flydrive

I’ve finally encountered the dreaded lengthy lost luggage situation. We had a complicated itinerary from the US to Amsterdam, arriving late on April 8th. Our 2 checked bags did not arrive. We were told at AMS that they were in the airport but as it was very late (23:20) there was no one to bring them to baggage. This struck me as odd but as we were very tired we did not press to get them then and there, which was our initial mistake. We were assured they would be ticketed for our next morning (9 April) departure to Tbilisi via Paris on AF on a separate ticket. In the morning we double checked in the lounge and were again assured they were loaded on our flight.

Only one bag arrived in TBS. Claim was filed for the missing bag. During our 3 days in TBS, I was in daily contact with the Flying Blue platinum line, who had no further information about the location of the missing bag. The trail goes cold after Amsterdam At no point have we been proactively contacted, and repeated calls to the baggage department at AMS or the TBS baggage contact go unanswered. I can only speak to Flying Blue, who repeatedly tell me they are not in baggage and it is not their area of expertise, It is speculated that the luggage tag must have been removed. We have filled out an inventory report, which was the last thing requested,

We have now left Tbilisi to tour Georgia and Armenia. It is unlikely the luggage, if found, will be able to catch up to us. The missing bag contains all the clothing of one of us. We have been told to keep receipts and we will be reimbursed for “reasonable” necessary purchases. What is reasonable for a 12 day trip that included trekking? We have already spent about 500 euros on basics.

Now what? Should I keep calling FB every day? That alone threatens to ruin the trip, with all the hold times, not to mention the phone charges from Georgia (even on Skype). Should we just wait to hear further? Can we continue to buy necessities as I understand that laundry costs are not reimbursable. I find the lack of support given in such a stressful situation quite amazing. I appreciate that this happens, but it seems that we have to do the continuous chasing and thus far there has been not one further piece of info in the last 5 days. Should we be trying another approach?

I am also concerned with what happens when/if the case is never found. I know that the statutory compensation by AF/KL is going to be much less than the value of the lost articles. I have reviewed my travel insurance, which seems to require providing receipts for lost or stolen property, which will clearly be impossible. So I’m not sure we will be able to recover from the insurer. Any suggestions on how to get back the replacement value of the lost items (which is basically clothing and footwear) also appreciated.

fifty_two

Hello

in such case the best thing to do is to update the worldtracer case as soon as possible with accurate informations about your temporary adress (where you will be during holidays) and your permanent adress (where to deliver luggage in case you are back from holidays)

Calling everyday wont really change anything , just ensure your phone is always on .. Same for pressure , it wont really help as those people usually dont have much power in their hands

In case of roaming , the best would be to get a local sim card to avoid fees and add this number in worldtracer (be careful with country codes)

The amount they will reimburse for temporary essential needs is not defined but it definitely wont be $500

Only advice i can give is to get ready for such cases when travelling (trust me even i forget this golden rule sometimes) and if you need anything urgently , buy it at destination as soon as possible rather than waiting for luggage to be delivered cause its a waste of time and energy

It is even trickier in case you are not staying at the city of destination (TBS) , or you have a super short trip

Now AF has 2 or 3 flights per week max to TBS , instead of 6 or 7 few weeks ago before war in ukraine , so for sure this case will last a bit longer than usual

If the luggage is not found after certain amount of time , i think 21 days , it will be declared as forever lost , and the montreal or warsaw convention will apply and you will be reimbursed for lost luggage based on the convention that apply in your case

flydrive

Thanks for your quick reply. We are moving around the region and do not have our accommodation fixed. I’d be happy at this point if it would be delivered to Yerevan for our return. I’ve told FB this. I don’t want the bag to be chasing us around and then us leave and it be here. Frankly I’ll be happy just to get it back. All details are in world tracer. There are code shares with Georgian Airways so it is not so difficult to get the bag to the region, once it is found.

I was going to get a local sim, but they have my number and didn’t want to complicate matters. Skype works when we have Wi-Fi. It just adds up with all the hold times, but you seem to be advising that calling does not help anyway. I sort of came to that conclusion now as well.

Re purchases, what is urgent? We can’t wear the same clothes for 12 days.

fifty_two

this need to be checked with delivery company , keep in mind yerevan is in a different country than TBS despite being close , it will just add extra time that you might not have if you trip is short

if not delivered to you during trip it will return to your permanent adress

It is a different topic as this is considered as cargo , not just a regular bag from pax , therefore AF needs to pay extra money to georgian airways

You mentionned the charges due to roaming , i just gave you an easy solution , as local sims are super cheap and easy to get in georgia

I dont know what you need for trekking neither how much items , but AF will not reimburse 500$ ... they usuall reimburse items like first life needs (clothes , cosmetic , drugs , etc .....) up to a certain amount

flydrive

Thanks again for your response. Yes, a SIM card is typically a good solution, but I could not get an e sim and it would have meant that my original number which is on all correspondence would not be available. Skype normally is fine but with lengthy hold times I’ve been incurring more costs than I expected. But really this is not the main point. It has been 5 days and they still have not located the luggage, let alone try to figure out how to get it to me. Realistically it will not reach me high up in-the Caucasus mountains. I don’t need cosmetics or drugs. I do need warm clothes that I can wear outside in sub zero temperatures. And a change of clothes or two. I would consider this essential and necessary. We will see what they think.

sehgalanuj

We had a similar experience a few years ago. Flew to Tromsø. The final leg was on WF but everything was KL ticketed. Due to a KL arrival delay in BGO, the bags on the BGO-TOS leg didn't make it. We knew they got to BGO since we had to clear customs with the bags.

To make matters worse the WF luggage desk in TOS had no idea where the bags were. We had no warm clothing in the peak of TOS winter, and to make matters worse had an early morning (4am) trip planned to see Orcas, which meant that getting soaked was all but guaranteed. All our warm clothes, waterproof gear, everything that we bought for this trip was in those bags. WF said that there was still one flight arriving late that night so our bags might make it with that flight. Otherwise, the next option was 10am-ish next day.

In any case, since we needed warm clothes we rushed to a mall and bough the cheapest possible items that were only absolutely necessary. This being Norway, the bill was over €800 for our family of 3 adults (since we needed to replace the waterproof warm gear too). I had zero expectation from WF to receive any compensation, and even lesser from KL since they didn't operate the last flight. But we kept the receipts. Our bags didn't make it that night.

I had placed in a call to the Platinum line while at the TOS airport that night, and KL did say that we should claim with WF since they were the last operator, but if they don't help that KL would try to. Well, WF denied the claim, as I expected. To my great surprise, I reached out to KL once we got home and informed them of the denied claim. They asked for the proof of denial, which we had by email as well. A few days later we got the entire €800 paid back by them, with lots of apologies in the email. So it is possible to get back a large sum, and they may even pay back your ~$500.

The key here was that we very carefully highlighted in our email to KL the items we bough, and the reason for each item that was bought. The invoice we attached had a few extra things we bought too (e.g., sweaters and thermals we liked), which we reduced from the overall bill. I believe proving to them that we tried our best to minimize the costs helped too. So try to keep the costs as low as possible, and start making a list of why you bought the specific items you bought. Don't go for fancy brands but rather the item that will get the job done. Of course, YMMV since I believe this was an exceptional circumstance in which KL helped out far above and beyond their normal duty, but it is not beyond the realm of possibility.