In August 2008 I got married, and of course we went on honeymoon. We'd settled on going to Zanzibar, but package holidays were just too expensive, so we booked our flights and hotel without the 'aid' of a travel agent.
Our flights were with Virgin Atlantic. Apart from the atrocious picture quality of the in-flight entertainment screens, on the way out everything went fine - even the food was fine (apart from some horrible cheese wrap which tasted like dirty socks). We flew from Heathrow to Nairobi, and from there took a smaller plane to Zanzibar. On the return journey, however, it all went a bit pear-shaped.
We took the Zanzibar-Nairobi flight back. When we landed, those of us taking the connecting Virgin Atlantic flight back to Heathrow headed to the transfers desk we'd used on the way out. We queued there for one hour, getting increasingly anxious about how long it was taking. We had been hoping to do some duty-free shopping, but there really wasn't much chance for that now.
We were next in line when a Virgin employee came over and asked if any of us were flying to Heathrow, as check-in was about to close. What? I knew we'd been waiting for a while, but there was still an hour and a half until the flight was scheduled to leave.
We dutifully chased after him as he raced over to a counter half-way around the airport. Apparently we'd all been standing at the wrong counter. We'd been misinformed.
The employee had at least had the decency to do a preemptive check-in for us all, so that the flight wouldn't leave without us. He tried the computer. Nope, can't do - they'd closed the flight. We now headed over to the boarding gate to be checked-in manually. After another half hour or so, we got our boarding tickets, went through the security screening, went through another security screening, and boarded the plane.
The return flight was fairly non-eventful, but this time we did get to sample some excruciatingly bad food. It came as a bit of a shock after the amazing food we'd been enjoying at the Langi-Langi Resort in Zanzibar.
Back in the UK, hungry and tired, we waited for our luggage at the carousel. As it turned out we didn't have to wait long. My bag came out first. The lock was still on it, but the zipper had been ripped open. Damn it! I headed straight over to the Virgin Atlantic office, while my wife waited for her bag.
I explained to the disinterested attendants that my bag had been broken and showed them the damage. They asked me to check whether anything was missing. There was. I was missing the only two souvenirs we'd managed to purchase (two small sandstone "snake-boxes"), among other things. My wife now came over. Her bag had been opened, but not ripped (she didn't have a lock, but we could tell they'd opened it from the belts having been done up at a different hole). She was missing stuff too. The bag of toiletries and perfume she'd purchased for the wedding, worth well over £100, was gone.
The attendant started writing up the report.
"Do you have travel insurance?", he inquired.
"Yes I do."
"Will you be making a claim on the travel insurance?"
"No, I won't, I'll be making it with Virgin."
After all, why should I pay an excess to make a claim through my travel insurance, when this is something that should be covered by the airline responsible?
When it came to the damage on the bag, the attendant took a look at it and then, unbelievably, undid the zip and did it back up. It held. Just.
"The damage isn't covered because it's not permanent."
"What do you mean it's not permanent?!?"
"Look, I fixed it."
"No you haven't! You've done up the zip, which is still frayed at the bottom! I can no longer secure it with a lock because it can be opened at any point, and the treatment the baggage handling crew will undoubtedly give it means it will split open at some point in transit. I no longer have guarantees that the contents of my bag won't spill out!"
"My assessment is that it's ok, so it's not covered!"
"My assessment is that it's not!"
My wife, wanting to avoid a pointless confrontation, asked me to just let it be. I did. The attendant finished the report and handed a paper to me.
"They'll contact you within a week. If they haven't contacted you in 10 days phone this number."
The other passengers that had taken the Zanzibar-Nairobi-Heathrow flights were also getting reports filled out - exactly the same thing had happened to them. One of them told me:
"They'll try to get out of paying. Don't let them - keep insisting."
We left.
10 days later, I still hadn't received any contact from Virgin Airlines, so I phoned them up.
"Hello, I'm calling regarding damage report LHRXXXXXXX. It's been 10 days and I still haven't been contacted. I was wondering what is going on with it?"
"Yes sir, let me see... It's closed."
"What do you mean it's closed?"
"It's closed sir, it says here you would claim through travel insurance."
