Hi,

My wife travelled on AI from Bangalore - Delhi - Chicago - Minneapolis on March 7th. The last leg from ORD to Minneapolis was American Airlines.

At ORD, one of her 2 checked-in bags from Bangalore was found missing. When she contacted the Air India counter, she was taken to the AA counter and advised to report to the AA counter at the final destination, which is Minnepolis. The AA personnel there agreed.

We filed a report at the AA counter in MSP and have been waiting for the last 4 days, but the baggage has not been located yet according to AA baggage claim center. Also, I've been trying to contact AI, but seem to have not way to get thru to them.

I've tried calling all their ORD numbers and it reaches voicemail that is never answered. The AI website has a form that is submitted, but no tracking number is generated. I've also tried emailing them.

Is there a way I can reach AI ?
What might have happened to the baggage and what should I do ?

All my wives US shopping of new clothes, woollens, shoes/accessories and also her medical reports are in the bag Pls HELP !! Thanks.

Sorry I can't help, but she should have got AI to file a report at ORD. This is a fault of AI. AA had nothing to do with it.

No, its the responsibility of the last carrier that is supposed to transport the luggage (whether or not you have to clear customs at some intermediate point).

The OP will have to deal with AA at Minneapolis.

But AA never received the bag?

that's true....a report should have been filed with ai at the airport when the bag didn't arrive....

having said that, in the foreseeable future are you going to be in any city that has an ai office????

We were told the last carrier could only file a report.

I've a friend in Chicago who could visit the airport to follow up with AI...Would that help ?

definitely....just make sure he has a copy of the baggage tags or claim report....

What happens if another passenger takes a bag by mistake ?

There seems to be a similar red bag lying at ORD, which is not ours but very similar !

That actually happened to me at SIN. The other person came by later and returned mine.

What if the other person connects to another flight and realizes only on reaching home...Can they return it to the airport...And is there a chance they would still be able to trace my bag from whatever airport he connected to ?

Am losing hope as its been 5 days now ..The bag was worth 1200-1500 $ atleast and had my wife's medical reports.

I had a similar situation with SQ / Delta (India - SIN - JFK on SQ, JFK - JAX on DL). Luggage did not arrive in JFK. SQ advised me to file a report with Delta in JAX. I got my luggage 10 days later. Don't lose hope! Follow up with AA twice a day...

I had the same issue with an AI-NW connection about 10 years ago flying BOM-DEL-LHR-ORD-MSP-ATL. The bag never showed up in ORD and I filed a claim with NW in Atlanta.

Three months later, after NW had already settled the claim, the bag showed up with United baggage services in Sao Paolo, Brazil. How it got there we don't know but I wound up with the bag and the compensation.

Bags show up when you least expect them. Bottom line is that AI cannot and will not assist you. You must pursue any compensation and tracking with AA (yes, even if they never received the bag in the first place).

Is the b/c of relevant laws, or are you advising that due to incompetence of AI?

AI will rightly tell you that they are not responsible (even though they lost the bags) because they are not the last transporting carrier.

Is this an AI rule or IATA one?