smattiso

Qatar airlines lost my baggage with about $2500 USD worth of stuff in it. They have offered me $150 for "the delay". It has been 50 days. I cannot get them to admit the bag is lost and pay me under the montreal convention. There is no phone number to connect to, as the only way to get a hold of baggage is over chat. The chat people essentially tell me to F off. I have sent an email to their customer service email making my Montreal Convention claim known, but again ignored.

Essentially there is no way to force Qatar to do anything. There is nobody to get a hold of.

I am a US citizen. I flew from IAD to HAN (Dulles to Hanoi via Doha) on January 17th 2024. They lost my bag. I filed a complaint right away at the Hanoi airport so at least there is proof that I did not receive my bag.

The bag is gone. It has been 50 days. The only thing they have offered me is $150 for the baggage delay. After 21 days they are supposed to claim the bag lost and reimburse me (up to the cap). There is no way to get this process started with Qatar airways. I am at a loss of what to do other than initiating a small claims suit against them which takes ages.

Anybody have recommendations? I have blasted them on Twitter, Facebook, etc and still nothing.

flyerCO

Contact US DOT. Otherwise will need to get a lawyer involved. Have you escalated to QR Corporate CS? (Or are you still dealing with bag department? )

guv1976

Is it really necessary to have two threads dealing with the same issue?

How to file a Montreal Convention lost baggage claim with Qatar?

tangey

At 50 days, I'd be getting travel insurance involved too, depending on how well it covers the situation, but it might be tough it QR isn't giving you confirmation the bag is lost.

smattiso

Do you have a contact for QR Corporate CS?

Unfortunately I did not have travel insurance for this flight as it was booked for govt travel.

KingCanute

My understanding is that you need to submit a claim detailing what was in the bag and the current value of each item (including the bag itself). You can then state you are making a claim to the value of X under the terms of the relevant clause of the Montreal Convention. They aren’t going to just hand over a cheque for the cash equivalent of the maximum SDRs without all that.

I would send that through this portal in the first instance:

https://www.qatarairways.com/en-th/help/contact-us.html

Select "Complaint", related to "Baggage services"

Be calm, detail only the facts, include any previous correspondence, flight and bag tag numbers etc, along with your itemised claim. And give them a reasonable deadline by which to respond (a fixed date, say 28 days later). Bear in the mind that the person reading your message won't know anything about it, won't be responsible for what has happened so far, will have to undertake internal checks, and will then just be assessing the eligibility for a claim based on the facts. So try not to be emotional or critical, those won't help.

If they do not respond you basically have 3 practical options - chase them again, or refer it to one of the many online claims companies (who will take a percentage of any settlement), or make a claim via the DOT in the US. Trying to launch a legal action in Qatar will be an expensive futility, probably costing more than you have lost.

Good luck!

plunet

Agree with KingCanute , if that doesn't solicit a response give that evidence to your travel insurance and claim for the lost bags from them citing that they can go after Qatar on your behalf.

smattiso

I've already made an itemized claim. I did it at the airport when I landed. My only recourse is small claims court at this point. Does anybody know how to find Qatar's registered agent in Washington state? That's where I'm based.

KingCanute

You made a fully itemised and costed claim with supporting receipts etc under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention as soon as your bag was (at that point) delayed?

I would suggest that you may need to submit a more formal claim, as detailed prevoiusly. The US DoT says this:

"Once your bag is declared (permanently) lost, you will have to submit a claim. This usually means you have to fill out a second, more detailed form. Check on this; failure to complete the second form when required could delay your claim. Missing the deadline for filing it could invalidate your claim altogether"

https://www.transportation.gov/airco...rights#Baggage

There's a lot of good guidance there.

Small claims is not your only recourse if you have not submitted the detailed claim and supporting documentation after the bag was formally lost. There will also likely be a discussion about the depreciated values.

There's a process to go through to mitigate losses before a court will look at it. If you don't get a response you can also raise a complaint with the DoT who may issue an enforcement notice if they believe the airline are at fault.

smattiso

The problem is that Qatar has no incentive to actually listen to me or declare the bag as being lost. The rules of the Montreal Convention state they have 21 days to look for it before declaring it lost. The problem is that this is all legalese and there is no way to force Qatar to do anything.

I filed the DOT complaint as well but that has an indeterminate amount of time to respond. My experience in the past with big corporations who try and skirt the law is that the only way to illicit a response is to initiate legal action. Unfortunately that's the system we live in. As such I would like to start court proceedings but I can't find their WA state registered agent. Can anybody point me in the right direction here?

KingCanute

So you're not going to demonstrate that you have taken all reasonable steps to resolve this matter with the airline first by making the formal detailed and supported claim to QR customer services under Article 17, as indicated by the DoT and elsewhere upthread, before going to Court?

Best of luck...

Cedar Jet

Qatar Airways, 5 stars in the air.
Third world on the ground.

KingCanute

People like to requote versions of this.

But all airlines (and usually their ground handling agents who also work for all the other airlines) lose bags all the time. And of course it's always a pain in the butt.

In fairness to QR in this case though, it's difficult for them to settle a formal and documented Montreal Convention claim made 21 days after travel for the depreciated contents of a bag that appears to be formally lost (as they themselves say they will on their website) when such a properly documented claim does not appear to have been made.

Baggage services offered a cash gesture when it was delayed. Claiming later for a total loss requires a separate claim to Customer Services, as QR and even the US DoT indicate.

Perhaps there's a reason the OP prefers to avoid the scrutiny of making such a claim, they sound like they may be serially litigious. But I can't imagine a claim to QR requires any less detail and documentation than claiming through insurance or DoT or court. In my experience QR are quick to deal with legitimate and properly documented claims when something goes wrong. The OP is choosing not to follow the established procedure.

It's probably not unreasonable to expect the DoT or a court or a travel insurer to reject a claim made for the equivalent of the Montreal Convention compensation limits if no such documented claim has first been made with the airline

Like I said, best of luck...

brunos

Like others, I am a bit surprised that you submitted a detailed itemized and priced list of your bag content at the airport, when your bag did not show up at the carrousel in Hanoi.
DId you do it at the lost-bag counter or did you fill an official form with a QR agent?
Usually that is just a statement that your bag is missing and you provide summary information on its look and content, as well as how to contact you.
Immediately threatening to sue them might be an American custom, but not be the best way to get QR agents to help you.

In any case you need to provide to QR a claim once the 21 days have passed. This should contain a detailed list of the items, purchase date and receipts.

BTW: it is rare to hear stories about lost bags in transit at DOH. I don't know about IAD, but Hanoi airport is not always reliable.