theultimateflyer

Hi all,

Recently flew from YVR to LIN with a mix of AA and BA (routing YVR-DFW-LHR-LIN, all BA except first leg). Checked-in my ski bag at YVR and it didn’t pop-out on the other end at LIN. I filed a missing baggage claim, and 36 hours later it still hasn’t been located.

Later today I’m planning to go on a brief weekend skiing trip in Switzerland, if my skis don’t arrive by then would I expect BA to reimburse me for the cost of ski rental until my skis are located and delivered to me? I read in past threads that this used to be the case but want to make sure it still is.

in addition I was wondering how much longer I should wait before getting worried about whether the luggage will in fact be found? If they are not, what should I expect from BA? I remember in the past when my luggage was delayed it was usually found soon after the claim was made. Through the AA bag tracker I know that the luggage made it as far as DFW and was handed over to BA for the flight to Heathrow, so I am suspecting they’re in LHR but unsure.

thanks,
TUF

SWISSBOBBY

If you are still wanting to ski then you have no option to but to hire or buy new.

I would definitely hire and send the bill to BA.

Last year I had my bike go missing between GVA and GLA.
The issue was I had to fly the next day to YUL, the BA website on the bagage tracker on the face of it was no help at all, but I found a button which gave a lot more detail. I can not remember where.
Hope it gets sorted out
SB
(by the way where in CH are you skiing)

orbitmic

Travel insurance will cover this if you have it. Ba will probably reimburse costs up to a certain amount that will depend on your class of travel and baec status. Somewhere between £100-200 would likely be fine, more will start depending on circumstances.

corporate-wage-slave

As you spotted, BA have certainly in past covered ski hire. My hunch is that they would pay, and swiftly, so long as it was reasonable and covered by receipts.

As is the case in similar areas, the real test is "what would you do if it was 100% down to your own pocket?". If the skiing was an integral reason for the trip - which it must have been for you to take the skis - would you find a cost effective way to hire some skis for all or part of your trip even if reluctantly you had to pay for it? My sense is that you would do that but naturally keep costs down. At that point the question then pivots to "actually, shouldn't BA pick up the cost of that?" and there is various aspects to consumer protection and customer relations which say yes to this. Insurance is also there for peace of mind / non airline related issues that could also lead to you ski-less in Switzerland, e.g. theft from a hire car.

As for how long to wait, well if it just misses a connection it's often immediately put on the next flight, the baggage handlers won't need to be told what to do next. If (as I suspect here) it's due to improper handling between AA and BA then it can take much longer, for example a week, since it falls down a responsibility hole at that point, unfortunately. Usually it is processed at when the data and people are all lined up.

Dave Noble

Unless it is a domestic flight, BA is liable under the Montreal Convention for lost/delayed luggage and that extends to, iirc, XDR1133 which is approximately GBP1197

Which is nothing less than it is obligated to do

orbitmic

It's a bit more complicated than that though. That is the maximum liability indeed, it doesn't mean that the moment your luggage is delayed by a few hours, you can spend £1200 and the airline has to reimburse, not with BA and not with any other airline that I know. Certainly if your luggage is lost, the airline would have to pay you up to that sum, but for delays, all airlines I can think of have limits as to what they will refund as "reasonable expenses" until a checked in suitcase is recovered.

theultimateflyer

Thanks for all the swift replies, and glad to hear that everyone seems to agree that BA should and will likely pay. I will obviously try to keep costs to a minimum and gave BA my hotel so if they manage to deliver skis halfway through I’ll be able to get them right away.

will be skiing in Zermatt for those asking.

cheees,
TUF

tuonopepper

Situations like this I normally send them a direct message on Twitter, they've always said yes and then I have a it in writing.

Dave Noble

If skis are not delivered and skis are needed , then the hire of skis is a perfectly reasonable purchase - Fortunately BA does not get to decide what its liability is, but the regulation does and the liability for delay and loss are the same

theultimateflyer

Good idea, I sent them a message just to be safe.

mikeyfly

My boss went to France in June and followed Tour de France - his bike and accessories didn't arrive!! He spent about £200 on hire and a pair of shoes for the first couple of days and these were refunded easily without question. I assume similar in the case of skis etc

orbitmic

Nobody is suggesting that the airline has the right to define its own liability. The point is that the airline is responsible for the "damage" resulting from the delay. Off the top of my mind, courts typically interpret that as meaning that the damage corresponds to reasonable, actual and verifiable expenses which are directly incidental to the loss of the bag up to the amount you mention which is specifically the maximum liability and not an automatic right.

