Quick question on lost luggage
 

A friend of mine flew out of CVG into Houston on sunday 12/11. Somehow, his luggage ended up on an AA flight in EWR. It is now almost thursday morning and there are no indications when he will receive his luggage nor can it be verifired where it is. Does anyone have any advice on how we can receive any type of compensation for this event? He does not have elite status with Continental or any airline for that matter. I told him he should at least be able to get a free round trip voucher out of the deal. Any advice would be appreciated as I am now that familar with their policy.

Thanks.

Where'd you get the free RT idea from?

They need to pay for incidental items if he's away from home, and a percentage of replacement clothing (the theory being that he'll get to keep the clothing after use). That's really all that he's entitled to unless it's a total loss and they can't find the stuff.

As far as getting other compensation, I would call or write Customer Care after the issue is closed. That's because the case gets worse with every day that passes, so you don't want to write about a 3-day delay when it may be longer, and you could score more compensation.

I'd also check what credit card your friend bought the ticket with. With Amex they insure for lost baggage and will reimburse replacement expenses if the baggage is lost or delayed.

Don't wait to call. Assuming you are elite CO will comp you $250 max for incidentals and clothing if your luggage is missing for 5 days. I had this happen in ANC. Sadly, we had to spend more than that to re-outfit ourselves for our back-country trip. But the luggage did show up eventually.

But you should get your claim number at the airport and then get on the elite line and choose the baggage services option and start pressing that you are expecting to have your incidentals compensated so that they note it in your record. In our case getting the check from CO was smooth sailing; just a couple weeks to get it processed once we got home. But we benefitted from having the baggage services folks note our records appropriately.