perthtraveller

Hi all

I am in desperate need of some expert FT advice. An amazing 10 week holiday was soured by the news on arrival into Perth that my one piece of checked luggage cannot be traced by the system and is possibly lost.

My flights were as follows:

1. BCN-ALG - 14 Aug - Air Algerie - AH2013 - Y (purchased ticket)
2. ALG-DOH - 14 Aug - Qatar - QR1380 - J (redeemed as part of CX Oneworld Multi-Carrier Award)
3. DOH-PER - 15 Aug - Qatar - QR900 - J (redeemed as part of CX Oneworld Multi-Carrier Award)

The situation is this:

1. 14 Aug 0820 - Arrived at Air Algerie counter. Check in ladies could not figure out if I needed a visa even though I was transitting in ALG. They called over the supervisor who refused to look at my Cathay Pacific e-Ticket on my iPhone indicating my onward QR flights to PER as his vision was apparently poor.
2. 14 Aug 0830 - Ran over to QR counter and obtained paper boarding passes for upcoming flights
3. 14 Aug 0840 - Returned to Air Algerie check in counter where supervisor was waiting with check in counter ladies. He confirmed that I did not require a visa. Check in ladies had issues entering PER onto the system generated bag tag so a MANUAL bag tag with number IB705888 was attached to my bag. I obtained the carbon copy receipt for the bag tag. They confirmed that the bag was checked through to PER (bag tag indicated this also).
4. 14 Aug 0920 - Supervisor comes onto the plane and tells me in a hurry that my bag was going through to Doha. I said "then to Perth" and he hurriedly said yes.
5. 15 Aug 2100 - Arrive into Perth and no bag can be found. Lodge a missing bag with TollDnata (baggage handlers on behalf of QR). TollDnata reps attempt to search for bag using manual bag tag number IB705888. The number on the system relates to someone elses name and a completely different bag description. I receive A$150 business class compensation as per QR lost baggage policy and was told to call in following days to check up on bag. Was told bag is likely to show up and will be delivered.
6. 16 Aug 0900 - Called TollDnata and was told there has been no response from any of the airports. I asked them to speak to the Air Algerie supervisor as I believe he would best know what happened to the bag. TollDnata said they could only send a telex as they do not contact via phone. Another check of the bag tag number and it is revealed that the other person's bag associated with my bag tag number was also lost but was on a Finnair flight TO BCN. At this point there were 200 bags currently logged as sitting in Doha unclaimed. TollDnata said most of the bags were like mine (Black Samsonite soft case) and would take time to check if one is mine.

Travel insurance:
Complimentary through my AMEX Australia Platinum Charge card. Maximum of $30,000 for lost or stolen goods. I have read the policy and I have should have no issues claiming on this policy.

Questions I have:

1. What should I be doing here whilst I am waiting for the tracing process to complete?
2. Should I be personally contacting the airlines or is the reporting of the lost bag through the baggage handlers sufficient?
3. The Air Algerie supervisor is most likely to know what happened to the bag. Should I try and contact him personally?
4. How could there be two bags with the same bag tag number? What are the possible circumstances here?
5. Why did the supervisor come onto the plane specifically to tell me the bags were going through to Doha? Is it possible that Air Algerie passed my bag to QR for delivery through to Doha? I had a long layover in Algers so I am not sure why they would do this.
6. Who is responsible for searching for the bag? Air Algerie, Qatar or Cathay Pacific?
7. Who is liable in the event the bag is lost?
8. How much compensation can I get from the liable airline?
9. How do I go about claiming against my complimentary travel insurance policy provided through my AMEX Platinum Charge card issued in Australia?
10. Do I have to wait for the claims process against the airline to be finalised before claiming via AMEX?
11. Is there anything I need to watch out for in terms of the claims process against the airline and/or AMEX?
12. My lost bag contained a police report for my stolen wallet, cash, credit cards etc. I need this for a separate AMEX travel claim. Has this ever happened to anyone? What should I do here and will I be able to make a claim?

