Originally Posted by
MichielR
On one occasion, KL gave me a new 'trolley' case from their inventory at AMS. On another one, when they had mishandled the 'new' one, I initially refused to do what they asked, i.e. to send my case to Samsonite and wait 6 weeks for a quote, so they then asked me to send them the invoice for what we both agreed was a reasonable amount. I guess having status and a filed report helps.
Status does indeed helps a lot. The safe bet is to ask AF/KL which "tienda" is handling their broken suitcase in BCN, go there, ask them a quote and send the whole thing to AF asking for reimbursement. You´ll have then a proof if they agree or not.
Amex, depends on the wild variety of their cards, may reimburse a difference in cost if you choose a better model (my green Spanish Amex reimburses up to 300€ difference but the model has to be similar to the old one, the oversight is provided by the airlines´ chosen boutique which anyway is also a business which like to upsell!
). Keep all communication and receipts. Beware I had to send the unique receipt to both airline AND Amex, I then asked the boutique to handwrite an explanation on a receipt with the difference between what the airline pays and what the insurance will bear.