One of our readers who made a trip to the United States wrote us about his pilfered baggage. Upon arrival at his destination in the U.S., he discovered that one of the compartments in his luggage was open. In it was an envelope containing a few hundred American dollars in cash. The combination padlock that was used to secure the baggage was missing. Immediately, he made a complaint at the airline’s customer service counter. He was given a form to fill out and instructed to mail it out to the address indicated.
After waiting for almost a month, he received the following reply from the airline:
“Thank you for your patience while we have been searching for your missing property. We are sorry our tracing efforts have been unsuccessful, and apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you. Although our trace will continue, we want to resolve your claim without delay.
We do not assume liability for currency. Such items are excluded from our published baggage liability. For this reason we are unable to offer reimbursement for your loss. If you have personal insurance which might provide additional payment, please contact your agent to initiate a claim. We will be happy to provide documentation upon your request. We are sorry that we gave you reason to be disappointed with our airline, and regret that our response could not be more favourable. We are continually working to improve our service and minimize baggage mishandling. Situations such as this are no more acceptable to us than they are to our passengers, and I can assure you that your experience is not typical of the standards we strive to maintain.
We appreciate your choosing us for your travels. We hope to welcome you onboard again soon and will work to ensure that your future experiences are satisfactory in every respect.”
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