This is very cynical of me but the Air Algerie supervisor was definitely not a nice guy and very unhelpful. I had time to get my tax refund stamps but he demanded I go to the gate. Is it possible he had stolen my bag based on the circumstances described above?

HELP FTers! I know I am likely to get the value of my goods back but I’d rather get my bag back after 10 weeks of collecting goodies for family and friends!

DreamTrip

I have never been so stressed reading a post. You are a mess. Good luck!

perthtraveller

Sorry. The post is a reflection of my current stress levels!

N1Rotate

perthtraveller,

If I understand correctly you have two separate tickets, is that correct?

I have very limited knowledge on lost baggage policies as I have not had issues with it but here are some thoughts:

1. If you travel on two tickets, then you have two separate contracts and conditions of carriage.

2. The baggage tag number you have is an Iberia number. Maybe they used an Iberia manual tag but have hand written in another number, do you see a AH XXXXXX number in there somewhere?

3. My guess is that Air Algerie probably didn't properly check you bag through, and the issues they had checking your luggage through using the DCS probably meant that they didn't create a proper record for your bag.

I would actually consider it lucky that QR has issued compensation as technically they didn't accept your luggage and the baggage tag you have refers to someone else.

Grogg

I wouldn't be surprised at a nasty combination of incompetence and negligence. Incompetence on Air Algeria screwing up the bag check only through to Doha and negligence at QR in Doha as most things that go wrong in Doha (where your bag probably is as I type) go into a black hole and usually stay there I'm afraid as they have a very rudimentary understanding of the concepts of customer service.

Havoc10G

Sounds like this is the fault of air Algeria and the supervisor ( and if you think gulf airlines have poor customer service then good luck with these guys!) might be worth calling him but he probably will deny all knowledge of it . Also keep the pressure on QR as they have responded to you with some compensation and updates so they will probably keep looking for it.

I hope it turns up!

orbitmic

Does the manual bag tag (worrying in its own right already!) not say what flights the receipt was for?

Assuming the tagging was correctly for the full itinerary BCN-ALG-DOH-PER:

- in case of missing bags, your intelocutor is always the airline who should have transported your bag on the last segment - in this case QR. Don't contact anyone else or you will just be further messing up any sense of ownership and responsibility.

- The problem is that from what you say, you might have been given the wrong manual tag receipt. Maybe ask them to check the next and/or previous sequence number in case the luggage handlers may have simply filled in the wrong receipt.

- For next time, you should remember that when luggage is through checked for an itinerary involving multiple airlines (and particularly so on separate tickets), you should always go to the ticket counter or transfer desk or gate at the departure airport of your next airline to have the tag receipt rescanned. While luggages are rarely completely lost, not doing so is an almost certain way to have it not loaded onto your plane and arriving without your bag.

- You can claim from your insurance now. As to how, I'm not sure how we would know, just call them or call Amex and they will tell you. The insurance company will be more reactive and more generous than the airlines.

- Police report: I would think that you should be able to obtain a copy (or at least confirmation) of your report by contacting the police station where you made it but have no direct experience of that so this is merely what I would personally try to do in your case.

Guy Betsy

What possessed you to connect through ALG ??

cundall

Might be best to call the baggage handlers at ALG.... (as it's going to be quicker as i don't think they will have the same volume as DOH)

I had to do this before when i flew from MNL to HKG and PAL said they would transfer my bag onto my connecting flight to LHR (with FlyOasis)..... Sadly the two airlines did not have an agreement together so my bag got stuck in HKG and then my airline (FlyOasis) went bust... oh the joy...

I got my bag back by contacting the baggage handlers directly and they located my bag and i got it flown back with CX....

orbitmic

If I were to venture a wild guess, fare I think many people get lured by the very cheap fares ex-ALG and CAI but sadly, horror stories are not unusual with those itineraries.

SQPPS

Am in the same boat here with an AT/QR connection in CMN. The bottom line is the only two places i have ever had bags stolen are in Morocco and Algeria. So just chill out and go shopping. Make your claim now and get your receipts together. Your bags have been stolen or are in QR black hole in Doha.