FlyerTalk Evangelist and Ambassador: The British Airways Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
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Too late for the OP, but just a reminder that this is exactly the sort of case where travel insurance would have saved a lot of aggravation. Even if none is taken ahead of the trip, it is always possible to declare a value for the item at check in and pay for the bag to be insured to the actual value of its contents. Hopefully this will help someone else in due time.