Well, I was finishing my vacations and returning to MAD from MEX on the route MEX-LHR-MAD on an AA award ticket. The first part was booked on BA and the second was booked on IB. The interesting thing is that off course, my bag didn´t make it to MAD. LHR, by the way, was a real mess. It has been almost 4 days since I arrived and two days ago IB sent me a message saying they had found my bag at LHR and that it was comming on the 5pm flight. The thing is that after not hearing from them I called again and they now told me that the bag never got to MAD and now they didn´t know where it was. The thing is, am I entitled to any compensation? I don´t have anything to wear and if I start buying things, will they pay for them? If they bag is never recovered, will I get any money back, as all my stuff was in it? What do I need to do. Another question, does Visa or Mastercard pay you for lost luggage if you bought an award ticket with its gold or platinum card?
Hope anyone can help me, as I really don´t know what to do.
Thanks in advance
Carlitos

There is no Oneworld baggage policy, it is up to the individual airline. The airline flying the last sector is responsible for the lost bag (even if it had nothing to do with losing it). In your case that is IB, so you must deal with IB about this.

The compensation policies vary by airline and by class flown (generally not by fare basis and award tickets are treated the same as revenue). I have no idea what IB policy is, but for BA they give cash compensation after 24 hours and for F and additional amount after 72 hours of lost bag time. The initial compensation also depends on the route, for trans-Atlantic it is about GBP 30 for Y and GBP 100 for J and F. IB is probably somewhat similar, so expect Euro 50 or 100 depending on class flown (unfortunately it is the class on your final sector, LHR-MAD, that matters, in case there is a difference; so if you flew F MEX-LHR and Y LHR-MAD then IB would pay you the Y compensation and not the F amount).

After 72 hours on most airlines you can apply for additional compensation. Some will pay you the complete loss amount (about USD 1500 in your case), others will pay another Euro 100. You don't have to repay these amounts if your bag eventually shows up, but they will be credited against any loss you might file subsequently. Good luck dealing with IB. As for private insurance that you might have through your credit card, that depends on the issuing bank (there are literally hundreds of different T&Cs). Some cards will insure you and pay you in your scenario, others do not. So you will have to phone the credit card issuer and report the loss (there may be a time limit for doing this, so best to do it soon).

I recommend keeping copies of all correspondence with airlines when reporting the loss. Read your insurance T&C very carefully. Make diary notes of phone calls to airlines where there may be no paperwork. Keep receipts for all "emergency" purchases.

Insurance companies are good a taking your money and even better at finding ways of avoiding giving it back.

Needless to say, at least you are with a major airline and language may not be the barrier that it could be in other parts of the world.

Thanks for your help guys. I just spoke for the 12th time with IB and they are saying that the bag was found the next day I arrived to MAD (Sept 3rd) and placed in an IB flight to MAD. The thing is it never made it to MAD and also they never heard from it again. At this moment they are telling me the bag isn´t lost but that I need to submit a list of my belongings with the estimated value of them, although this is just to look for the bag (yea sure, I even told them the bag had 4 different tags with my name including the AA elite one) because the airline tag could have fallen from my bag. So at this moment I am preparing a list in order to send it to IB. Hope they won´t want to solve the problem with a $300 euros voucher. But yes, they are telling me it isn´t lost even though they are asking me for a list of contents and their estimated price.

Well, will let you know about anything else that arises in my case. Thanks guys again!

Do some due diligence on airline policy before you fill out your/loss value form, particularly with regard to the need for receipts and items which may not be covered. Be thorough - international coverage may vary from place to place. IMO if you pay "all of the taxes and fees" with a credit card, then you paid for the ticket with that credit card and are eligible for insurance - same for vouchers, when you pay the difference. But there is some debate on the issue, and you may want to search FT for other information.

The baggage areas at LHR are an incredible sight ... literally mountains of lost bags piled up ... I say lost as the bags are just in a pyramid, clearly not being sorted or worked on for days at a time. Probably your bag is in such a pile. The detailed contents is irrelevant for compensation, the amount is based on the weight of the bag and is so much per kg, so I believe that IB is being honest with you in saying they are using the contents list to help to identify your suitcase. External tags do fall off -- this is why I also have 3 tags inside my suitcase, in various places (shoe pocket, cosmetics pocket).

Well, it is official, my bag was lost by BA and IB. As IB was the last carrier, BA blames IB and IB decided it was their fault but that now that the 21 day barrier just pass, I could claim something (they never specify) by only sending all my documents (list of contents with their aprox value was sent one week ago to IB by me) to a PO BOX, and could not complaint to anyone. They told me to send everything to that PO BOX and that I would get a letter stating what they decided my compensations was worth.
Can someone help me please?
How can I get the 1200 euros the Montreal treaty states as the maximum (they lost more than that, as everything I had in my bag was worth more). Can I talk to the bank with which i bought the ticket (credit card) even though it was an award ticket?
The ticket was issued by American Airlines as it was a One World ticket involving AA on the outbound and BA and IB on the inbound, is it worth to talk to AA customer service and complaint about their partners?
Has anyone ever been in my same circumstance? How did IB compensated you?
Any info as of what to do or how to complaint to IB will be apreciated.
Thanks in advance FT people.

I am not really sure why you insist on "complaining" in advance (IB hasn't denied your claim yet).

You you should just file a claim with IB (in writing) and send copies to AA (which issued your ticket), and BA. If IB refuses to pay, you would then be able to claim from AA/BA.

My fear is that as you can´t comunicate with them, they will just send me a check for $300 euros and then there will be no place to complaint. People here have said that complianing to Iberia is imposible and that they had to fight for a year and send a letter to the CEO in order to be heard. The thing is I am realy realy pissed off by this airline and the way they handle things. With that kind of customer service, now I know why they are loosing customers.

IB can be extremely generous with their compensation if they feel the circumstances warrant it, often paying far more than their legal obligation. While IB is very frustrating and difficult to deal with, they do seem to ultimately try to do the right thing and be fair ... just there is a bureaucratic morass that you must go through. For example, IB paid me USD 150 meal allowance during an involuntary reroute (the hotel could not believe it, they had never seen any airline authorize more than USD 60 in that circumstance); of course it was impossible to spend on a meal, so it was a symbolic gesture (and IB wound up paying circa USD 50). My point is that IB offered it to me unsolicited, because they felt the circumstances merited it (IB was at fault in various ways). I thought it was a quixotic gesture. It hasn't changed my opinion of IB as being inept, incompetent and frustrating to deal with, but they are trying to do better. So your job is to give them a chance, and cause to do better. Given the language problems, I think having written correspondence is actually something that works to your advantage (even more so if it can be in Spanish as well as English).