CZAMFlyer

Ugh. That is entirely unimaginative thinking.

The whole point of contacting the airline directly - and elevating the issue if dissatisfied - is to avoid the time & expense of a lawsuit. Addressing a grievance with lawyers should not be the first option.

I feel we're going in circles. It's your assumption there is no insurance in place. And I ask again what insurance would have done to solve the immediate problem of not having poles in advance of a vaulting competition?

Do they? Their travel is provided by the team on charter or team-owned airplanes/buses, and their equipment is handled solely by team trainers. I fear a great deal of 'facts' are being conjured on the spot.

These are unlikely to arrive at a destination separately from their owner.

skywardhunter

The fact one can insure a loss, doesn't make the loss occurring any more acceptable. Yo

longtimeflyin

It's not that expensive to sue someone but that is beside the point. I would encourage some perspective on this inconsequential issue in the grand scheme of life.

canadiancow

Because the final delivering carrier is responsible for checked bags. That was not AC.

On this forum, it's AC's fault if you connect LH to AC, and it's AC's fault if you connect AC to LH. And it's AC's fault if you're ticketed on AC but entirely operated by LH. It's always AC's fault, regardless of who caused the issue or who is legally responsible.

ffsim

Does she get no sympathy because she's showing off her abs? Or because she posts pics in dresses? Or because only ⅓ of her posts are related to her profession?

Does the number of followers matter? Where's the threshold? If Roger Federer was traveling on AC to the Rogers cup in YUL or YYZ and his rackets showed up broken, would he still have no sympathy despite his 4.9MM followers? Or because his sponsorship by Wilson can pay for new rackets?

An inconsequential issue being discussed on an inconsequential frequent flyer board. How cute. I didn't realize we were supposed to discuss the higher meaning of life on FlyerTalk.

Amazing how these are just two examples of how well this board is able to blame, dismiss or marginalize victims. Shame on us.

longtimeflyin

Indeed.

ffsim

This is exactly the type of discussion that should exist on this board ^

As I said above, it's nice to see AC take ownership of this situation. Even if it's not their responsibility, they got called out and responded in a very positive manner from a PR point of view. Bravo.

beachmouse

Nike sponsors Newman because she is one of the ten best women in the world for what she does- #7 world ranking last year; #6 ranking on the current 2018 lists. When you're doing the kind of training to vault at that level, the nice abs are going to happen as a result. Nike also tends to be pretty tough with the outcome-based funding part of the sponsorship contract, and there are likely nice incentives tied to every high Diamond League 2018 result.

jazzsax

1) People have referenced the missing poles, the loss of income, etc. All items insurance can cover. Many pro athletes put in place disability insurance in case of injury, to cover lost wages, loss of use insurance (injury, gear, income), you name it.
2) Yes, it's more common than you think. Particularly if you make a living doing a sport, you can bet most of these folks have managers and coverage in place. And if they don't, well... they should get a good manager. :P
3) Sure the boobs might have been pushing it... but again, you're all just harping on AC (when it could have been LH's fault), and basically saying the vaulter shouldn't take any blame for being unprepared.

Let's put it this way. If you're a professional, particular one in the top 10, or near the top of your game, you probably (if you have any smarts) plan for things like this.

Do you mean to tell me that this was the only set of poles she owned and she travelled with them? That's called putting all your eggs in one basket.

If we're talking high five figure, low six figure earnings just for competing in a sport, not including sponsorships and everything else, that she didn't own a backup set of poles?

Insurance or not... that's just a dumb move. If she had a backup set (ie secondary set just like the first) back home in case of an emergency, don't you think she could have had these fedex'ed if neccessary? Sure, it doesn't change the fact that the originals got damaged, but then instead of crying on social media about it ---- she could have had a plan in place to mitigate disaster.

It's like having multiple flight options but deciding that you want to take the red-eye on friday evening of a long weekend.... and then being upset you got bumped because the flight was oversold and you booked the cheapest possible fare. Stuff happens. Plan for contingencies just in case.

How many pga pros only have 1 set of clubs? I would be shocked if that was the case for the majority. They probably have multiple, with a primary touring set they use (and if something happened could deal with a backup set if neccessary).

Sorry, I will consistently disagree with you on this. Especially now that it's been pointed out she was a top 10 athlete. Could have been more prepared.

Glad to see AC did something even though it wasn't their responsibility.

CZAMFlyer

Actually, I was harping on your post, for the leaps to conclusions and for shaming the complainant. I believe I was the first to surmise that AC may not have been the responsible carrier.
Not many people could nor would follow your advice to plan to the level of redundancy that you imply. We can never reduce the risk of unplanned adversity to zero.

yyznomad

Oh, so AC doesn't fly to DOH. Doh!

yytleisure

If I’m paying someone to transport my stuff I’ll be darned if I’m going to increase my insurance premiums due to a carriers negligence

Has anyone considered that the gear was collected at an intermediate stop after an AC flight? Or it was otherwise discovered before arriving in Doha? The fact they immediately compensated speaks volumes given their usual denials. I guess I forgot it is standard procedure to immediately fill threads with sarcastic AC cheerleading. Or quote rules that may or not have any bearing and act like there’s no possible alternative.

Our tax dollars are surely at least partly funding this. It’s not such a great idea to throw them at lawyers for frivolous lawsuits. But the lawyers may disagree

beachmouse

I read down a couple of twitter threads, and it sounds like the poles were secured in a correct and appropriate case for transit, and the damage was described as looking like the case got run over with a forklift (maybe run over by a baggage train?) because the poles were snapped in the same location on every pole relative to the end of the case.

airbus320

My exact thoughts...... shipping cases exist that adequately protect the contents,,,, unless force majeure happens in the form of a heavy vehicle that crushes the shipping case.

CZAMFlyer

From the London Free Press article linked within the initial post: