inpd

Maybe is a German or European thing?

See my experience in the Air Berlin forum. 2 weeks to find my bags and they had never left the origin airport!

I agree with the OP. Most carriers are very helpful when handling lost luggage. They'll try their best.

weero

Wait until they DO respond ... for a recalibration what 'insulting' means ...

htb

Since Air China is the carrier for the last leg, who would be responsible for paying expenses? Air China certainly is your local point of contact, but I wonder who will pay for expenses?

From my own experience I know that Air China is pretty much hopeless. When my Samsonite got a bit damaged during a trip, their only offer was either approx. 10 Euros, or the exchange of my Samsonite suitcase with a unspecified no-name model. I took the 10 Euros.

HTB.

Concerto

Blimey! All these places you mention were major time off limits to me when I was little in Hong Kong, we could only look across the border from Lok Ma Chau at the rice fields that have now been turned into an incredible city. As I was interested in maps, I used to speculate as to what a place like Shekou was like. We're talking the early 70s here. And how it has changed, really not for the better.

Good luck getting your bags back, that is really annoying. It is essential to pack some underwear and a washbag into hand baggage, as well as never check any musical scores when travelling on complex itineraries!

moondog

I am currently based in Shekou, and have to say that --soulless or not-- it is the most comfortable place I've lived in China, including HK. From what I've heard, it was pretty damn cool in the early 80s though (many claim that this tiny peninsula was the very first neighborhood in China to "open up" upon Deng Xiaoping's request -- the Chinese wanted foreigners to help them drill oil in the S. China Sea).

Concerto

Really interesting. We used to stand on a hill by Fanling (where there used to be a railway siding) and look at the railway tracks disappearing into the distance through the rice fields towards Lo Wu and the hills far behind, which looked like something out of a Chinese painting. Need I ment what it looks like now?

As for baggage, it's a while since I've had something get lost. I am still using a clapped out old bag that has got good karma! The day I forget to pack essentials aside, or begin using a brand new bag, it will probably get lost. This Summer I flew GVA-AMS-PEK-HKG and then on the way back HKG-PEK-AMS-STR with my tatty old bag without a single problem (except that I mistakenly reclaimed the bag off the belt at PEK to transfer it myself). China Southern seemed pretty good in all respects. Yes, that's whom I've abandoned Lufthansa for: China Southern! And I was surprised by the quality of the experience.

danielonn

Allianz is also a good insurance which I believe is underwritten by American Express. Another good resource is insuremytrip.com where you can get quotes from multiple sources and purchase the one that meets your needs.

If you have a premium credit card be advised that their deductables can be different from getting a stand alone third party plan. CSA is also another good one.

I would not purchase the insurance suggested at the time of purchase when buying your ticket online without researching it beforehand. A lot of those just give an airline a kickback or Expedia a kickback. You could do better by going to insuremytrip and enter in the variables such as the total cost of trip, length and travelers.

If you are a frequent flier you can look into annual insurances that cover you up to 365 days a year.

I'm not an insurance broker but am knowledgeable on how to get the best insurance possible only you can make that decision.

Remember for pre-existing conditions you need to purchase insurance right after making final payment or a deposit for cruises/tours. Be sure you know which company covers pre-existing conditions in advance a cancel for any reason policy for loss of job etc.

I would do your research way before paying for your trip so you can purchase it right away with no problems. I would call around and ask questions about situations that are worse than you think could happen for instance

"What if I get sick and need to be evacuated to a hospital?". "What If I was diagnosed with a disease such as Ebola? Etc. You want to hear good answers as well as make sure they have a 24 hour call center for all emergencies and that the claim process is easy.

I wish you the best of luck.

YuropFlyer

Yes, but there are cases where (if only CAN or HKG are available) CAN would be a better choice than HKG, even if the final destination is in Shenzhen itself.

Often, CAN has much cheaper fares than HKG - if C is like 1000€ cheaper to CAN than to HKG, you can hire a proper car RT to your final destination without any hassle, no need to get sea sick (or immigrate into HKG and then out of it again) etc.

So, ruling out CAN totally is definitely not the smartest choice. Often HKG will be better if you go for Shenzhen (and their airport not being a possibility) but there will be cases where CAN is offering a better overall solution.

kevinsac

How the heck do you all manage so many lost bags?

Maybe I do not fly as much as you two ... and I fly mainly (but not exclusively) US and Europe .... I hit 100,000 miles a year for at least each of the last 15 years. I have had about 10-12 delays with suitcases in the last 30 years and only 2 losses. One bag was lost in January 1989 (try finding a rental tuxedo in Washington DC during Inauguration week!!! ) and one in Sept 2007 (coming out of Italy).

oliver2002

weero checks his work instruments, I travel with family. Connect via a UA hub, and baggage loss is pretty much a given P2P LH rarely looses my luggage.

TRAVELSIG

I fly 6-10 times per year in or out of CAN and while can cite better airports it's not bad at all if you need to be in or around Guangzhou.

midnightio

A short update. After 13 days of waiting on a reply/acknowledgement from Lufthansa, I received the correspondence below! At this point I am unsure what the airline will do exactly for the lost/delayed luggage compensation and items I had to purchase, along with the taxi far back and forth to Shenzhen airport, and finally compensation for destroying one suitcase.

Thanks for all of the comments. More updates to follow.

On behalf of Lufthansa please accept our apologies for the delayed delivery of your luggage and for all inconveniences related to that.
Please kindly provide the receipts of you r expenses in scanned form as we didn’t get them through LH.com. Please, add some comments what items you were forced to buy while You didn’t have Your luggage with.

After receiving your documents and You bank account number LH will check your claim for compensation and get back to you as soon as possible
with the compensation offer .

htb

They will probably pay all the taxi expenses and your underwear. They will offer to reimburse 50% of all other clothes if you want to keep them.

I think there was a thread somewhere where someone explained that LH will have to pay a large fine (in the US) if they continue to offer to reimburse only 50% -- maybe you can find that thread.

HTB.

weero

I don't fly that much ... but for work I always fly with 2 to 4 bags ... easy to pile up losses this way.

LH is my loss leader but UA is quickly catching up with losses this year alone.
Interesting ...as this is exactly what US carriers do ..... LH always offered me 0% so for ...

kanor

And if you normalize it by the number of checked bags and connections? (roughly)