their various offices. Also abused by a member of staff at ABU. Absolute shambolic administration. Great shame as the Business flights particularly on the A380 were superb. However the overall experience is a negative one so I suppose its back to British Airways for us in future-for all their faults they are reliable and staff on the ball

gmoule

I had 10000 miles for a baggage delay last may after complaining and it was only delayed by 6 hours in bangkok

mirandaK

never got miles for delayed baggage but if you request at the airport you usually receive an envelope with 30$ or so in local currency. Thats just for your first days necessities.

HarryKUK

Baggage delayed by about 24 hours in Hanoi, put in a claim within ten days, now it has been 4 months and we keep getting told it is being dealt with by various offices. No one actually gives an answer other than how it is being dealt with and we should be patient. Twitter team said the same. The standard line is 'we will ask your case officer to update you as soon as possible' but no one ever updates me.

Will this ever get resolved? Any way to speed it up?

A340_600

I had my bag violently opened and stuff stolen once on BOM-AUH-SEZ (Oct 2015). Only noticed once at hotel in SEZ, so I had to file the claim online.
Went fairly quickly until the point when I had submitted everything. Then silence, silence, and again silence eventhough I had inquired for updates and follow ups about one a month. Over four months after the incident I wrote a not so nice post on their facebook wall, which triggered some movement finally.

Another 10 days later or so I got a reply that they couldn't compensate me because they generally don't compensate normal wear tear
After I then wrote down the whole story again they asked me to send in receipts of my stolen shirts (!)...
Luckily I still had them as I only bought them shortly before the trip, still I found that fairly ridiculous.
At least in the end I got 100€ for the stolen stuff, I had asked for 160 cause my bag zipper got damaged as well, but no way of getting that. Oh well, at least managed to get something.

So all: Don't give up, it might take a few months, and if after that you express your dissatisfaction especially when you've got some status with them they should eventually compensate you...