Delayed Baggage Compensation
 

Sorry if this has been asked before.

I recently flew WS SEA>YYC, and 2 out of my 6 luggages did not show up (we are a party of 4 pax). (One of them is a car seat). We are still waiting for our luggage and it has been 48 hours - to be honest, I'm not expecting them for another week.

My main concern is that the luggage has most of our clothes. Does anyone know what is WS compensation? I got three different responses (trying to call their baggage line, but have been on hold for 2.5 hours):

• $100 for first 48 hours, and $250 afterwards
• $250 for the trip, but can call to ask for more as long as it is reasonable
• $100 per person

Does anyone know the amount and is it for the whole trip, per passenger, per luggage?

On a side note, anyone know how to get WS to update my status? When I booked the trip, I was a DL Silver, but now Gold. My WS ticket showed Silver. I asked the agent, but they don't know how to update it. (Why it matters: luggage allowance, lounge access, and access to premium seats)

Thanks and Happy Holidays!

Got an answer from the baggage department:

• $100 for first 48 hours, and $250 afterwards for the trip, however if it is reasonable, it may be okay to go over.

For those who are interested, the wait time is 2.75 hours right now.

What they said are "guidelines", the Montreal Convention and APPR (and tariff) go beyond that. The actual limit is about 1300 SDRs ($2300 CAD) for expenses incurred, and then the same amount if the bag isn't found within 21 days. Don't let WestJet cap you with misleading information, the CTA should make this an open and shut case if WS won't pay. I wouldn't buy luxury items, but reasonable and customary replacements for what's in your bag should be paid out.

Thank you. I'm not sure what is considered "luxury"... Some of the things in our luggage were not cheap. We tried to be careful and purchased most of our clothes from Winners, but a jacket from Lululemon. Also, we needed a bathing suit at the hotel, and getting one from the hotel wasn't cheap: $70. Thoughts?

Where is the line drawn here when it comes to delays though? Replacing all your luggage due to a one-day delay would seem excessive, but how do you know in advance if it's going to be a 1-day or 14-day delay?

Also, for anyone who may know, any thoughts on when to invoke credit-card coverage versus going to the airlines?

IME, you can claim with both the airline and your credit card coverage, but the credit card insurer will contact the airline to verify the delay and whether they already paid any compensation, and then reduce the credit card coverage by the amount paid by the airline, so as to avoid double-dipping.

Sorry to piggy-back on this thread, but does anyone know what sort of rules apply if one gets stranded during a connection, without access to their luggage? We were connecting through YYC, when our next leg got cancelled without any re-accommodation options for a couple of days due to the weather/holiday woes in YYC/YVR.

Agents on the ground did not know where/what would happen to our bags, but imagined they would either sit in a restricted area of the airport, and be eventually flown on to the final destination. That did indeed happen, and we eventually found them sitting in a pile of suitcases near the baggage carousels when we finally arrived 2 days later in YVR.

We were told by the baggage agent and a separate supervisor to apply for reimbursement of any expenses incurred for clothes/toiletries, as this was a "within airline control" cancellation, but we are not seeing any guidelines regarding this scenario on their webpages. Would this scenario still count under the lost/delayed bags allowance, allowing us to claim ~$100/guest guideline for the first 48 hours? Technically the bags were never really "lost", as they made it to the final destination, but we were just without access to them when we were stuck in YYC.

We unfortunately did not have travel insurance this trip, as part of the balance was paid with travel credit from COVID cancellations, and we neglected to buy a policy.

Appreciate any thoughts!

I’d put a claim in to the airline for anything you had to buy as a result of the delay / bag issue.

I found a (what seems to be) helpful article on baggage delay and claims here: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/airlin...tion-1.5988463.

I’m currently waiting for Westjet to respond to a claim I put in 2 weeks ago, as they managed not to deliver my bags (which contained all my ski gear) to me for 3 days. So far they’ve not even acknowledged me, much less reimbursed me…

Does anyone know when the 21 day rule is triggered for luggage to be deemed loss?

As of writing this, I landed 17 days and 17 hours ago, and I am still waiting for my suitcases to be delivered. Are days calendar days or blocks of 24 hours. And if 24 hours, what is the time it starts at?

I would go with calendar days


I would add that any baggage fees paid are to be refunded for lost or delayed bags as per section 23 of the Air Passenger Protection Regulations.