sing-along

In September, my wife was traveling from YVR to YYZ. All the priority tagged bags did not make it onto the belt. The Baggage services person said all priority tagged bags were left in YVR. As mentioned by one of our AC Lurker friends, the container was taken to the wrong area on the ramp. My wife did get her bag 7.5 hours after arriving (delivered at 23h20). Details are below

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=739540


I tried to follow up for my wife the status of her bag and during the evening I found out that she was a SE, she was entitled to an immediate compensation of US$100. She was not told this, nor were the others filing claims.

She just flew back to/from YYZ last week and her bags arrived. However, I did call baggage services to find out what the entitlement is and am posting this for everyone's benefit. Compensation is provided when you arrive at your temporary address sans your baggage. (I'm sure all this is old news as we know how forthcoming AC is of compensation entitled to its most frequent fliers [SuperElites and Elites] and other other passengers)

• Super Elite and Elite Members
  
  Immediate compensation of US$100.00
  
  
• All other pax including Star Gold from other Star Carriers
  
  Immediate compensation of US$50.00 for the first 24 hours. A further compensation of US$50.00 after the second 48 hours.
  

propofol

Thanks for letting us know!

Sopwith

I would be much happier if they would keep the $100, use $33 of it to hire someone to find the bag and get it to me ASAP, use $33 of it to train the employees in how to not lose bags, and use the other $34 to train employees to put their minds in the place of the agrieved customer and react as if it was they who faced the prospect of attending an important meeting the next morning in jeans and a tee shirt.

Machdiamond

What Sopwith said. I personally would not go after those $100 unless I had to buy some clothes.
During the past two years I have dared to check bags only twice and, I am dead serious, both went missed (one made it in the next flight two hours later, the other reached me three days later).
So I have been experiencing a 100% failure rate over the past two years

The worst was a carry-on bag that I left in SkyCheck with a CRJ flight and, you guessed it, it didn't show up in the skycheck elevator in YYZ. I had to make a mad dash to the baggage belt, go back to security and make my connection just in time.

I think to play it safe I'll just Fedex everything and travel naked from now on

Stranger

I made the mistake of using the French post office, back in August. Still waiting for either my stuff, or some compensation. I filed a complain last time I was in France; waiting for them to resolve it.

So, YMMV.

energytogo

This is perhaps the MOST discriminatory policy by AC. Are E and SE worth more than regular pax. Yes, they fly more, but what if a pax needs their stuff for the next day, and AC fails not to deliver the checked luggage? I think if AC does fails to deliver, a general policy should apply, regardless of status.
I guarantee most E and SE travel on business, providing lucrative compensation through travel insurance. However, leisure and less-advanced travelers are pobably traveling with little insurance, if any. These are the pax who should be looked after.

Secondly, in dire situtations, I think one has to have common sense, and at least a heart to help. By the above policy as indictaed by the OT, "you make the rich richer, and the poor poorer". Shake my head.

getaround

Well if your bags are 2 plus days like mine have been several times this year that adds up top a few hundred bucks.

KVS

For the n-th time, the above is an optional on-the-spot payment that AC is under no legal obligation to make.

Frequent flyer status/cabin class are not factors that determine AC's liability, should a PAX file a real baggage-related claim:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...02&postcount=7

In fact, AC has one of the highest baggage loss/damage/delay liability limits for intra-Canada travel ($1 500 CAD). In contrast, WestJet's limit is just $250 CAD.

Simon

Please stay on-topic.

The topic of this thread is "This is your entitlement from AC" and related to baggage liability, not a discussion of AC's most profitable group of customers.

Simon

aiyapk

Kudos to AC for offering compensation to all pax.

Unless I've been continuously screwed by UA for the last two years, UA has never offered compensation (even as *G) for the multitude of times I've had delayed luggage. I don't even bother with the delayed baggage overnight kit anymore from UA.

acbagsmasher

So tell me how exactly you train someone to not lose a bag? We do our best to get the bags to where they are supposed to be, but not everything in the world works perfectly. The baggage scanner system could have sent your bag to the wrong area of the bag room, your tag could be unreadable, and by the time it gets to the airport paid employee, not Air Canada's, and he figures out where it is supposed to go and it arrives to the appropriate area, your flight has left. Human error is always a factor, and yes we make mistakes, but it is more often than not, not our fault. It is actually more of an aggravation for us if a bag misses it's flight, so we try our best to get them all on the right flight. As for the people who check in late, well, by the time we get your bag, chances are you flight is already loaded by the time we get it, It has to go through X-ray, and then through the entire scanner/sorting system, so please do not blame us for you checking in late, there is a reason they give you those recommended check in times. If you really want to be sure, pack it all in your carry on, then you know exactly where your stuff is.

1st Class Gekko

My advice is get a credit card with baggage delay insurance and stop asking AC to explain it's policies. SE's and E's are recognized for loyalty and get the perk but you can level playing field like I mentioned above and that's what matters in the end.

1st Class Gekko

The baggage check in time is an interesting item to looking in to. I'm curious how many bags are just checked in late that don't make it to the final destination on time?

If one was trying to profit on the baggage delay insurance (which I'm sure some do since it can be lucrative) it would seem easy for them to get it by checking the luggage in late on purpose since there is no clause in the coverage that mentions baggage needs to be checked in XXmins before departure time to be covered in the event it does not arrive. It seems like the onus is on the airline regardless of how late the customer checks in.

Simon

No doubt there are often times reasons.

However - please do tell how bags tagged as "priority" are left off a YYZ-LAS flight for load and balance/weight reasons, but the rest are left on?

Simon

Sopwith

What I think I'm hearing is that you agree with me that the system doesn't work and needs a major overhaul. QED.