"What? That's the opposite of what I said! Can you please correct that and re-open it? That's wrong."
"I'm sorry sir, we can't do that from here."
"What?!?! OK, how can I get this re-opened?"
"You can either write or e-mail customer relations."
I decided on the e-mail address - it would, I hoped, be quicker than writing a letter.
Here's the e-mail I wrote:
Hello,To my horror, I received the following automated reply:
I am writing regarding damage report LHXXXXXXX. I made this report at Heathrow Airport on the 26th of August 2008, when I retrieved my baggage after my ZNZ-NBO-LHR flight. I found my bag damaged - the zip broken and torn at the seams, meaning it can no longer be secured properly - and contents missing from my bag. I informed the people at the desk of this, and reported that two soapstone boxes from Zanzibar (value $6) and a bag with toiletries and makeup (value over £100) were missing. They made the above referenced report, and asked me whether I had travel insurance. I replied that I did. They then asked me whether I was going to claim on my travel insurance. I replied that I would NOT, since this was something that the airline should be covering. Today I phoned up to enquire about the status of this report. I was told that the report stated I was going to claim on travel insurance.
I am not particularly impressed with this. I don't see why I bother answering questions at the airport if they're going to write down something else in the report. I would like Virgin Atlantic to reprocess this damage report with the correct information, and further information on reimbursement. Thank you.
Regards,
Patrick
Thank you for writing to us.21 days? Christ, this will take forever.
If your comments are about a flight you've taken, one of our customer relations people will be in touch in the next 21 days.
We'll forward any other comments/suggestions on to the relevant people.
Please don't reply to this email. If you need more information, our website tells you everything you need to know about the customer relations and baggage claims service. The address is http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/customerrelations/index.jsp.
Kind regards
Customer Relations
Virgin Atlantic
18 days later I finally got a reply:
Dear PatrickI couldn't believe it. I immediately responded:
Thanks for your e-mail. I'm sorry that your baggage was mishandled following your flight with us.
We take our baggage handling seriously and do everything we can to make sure your belongings arrive in the same condition you gave them to us in. Unfortunately accidents do sometimes happen, though I'm glad to say it's very rare.
Like all international airlines, we work under the Montreal Convention (1999). In line with this, you need to report your lost or damaged baggage to us in writing within seven days of your flight.
As this requirement hasn't been met I'm afraid we're unable to assist you with your claim on this occasion. I'd suggest that you contact your travel insurers in order to recoup your costs from them directly.
Once again, I'm really sorry for what happened and I hope it won't put you off flying with us the next time you travel.
Yours sincerely
Jane Doe
Baggage Claims Department
I'm sorry, but that's simply unacceptable. I DID claim within seven days - in fact I claimed the very minute I saw the bag was damaged. However, your employees chose not to process my claim as I directed. I therefore request that you process my claim as I asked.Since I couldn't reply to the sender, I had to send it to the same generic address again, so I got another automated reply. The terms had apparently changed in the last 3 weeks:
If your e-mail is about mishandled luggage, from a recent flight you’ve taken with us, you’ll be contacted by our Baggage Claims Team. This may take up to 28 days.So it's 28 days now instead of 21? 19 days later I got a letter:
Dear PatrickObviously, this was not a satisfactory resolution. I tried again:
Thank you for your most recent correspondence, from which I'm sorry to learn of your disappointment following my colleague's response.
I have to re-iterate that claims of this nature do have to be made to the airline in writing within 7 days. This is a rule set out by our governing body the Montreal convention. I can only apologise if you were not advised of this previously.
Please be assured that I can fully appreciate your comments regarding reporting it to our staff at the airport. However, the Property Irregularity Report is issued as proof that damage occurred on the flight, or in the case of loss, serves to help locate the baggage and return it to the owner. It does not constitute as written notification to the airline.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to explain and apologise. I do hope you have not been discouraged from travelling with us again, and that future flights are enjoyable and trouble free in every aspect.
