Originally Posted by
scrapperluv
Hi all, I was flying with my kids from LA to Nashville for the Thanksgiving. I was in the aisle seat and the flight attendant reached over my laptop (open on the tray table) and spilled Dr. Pepper all over the keyboard. He was trying to hand it to my son who in the window seat. I immediately turned it upside-down & turned it off, then asked him for an incident report. He refused to document the incident and told me to speak with the luggage office at the airport when we landed. I did speak with them but they wouldn't give me any documentation and told me to call customer relations the next day.
I went home and emailed customer service, then called customer relations the next day. Customer relations said customer service had my case already and they wouldn't discuss it. A week later, I received this
Thank you for your email in regard to your recent experience traveling to Nashville. I welcome the opportunity to respond to your concerns.
We are sorry to learn that your laptop was damaged onboard Flight
#5802 on November 25. While I certainly understand how disappointing this is for you, it is important to note that carryon luggage is the sole responsibility of the Customer, and we do not provide reimbursement for damage to/loss of carryon items.
While we are unable to respond favorably to your request for reimbursement, if you have other resources, such as homeowners’ insurance, you might check to see if compensation is available to you by this means. Still, retaining your future patronage is very important to us. As a gesture of goodwill, we’ve Southwest LUV Voucher in the amount of $225.84, which is equivalent to your one-way fare. This will arrive in a separate email within the next 10 days and instructions for use will be detailed on the voucher. Our hope is that you will use this to return for a better, more typical Southwest experience.
We appreciate your loyalty, and we are confident that more favorable circumstances will prevail on future travels with Southwest Airlines. We look forward to welcoming you onboard again on December 23.
Sincerely,
(redacted by nsx)
This is unacceptable. My laptop was a Macbook Air and only 14 months old and now it won't function. I have an attorney I'm using for another issue at this time and she recommended filing in small claims court, then updating her if I need help. I don't know if it's worth paying for her advice at this point, but I will if it'll help. Is it worth filing in small claims court and the hassle? I've been reading that Southwest is terrible about covering damage they've caused and even counter-sue for attorney's fee, etc. Would love some advice. Thanks!
Let me ask a question if a Barista or customer poured coffee at a Starbucks or other coffee sop and ruined your laptop do you think Starbucks would be responsible to replace or fix your laptop? Remember you are using your laptop at your own risk and while they accidentally spilled a soft drink on your laptop unless you can prove elegance then I am afraid your only hope would be your homeowners insurance or accidental insurance.
When you use your electronics in public do you reasonably expect that the business will be responsible for replacing your item?
Now a hotel with a Bell Hop who on purpose placed a heavy item on top of your laptop it can go one of two ways the hotel sees this as negligence and compensates you or says "I am sorry but you put your laptop backpack on the cart on your own cognizance and we are not responsible.
Southwest was right to deny your claim as carry on luggage is your responsibility. What if a passenger dropped your laptop case from the overhead bin and it broke the screen? Or a flight attendant?.
Judge Judy would agree that having insurance is important and Southwest did a gesture of Goodwill by giving you a $225 voucher which they were not obligated to do.
Also this is why I do not purchase expensive Mac laptops. No one forced you to buy a Macbook Air that is expensive to repair. Best Buy and I am sure Apple Care has Accidental Insurance Warranty which I would purchase and that would have been my first call then I would have called Southwest with the cost to repair the damage and let them take it from there.
Without the cost of repair Southwest has nothing to reimburse you for. You could report the incident and then follow up with a repair cost invoice. Southwest could then still deny it, decide to pay 1/2 or the full amount after the investigation which can take a long time.
But now you need a working laptop so be it that you buy a new one or have a backup less expensive laptop that you travel with then buy an HP Spectre or HP Envy X360.
This is the reason for insurance. But with insurance is premiums. Do you want to even use a high premium insurance on a $3,000 laptop? I will pay it out of pocket up until the premium amount and use insurance on very expensive items to replace.