So for instance, in this case, there is indeed no doubt that if skis have been checked in and are delayed the airline will reimburse the rental cost for the missing period, but that again will be a fairly low amount - in most stations, you'll probably get the skis and shoes together for about £30-40 and that would include the shoes which may not be part of what the OP checked in.

You are absolutely right that the airline cannot fix their own liability below the ceilings specified by UM99. For instance, it would be illegal for an airline to say "I won't pay more than £100/day". If a passenger can demonstrate that an expense, higher than that, was reasonable, actual, verifiable, and incidental, the airline would not have a leg to stand on. For instance, this would easily be the case if the airline has not delivered the luggage containing a person's wedding dress and she is marrying that day, or if the person is off on the cruise and they have to buy black tie attire due to the dress code on the boat, etc.

Again, however, it doesn't mean that any expense up to the MC99 limit is necessarily reasonable if it does not correspond to an actual damage, and the reason why I'm insisting is not to be pedantic but because I think that your statement above could be misread by people as suggesting that as long as they send the airline a bill for up to £1200 for a delayed bag, the airline will have to pay. That would not be accurate.

For instance, specifically, if the OP or someone in a similar situation saw this and decided that he/she is going on a shopping spree in Milan to buy a new pair of top of the range skis for £1200 after theirs have been delayed for 24 hours and that the airline will have to pay, they will be in for a disappointment and any airline that I can think of will refuse considering that this is not a reasonable incidental expense. Instead, they will probably offer a small participation that would be sufficiently above the cost of ski rental for the period that occurred before the passenger was reunited with his/her skis (assuming no damage) to be deemed a reasonable evaluation of the damage caused by the delayed bag. The airline would have no hesitation to leave the passenger settling the rest of his/her own bill and go to Court if they are unhappy.

Incidentally, since you mention UM99, it is important to remind people that art 19 exonerates the airline if it can prove that it has taken all measures that could reasonably be required to avoid the damage and/or that it would have been impossible for them to avoid it. Thus, in cases where the bag delivery delay actually happens not as a result of handling issues but due to circumstances outside of the airline's control (and its contracted agents) there may not be any liability at all.

GlasgowCyclops

Golden rue is, if it was someone else then would you think they are taking the piss.

EG skis delayed? Hire some in resort and claim. Seems fair.

Skis delayed: Go buy some Kaestle FX95HP and Atomic rester Slalom skis (I'm tempting fate here for my trip in 18 days). That is taking the piss. :-)

So go hire and claim back.

SWISSBOBBY

might see you there

SB

munchthepow

I found this thread when my snowboard bag (with all my gear in it) was delayed 4 weeks ago and followed the advice on it. With Feb half-term holidays around the corner and plenty of ski bags involved I thought I'd update with recent experience. Wishing all your bags arrive as expected, noting most do!

LHR - GVA on a friday evening for 4 days skiing. The bags were out very quickly, including half the ski bags but not all. I was already prepared for this (airtag indicated the bad news) so reported it to DNATA and headed to the resort. DNATA said they would contact me when they had the bag and were transferring it to the courier. I checked worldtracer and BA numerous times over the evening and, despite airtag showing the bag had made its way to GVA on a later flight, both said the bag was still being traced.

I called DNATA Sat morning and got a recorded message saying it was impossible to say when my bag would be delivered and then managed to speak to a person who said it "should be delivered over the weekend but can not say when". I bought ski trousers, thermals, socks, gloves and goggles and rented boots, helmet and snowboard and went skiing. Went for middle of the range gear (as mine is) and the total cost was about £630. I go regularly so was happy to pay this if I ended up stuck with the bill. Got a call from a courier about 1300 on Saturday saying he was an hour away from my hotel in Morzine with my bag, So, an expensive half day skiing!

Sent the receipts in to BA when I got home and got confirmation a week later that they would pay the full amount and transfer to my bank account (money hasn't arrived yet though). I'm BAEC Gold (shouldn't matter) but they had clearly looked at my travel as they wished me a good trip to Zurich next month in their reply.

Happy travels
MTP