Lufthansa is giving me the run around... can anyone help me? Are they breaking the Montreal Convention and is there anything I can do about it? Here's the situation:

My baggage was delayed by 4 out of the 5 days on my business trip to Russia (LAX-IAH-FRA-SVX). After filing out all the paperwork and speaking with several Lufthansa representatives on the phone, they told me that I would have to go and buy the clothes that I needed and that I would be reimbursed 100%.

I asked several times if they could give me guidelines or parameters for how this works and what the limits are for reimbursement. No Lufthansa representative could give me a clear answer. One representative literally told me, "well if you're there for meetings and you need a thousand dollar suit, then I guess you need a thousand dollar suit... just be sure to keep all your receipts for reimbursement." I was skeptical, so I pressed for more details from that representative and another, but I got no clarification. I was very sensitive to this lack of guidelines or parameters, because my budget is actually very tight and I did not want to put myself in a situation where I would not get reimbursed in the end.

Suffice it to say, this was an incredibly stressful experience. I had to push meetings and I had very little time to spare, but I had to spend it navigating a Russian shopping mall-- the last thing I needed to be doing. It certainly didn't help that all the clothes were 30% more expensive due to the fact that they're heavily taxed... so here's my bill going way up & I'm just hoping that I get reimbursed. However, after I did more digging the next day & I found out that LH's liability is limited to $1,766... I managed to keep it to $1,850 (since it was 3 degrees F, I also had to buy winter clothes).

When my bag finally did arrive 4 days later, it turned out that Lufthansa could not deliver it to my hotel because the Lufthansa office was closed at the airport. It would have been a 5 day delay had I not gotten the bag myself. I had to cut meetings short to do this and ended up spending 6 hours to get my bag; it was an incredible hassle and then I was delayed to my other meetings.

Furthermore, it was not just a matter of having no clothes or toiletries, but the delay resulted in additional financial damages. My bag contained the products that I could only sell to my clients during the first three days of my trip, so I'm out another chunk of change right there.

Article 26 of the Montreal Convention states that "any provision tending to relieve a carrier of liability or to fix a lower limit than that which is laid down in the Montreal Convention is null and void." As stated on both the LH website and the Montreal convention, their liability is 1,131 special drawing rights (or $1766). "Violations of the Montreal Convention constitute unfair or deceptive business practices and unfair methods of competition in violation of chapter 49 US.Code subchapter § 41712"

What the rep said is that they'll give me 100% of the reimbursement if I mail all of my clothes that I purchased with the original receipts to their HQ office in New York... (and then they'll be donated to charity). Really?! After busting my ... trying to navigate these shops on time that I didn't even have to spare, now you want me to send it all back? Is this the one clause that gets them out from having to stick to the Montreal Convention? Do I have any case, given that I was told just the opposite by LH reps when this first happened, and that they couldn't/wouldn't tell me this policy of 50% reimbursement for clothes? Maybe I would have reacted differently had the customer service rep apologized and offered some kind of good will gesture like a flight credit, but there was nothing of the sort.

I spoke to my credit card co. and they said they could try to dispute the charge of my flight since the quality of service was so poor and I did not receive what I paid for (a flight that got me to my destination with my luggage)... I just hope UA wouldn't also pull my EQM's, too, since I purchased the ticket from them (but flew on CO and LH metal).

Sorry for the long post... but any and all thoughts would be really helpful!!