uniqueflyer

I have searched this forum for similar postings but only found praise towards LH on when it comes to lost luggage.

Back in April, one of my 40lb bags got lost on a flight from SFO to FRA. It was never found; late April I filed a property irregularity report with LH. On my original property irregularity report I listed all my belongings in the bag (mostly clothes) and the total value came up to $1700.00. After a month of additional search the bag was declared missing and my case was transferred to Customer Relations.

After my case was transferred to Customer Relations I got a letter from them asking for all original receipts to match the content of the missing luggage.
I did not have any receipts so I answered them that I don't have any receipts and would like them to process my case asap because it was about 5 months since they lost it.

Today, I got a letter from LH Customer with a check for $200.00 (!) saying since you don't have any receipts this is all we will reimburse you for and now your case is closed.

I am very upset because $1700.00 (+-) was what my stuff was worth and I feel like this is a direct spit in my face. I don't have any status with LH but i have status with DL. I've flown with LH before but this has never happened. But I still feel that this is very unfair and just don't know what to do.

Do I have any options on contacting them back and getting back what they owe me for losing it ? I could go and buy everything that I listed on the property irregularity report and mail them the receipts then? I don't know if this would help though.

Does any one have any suggestions and what should I do? I�m very upset.

Thanks for the help
Mike

Nachtswerg

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/hspr-H102; Blazer/4.3) 16;320x320)

I thought that $200 is pretty much SOP for lost bags. I know that this doesn't help you, but don't feel that you're being targetted.

SmilingBoy

The dates of the receipts will be after your flight!

SmilingBoy.

uniqueflyer

UA has lost my bag about 2 years ago and it was a nightmare. But they were good about it and I've gotten $1100 as the reimbursement for it. I thought all airlines where liable and had to pay for the stuff they lose.

Threy

uniqueflyer, a warm welcome to FT and the wonderful world of Lufthansa Customer Relations. For international travel between the US and Germany operated by Lufthansa, the Montreal Convention applies, so LH`s liability is limited to 1000 SDR, approximately $ 1300.

LH offered you $ 5 per pound, which is quite ridicolous, but you have to consider the upcoming negotiations as a game between yourself and LH and LH knows all the dirty tricks. At this point, LH threw the glove and you have to pick it up.

Official EU regulations can be found here: EC 889/2002

http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/...889%2F2002)%22

uniqueflyer

Yes, they would be after the flight . But it would be of the similar value of what was lost by them. But I don't know if they will believe it since I could technically claim anything.

uniqueflyer

Thank you for your response. And you would advise me to write a letter saying that they should do better than this? Provide the print out of the EU regulations and ask to follow through? PM me if necessary. Thanks.

dogood

I am new to this forum but a similar thing happened to me with LH and I too was looking for a thread about this. My bags were delayed in South America and when I received them, many things were stolen from one of the bags. I immediately contacted the local office in SA but didn't get much help there.

When I got back to the U.S., I wrote to Customer Relations and got a letter saying they needed receipts. When I called and told them I didn't have receipts, they told me to write another letter stating this, which I did. I got another letter saying they could do nothing for me and now I'm very upset because I lost all of my business clothes (was at a conference) worth about $3000!

Does anyone have any ideas about who else to contact or what to do? Is it possible to take them to small claims court?

Threy

Indeed I would write a letter pointing out that you claimed a value of 1700, but that you are well aware that they are limited to appr. � 1300 and that you do not consider the $ 200 a serious offer to close the file, but rather a first small advance payment

You will let them know that you know the rules of the game and that their compensation is well below a serious amount.

Even at the Warsaw Convention in 1929, compensation was set at roughly $ 9 per pound.

As pointed out earlier, they will use every trick there is, will tell you that is all they can do and all they are obliged to and so on and on.

uniqueflyer

Thanks for the advise, I will write that letter. Do you think I should address it to the same guy who managed my case or anyone else? Maybe his supervisor? But I wouldn't know the name of the supervisor...Any other techniques to use to make sure I get reimbursed?

weero

Not in my posts though .
I had a similar issue with destroyed luggage on LH - they would not reimbures
me for a reasonable value of the items that got quenched.
I went to the stores I had the luggage and some parts from and took pictures
of the items with price tags - that was enought for LH Germany to reimburse me
for the damages to a significantly larger degree.
So they obviously need something to hold on to ...

Flying Lawyer

One OT remark: I believe the headline should not be "LH lost my bag..." but "My bag got lost when...." Allthough the carrier is legally responsible for the bag it is hard to imagine that actually the airline looses the bag.

Responsibility for 99 perc. of the handling process rests with the airport. Airline staff checks the bag in and they can do nothing else but to put the right labels on it. After that, the bag is handled by airport staff. I believe there are only very "rare" occasions that the bag actually got lost during the flight itself (never saw a bag getting parachuted out of a plane during a flight). Having said this I understand why the airlines are reluctant with the claims. They try to get the monies back from the Airport and have to do everything to mitigate damages. But this for sure should not free the carrier from statutory rights (but never expect more).

LH_Fan

Yes, I'm sure they do, including for the reason given by FlyingLawyer in the post above. They simply need to make sure(r) that they are not being taken to the cleaners over this. Produce some sort of paper trail - a list of your items, maybe a statement from somebody other than yourself (e.g., your wife) that the list is in fact correct -, then obtain some evidence regarding the value of these items (various ways have been mentioned in this thread). Don't forget to include the approximate age of the items (LH will rightly adjust your claim based on the age of your items). Your credibility might suffer if you travelled with all-new items only !

OT: I wonder what happens with the Montreal convention limits in the cases of last week where the pax was FORCED to check in more valuable luggage (i.e., their PC/mobile/mp3/blackberry) and then the luggage was lost?! The convention was surely not entered into with a scenarion like this in mind. Let's hope pragmatism will prevail - if not, we'll see some interesting court decisions in the next five years!

weero

They of course stay in place. And not only that because pax actually do breach
the contract of carriage of LH - in the sense that electrinic items in the hold
are never covered - there is no liability to be expected at all.
Pax are to be blamed for Scotland Yard terror rumours so to say.