Qantas Loses J-Class Luggage Twice
 

Completed my latest RTW in CAI, starting another DONE04 there last month. (Both 20-segment paper tickets).
QF very disappointing. 4/21/09 I flew QF AKL-SYD-ADL-PER. No luggage upon arrival in PER, and I was just overnighting there before flying to Europe. My luggage was available at the aiport the following morning 4/22/09, and I was able to change clothes in the bathroom before rechecking for PER-MEL-LHR-CAI.
Upon arrival in CAI, my luggage was again lost. You can imagine all the travel with limited clothing options & toiletries. Fortunately, I had packed a change of underwear & T-shirt in my carry-on. Ran around CAI my only full day there in the same clothes I had been in for > 30-hours. Luggage delivered to my hotel room at 1-am, just a few hours before my wake-up call for trip to CAI airport for my new RTW.
All segments were QF except the final LHR-CAI on BA.
I have filed complaint with QF & BA via email, but heard nothing yet except automated response. Ah, the annoyances sometimes.
Do you think QF/BA will offer some "bone"??? Miles or something?
As an aside, QF miles had not appeared on my AA statement after 30 days, & so I had to email mileage request forms; the miles appeared very quickly in my account after filing the request.

I would expect they should offer you something although I suspect it's most likely going to be vouchers which will need to be spent on QF flights or duty free.

Do remember before leaving the baggage services desk that you should always ask for cash or form to allow you to claim back emergency clothes etc from the airline.

In your case it actually sounds like QF messed up once and BA then messed up too when transferring your luggage onto your CAI bound BA service. With that in mind, I suspect you will have to contact BA re the CAI baggage and QF for the Australia/NZ baggage issue. BA will probably offer compensation similar to QF although generally airlines like receipts.

I do hope you had travel insurance as this should cover you in just these types of situations. I had a recent trip on LX where my luggage missed my transfer and my insurance allowed me to purchase emergency clothes etc which made life much better.

You will usually be able to get some cash compensation from QF and BA if you have receipts to substantiate your claim.
But it might not be the airlines fault at all. Maybe there was something in your bag which promoted Australian baggage screening to divert your bag for a special check. You also have a few transfers which always increases the chances of bags not making it. Especially if your connections were short (less than 2-3 hours).

I am surprised actually how quick QF got the bags to you. When my bags went missing with other airlines in the past it usually took days before they arrived and not just hours.

QF will meet reasonable costs incurred due to the delay in luggage but that is all

If you have travel insurance, that probably has coverage for delayed luggage; my annual policy pays up to $125 for each 6 hours luggage delay for purchases of clothes etc up to a max of $500 at 24 hours


Dave

Orginal Poster Responds
 

Thanks for the comments.
BA responded very quickly. I had no receipts in CAI, and told them I spent perhaps $US10-15.00 on toiletries & a T-shirt in the bazaar. They are sending me $50.00 which I thought was very generous.
With regard to QF, I have heard nothing from them in nearly a month, other than the automatically generated email.

You may want to give Customer Relations a call in Sydney. Qantas have only lost (later delayed as it was eventually found) my luggage once in literally hundreds of trips with them over the the years, on my return to MEL from a domestic trip. I sent a letter to customers relations, and received a call from a lady in Customer Relations in about 10 days. This lady gave me her direct phone line, and looked after my claim. But you will only get reimbursement, as Dave has suggested. But they don't usually aggravate your claim through non-responsiveness, so I suggest you give them a call and ask about the progress of your claim.