Luggage was stopped by customs (we learned about it after our flight)
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 23 Jul, 2023
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If you paid for the trip by credit card, check with them too. At least one of my cards offers free travel insurance, which may cover your (documented) loss. If they reimburse you, they have an incentive to go after the airline — and they have more clout than you do.
The most important thing in this situation is to get documentation about your luggage as soon as possible. No matter what the airline says, the only thing that matters is what they write. As this issue might be continued within the legal system (lawyers, etc) you should start gathering documents you can show to the judge.
As I see it, the most important questions are:
- Which airline got the message about your luggage from customs, and when did they get it?
- Why didn’t they inform you about the issue?
- According to the rules of your flight, who takes responsibility in these cases?
After getting this information from your airline, you should consult with a lawyer. Even if customs stopped your luggage, they must inform the airline about it – so you need to find where the communication stopped.
It may be that your airline will blame the local transporters (the Airflot company or even Pulkovo’s staff). In that case, you would need to get written documents from your airline, and perhaps sue the responsible company.
The laws about these requests say that the Russian company must give an answer in 30 days, so you should start this as soon as possible. If you decide to sue some Russian company, please be aware that financial compensation for moral damages are less than the material damage you incurred. So if you don’t have documentation of your financial losses, you will spend a bunch of money for nothing.
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No laws as such, but check with your travel insurance or your flight/holiday booker. If they are a part of ABTA, you should find the process relatively painless.
Responsibility is a tricky thing – most will blame customs, who are separate from the 3 organisations you have named.
I always use airlines that will reimburse my incidentals until my luggage arrives, and will deliver the luggage to my hotel or home. Just be sure to buy what you need and keep all receipts.
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