Darn, UA got me. I didn't carefully inspect our two bicycles when we returned from Europe last Tuesday night, and when I finally began reassembling my bike on Saturday, discovered a destroyed shift lever. It could have been much worse; as a bicycle retailer I see some pretty ugly stuff done by airlines!

So I look up damaged baggage on UA, follow the link which sends me to an email address, to which I send photos of the damage, info on the flights, all the usual stuff, and this is the relevant part of a long piece of unsigned boilerplate I get back-

If you are contacting us to report damaged property, please be advised that all damaged bags need to be assessed by the airport to determine the level of damage. The claim must be reported, in person, to the United Airlines Baggage Service Office at your nearest airport. Damage reports must be filed within 24 hours of receiving your bag for Domestic and 7 days for International travel.

So what luck have people had for such things? Is it worth the bother for me to go to the airport, with my bike, to deal with a $160 piece that's damaged? That's a big hassle if they're just going to tell me tough luck, you signed a waiver that said we can drop-kick your bike out of the plane and we're not responsible. And y'know, if not for the fact that they charged me $800 total to bring two bikes to and from Europe, I wouldn't even think about it.

Thanks-