Originally Posted by
alpen1
Long story short, they arrived three days later and upon receipt of our bags noticed that one (brand new bag, first trip) had they outside pocket ripped open and zipper broken, and inside someone had taken mini bottles of rum, a full size bottle of rum (yes we were still within duty free allowances), a razor, my MSR pack towel, ripped open birthday card envelopes but not touched wrapped presents (we believe looking for cash), and a couple other small bits and bobs. They'd also taken all of our clothes etc. in the bags and messed it up as much as seemingly possible which leads us to believe it wasn't customs, at least I've never seen customs so disrespectful as to trash your things.
Now the issues becomes how do we deal with this? Trip insurance to replace everything is easy enough but I want blood...
everything that was taken or damaged was for family or friends we haven't seen in years and is now gone. Because we didn't receive our bags at the airport we can't even file a claim with AA as far as I know. Looking for any insight before I go rip the head off some ungrateful, ignorant little thief.
grow up and get a life. "you've never seen customs so disrespectful as.." you see customs often? you're going to be reimbursed. if you have never been luggage inconvenienced before, you have not traveled much. i do not know the number, but i presume luggage failure is over 1 in 10,000, i get "inconvenienced about 1 in 20, due to the routes i fly.
as to your bag, go to marshalls and buy discount bags.
as to "rip soneone's head off" i recommend you go for the wife or the dog, otherwise, you can get in serious trouble. if this post is traced, you man end up on the no fly list. when one travels, one is vulnerable. take the precautions you can, but expect problems.