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ASK THE EXPERTS You can contact us at: Q. I flew from Edinburgh to Buenos Aires with BA via Heathrow and my baggage never arrived. I took a thirty-day cruise around South America and had to purchase new clothes for the trip. BA kept saying the bag had been sighted and would be dispatched but I have still not heard anything (nearly three months later). Can you tell me what the position is regarding my own travel insurance, compensation from BA for the long delay and whether BA will replace the case and its contents and what would happen if the case does finally reappear? A. Under the terms of the Montreal Convention, a case is officially ‘lost’ after 21 days. At that time, the airline becomes liable to replace the case and its contents up to a maximum figure in neutral currency (approximately £780). The airline will want to check the value of the contents and will make reductions for wear and tear. In some instance, it will require receipts. If the case does turn up after 21 days, it is quite likely the airline will just get rid of the case, but if it does return it to you eventually then you could not be expected to give the money back if you had already replaced some of the items. However, this is only half the story. You should definitely claim from your travel insurer and maybe your Home Contents cover as well (check to see if contents are covered when away from home, or if certain named, valuable items are). You should submit claims to all possible insurers immediately you return from a trip. Do not wait for the airline to try to find the case. There is nothing wrong with starting the claims process with both the airline and possibly more than one insurer, as long as they all know what you are doing. There are a number of likely outcomes. The airline may offer you £250, having made deductions for ‘wear and tear’, but your travel or home policy may pay for items on a ‘new for old’ basis so you can claim the difference from the insurer. If you are really lucky, the travel insurer will agree to take over the whole claim, which means it will pay you in full and will then make a claim against the airline. Unfortunately, many insurers will insist you first get the airline to pay and then go back to them for any extra payment if appropriate. There is no excuse for an airline delaying settlement much beyond the official 21 days. If it does delay, or does not respond to mail, then we suggest you send one final letter by recorded mail threatening action in the County Court if you do not get settlement within two weeks. Luggage is more likely to go missing when two airlines are involved. The passenger can end up being kicked from pillar to post, with both airlines refusing to settle the claim and blaming the other. If this happens, ignore what they say and threaten County Court action. It is normally best to claim from the airline that flew the last leg of the journey since they are the ones to whom you would have reported the loss. While the Montreal Convention makes airlines responsible for the loss or damage to luggage, they have no such responsibility for delays. Some airlines will offer a very small sum per day (or maybe just a free wash bag) but you should not count on this. In a situation like the one described above, we would hope that the airline would make some sort of ex gratia gesture to cover the inconvenience but it may not go very far to settling your out-of-pocket expenses. Your travel insurance should pay for this, but policies vary considerably in how much they will pay and you really should shop around for a policy that has the best limits. It is wise to have the policy with you so you know just how much you are entitled to. It could be worth calling the company from overseas to start the claims process. Q. I seem to remember reading something in Inside Traveller about becoming your own travel agent. I am interested in new business opportunities and wonder if you could let me know how I can do this. A. Well, in the past, we have run a number of articles along the lines of ‘How to be your own travel agent’, but they have been about the ways you can plan your trip more efficiently and economically yourself. More recently, we have had numerous articles that suggest the age of the agent is over. We really only see a future for a few specialist agents and business travel specialists (agents that are used by big companies to outsource all their travel planning and controls and charge a fee rather than living on commission). From time to time, we have also mentioned an agent that sells brokerage agreements for a membership fee and members then receive 30% of all commission from the sales on ‘their’ travel site. Dove Travel (www.dovetravelbrokerage.co.uk) has been doing this for a long time. We believe it is reputable but cannot really recommend anyone taking up a franchise unless they have a very specific market they feel they could corner. The commissions available to agents (1% or even nothing on many airline tickets) just do not make it cost-effective. As well as Dove, there are a number of other companies who make great claims but, we suspect, are little more than scams. © Wentworth Publishing Ltd 2008 |