I wasn’t born yesterday. Elvira Nurbayeva, the Kazakh service’s supervisor for company communications, had already handed alongside documentation from WorldTracer, a world service that works with airways to trace misplaced baggage, saying that your luggage had been left in Newark. The explanation: That you just “DID NOT CLAIM AND CHECK IN FOR INTL FLT.” This “clearly implies that the passenger ought to have acquired baggage on arrival in Newark,” wrote Ms. Nurbayeva. So that you blamed United, United blamed Astana and Astana blamed you.
However after I went again to United with the extra particulars, issues modified. In an announcement, the spokeswoman admitted the luggage had truly been tagged by way of to Atyrau however weren’t transferred accurately. After which:
“When this occurs, we work arduous with our interline companions to attach prospects with their luggage as shortly as potential, together with compensation for the delayed bag. We sincerely apologize for the frustration this brought on.”
Simply days in the past, you let me know what occurred subsequent: United and Astana agreed to compensate you $3,000, or $1,500 for every mishandled bag.
I’m comfortable for you, and I feel your argument about United’s acknowledged coverage is affordable, however I’m unpersuaded and left uneasy by this resolution, as a result of I worry it doesn’t portend the daybreak of an period wherein airways make beneficiant funds to everybody struggling over misplaced baggage.
George Hobica, founding father of the discount journey web site Airfarewatchdog, agreed. He was shocked to listen to that United agreed to pay the complete quantity. He suspects the scrutiny of a sure main newspaper could have performed a task. Airways are required to pay you again an inexpensive quantity for gadgets you needed to buy, he famous, however you had instructed me that quantity of things was beneath $75.
“She is entitled to be compensated for her $75, however not for ache and struggling,” he mentioned. “All of us undergo ache and struggling today.” Legally, Mr. Hobica seems to be on robust floor. The 1999 Montreal Conference, masking worldwide journey and signed by all three nations in your route, states that restitution is due “if the service admits the lack of the checked baggage, or if the checked baggage has not arrived on the expiration of 21 days.” (For home flights, the Division of Transportation has comparable guidelines, providing leeway for the airways to resolve when to declare baggage “misplaced.”)