Yours sincerely
Janet Doe
Virgin Baggage Claims
Firstly, let me assure you that qualifying my reaction as a "disappointment" is a huge understatement.Another 20 days, and I finally had the answer I was looking for:
I fail to see how I could claim in writing within 7 days without, in the first place, receiving proper information from the airline. I contacted the only point of contact for Virgin Atlantic at baggage reclaim of Heathrow immediately. They not only misinformed me, but also fellow passengers on the same flight who had suffered the same problems. From this I can only assume that this must be your standard practice - tell them nothing, misprocess their claim, and presto, no need to reimburse your paying customers.
Additionally, I was told Virgin Atlantic would contact me. It was only after 10 days of no contact that I was forced to contact you. At this second point of contact I was once again told at no point that I had to make the claim within 7 days. I was only told I should contact in writing, via e-mail or by writing to a given address, because my claim had been misprocessed. I decided e-mail would obviously be the faster alternative. But of course, the automated reply when I did e-mail (the same day) states that:
If your e-mail is about mishandled luggage, from a recent flight you’ve taken with us, you’ll be contacted by our Baggage Claims Team. This may take up to 28 days.
So, contact via e-mail can take up to 28 days - that's 21 more days than I have to make a claim!
It was only when I got a response to this e-mail, 18 days later, and a full 27 days after my flight, that I was told claims had to be made within 7 days.
If the claim was not made accordingly, it is obviously through no fault of my own, but that of your employees. Given the information I was given, I cannot see how anyone would have acted in a different way to how I did. I should not have to mount an investigation in order to find out how to process a claim - your employees should provide that information clearly. This, I think, is especially true in the case of your mishandled baggage offices at the airport.
Quoting your governing body and the Montreal convention does not discourage me in any way from requesting, once again, that you process my claim as I originally directed. This is a matter of common sense: had I been given the opportunity to make the claim in the correct way, I would have. However, I was not given that opportunity.
Let me also assure you that I have been thoroughly discouraged from flying with you again. If this is the way you are going to treat your customers I will obviously take my business elsewhere.
I will restate the above one final time, in order to make it absolutely clear: I see absolutely no reason why I should not be given the opportunity to have the damage to my bag, and the losses to my luggage, reimbursed by Virgin Atlantic. The problem lies with your employees, not with me, and I would be astounded if a company like Virgin Atlantic really can't do anything else in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Patrick
Dear PatrickThe list of items they don't cover seems incredibly long to me, but thankfully in my particular case it didn't matter. I submitted the form and some weeks later received a cheque in the mail. Win! So thank you, Virgin Atlantic, for seeing sense and processing my claim.
Thanks for your further email form [sic] which I'm sorry to learn of your continued disappointment.
I'd like to explain that it's important to note that claims arising in the course of international carriage by air, are dealt with by our governing bodies and their conventions. The liability of all airlines is clearly defined under the conventions and is supported by 'Conditions of Carriage'. When purchasing a ticket to fly with us you agreed to abide by these terms.
That said, as a gesture of goodwill on this occasion we're willing to consider your claim. So that we can put your claim through for you, you'll need to download a baggage claim form from our website (www.virginatlantic.com). Once you've filled it in, please send it to us with the following documents (though it's a good idea to take photocopies of them before you send them):
· your original ticket
· your original baggage receipts (plus any excess baggage receipts)
· your original 'property irregularity report'
· your original purchase receipts (or proof of ownership) for all the items on the claim form.
The Conditions of Contract on your ticket refer to the airline's limitations of liability. These amounts are not automatically payable, but reflect what the maximum compensation might be.
Even if you don't have a receipt for a piece of luggage, as a gesture of goodwill we'll pay you 50% of its value (after deducting 10% for every year that you've owned it). Unfortunately, we can't pay any claims for valuables. If you have private travel insurance, you could make your claim directly to them. The kinds of valuables we don't cover include:
· jewellery
· money
· keys
· perishable items
· electronic equipment
· fragile items
· metals
· silverware
· business documents
· stocks and shares
· medication
· medical documents
· passports
· other pieces of ID.
Should you have taken out private travel insurance prior to your journey I would suggest that you submit a claim to them.
We thank you for your co-operation and understanding.
Yours sincerely
Jayne Doe
Baggage Claims Executive
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