Did you read the comment in it: "If your baggage is lost we make multiple attempts to contact the owner.. i think after 3 months if its not claimed then it goes into an "auction" where the employees at the airport bid on 1 cart of bags ( from 20 - 40 bags) avg price goes bout $700 - $1500 and 90% of the time the person who bought the cart set up makes $5000 +"

It certainly gives employees an incentive to not care about the safety of anyones bag. I don't know if that's just for this airport (Miama?) but I'd be shocked. It would provide a nice incentive for employees not to follow up contacting the owner correctly (or removing any id and claiming it had none). If anything, they should give them to charities to sell.

If I had it my way (which will never happen, but I can dream), I would make % lost baggage a factor in wage/bonus reviews as an incentive to improve the situation. What they have right now is an incentive to make the situation worse!

�WITHOUT PREJUDICE & ADMISSION OF LIABILITY�



Dear Dr. DTB,



Baggage Claim Reference: Blarrgh Blarrgh Blarrgh



On behalf of Emirates, please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience you experienced when you travelled with us.



Our records indicate that you had checked in 2 bags weighing 27Kgs at Bombay International Airport. On your arrival at Dubai International Airport, you have reported loss of 1 bag. Our records at Bombay International Airport has confirmed that your bag was loaded on board the same flight on which you travelled, i.e. EK501/03 September �10 which was a direct flight from BOMBAY to DUBAI and that bag was offloaded at the baggage reclaim area at Dubai International Airport (Terminal 3).



Due to the above explanation, we regret to inform you that Emirates will not be able to compensate you for this claim.





Yours sincerely,




Baggage Claims

Emirates Airlines, Dubai.

True about employee incentive, but also the way the system works, it is very difficult to ensure that something valuable reaches its rightful owner.

I was talking to an AF FA (in Bali, not on an AF flight thankfully) recently, and she was telling me how lost items need to go through so many people, the only sensible option is to pocket them. That includes stuff like duty free purchases of cosmetics and cigarettes, books, cameras even and such. Especially stuff where there's no identifiable owner, it's apparently likely to get pocketed by ground staff or the lost and found people.

Sounds very familiar to my situation earlier this year when Emirates spent almost a month trying to convince me that I never checked in any bags (also coincidentally from Mumbai) even though I had the claim tags in my hands!!! I got lucky that I was able to independently track down my bags but I doubt you will have the same good fortune.

I cannot think of any recourse at this point other than to get a lawyer serve them with a Montreal Convention claim in India (where the consumer protection laws will be in your favour compared to the UAE).