[Cloud-9]

Not funny really but this made me smile:-

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/news/3349012/human-ken-doll-rodrigo-alves-louis-vuitton-bag-heathrow-ba/amp/

Although we can’t be sure of the full facts and extent of the damage, it demonstrates how little responsibility or care the airlines have toward our property

[MartynSinclair]

Surely there is a luggage surgeon to call…… 🙂

[CathayLoyalist2]

In the article BA says the delay was due to “ground handling issues” beyond their control hence they are not paying any flight delay compensation. Are BA on safe ground with that or just a brush off.

[LuganoPirate]

Sorry, but not much sympathy here for him. If I had an important TV interview, or a meeting for that, whichever airline I flew with I’d go a day earlier just in case. Delays can always occur.

As for the bag, yes they have a duty of care, and actually they should replace the handle or pay for the repairs, to say they don’t have the money is ridiculous. Every case, no matter the airline, is going to get battered, which is why I use hard shell Samsonite’s, my oldest is now about 30 years old and still fine. The LV bags he has don’t have a recessed handle so just asking to be ripped off. Besides, if I spent that sort of money I’d spend a little more on having it wrapped before check-in, but then, no-one would see he has a Louis Vuitton!!!

[FaroFlyer]

Reminds me of the hilarious Rhod Gilbert sketch

[MartynSinclair]

..and passengers are moaning about checking in a £600 lap top. I have to say, I do not know many people who check in an £8,000 suitcase… even when flying in a PJ…

[LuganoPirate]

brilliant FaroFlyer.

[GivingupBA]

An £8,000 suitcase, Martyn, the mind boggles, so that’s how the other half live… My bag cost £30 at Gatwick 13 years ago and I’m planning to use it for many more years!

[Flightlevel]

Yes and ditto, and always get hand luggage free with 2 or 3 bottles of duty free gifts!

[FDOS_UK]

I think there must be a matter of what is reasonable, here. There needs to be a balance between the airline’s responsibility to look after the passenger’s luggage and the passenger’s responsibility to provide extra cover for unusually expensive cases.

The problem with exotic/expensive brand suitcases is the cost of repair and the limited range of authorised repairers.

I recently had a case damaged whilst in the care of BA – the front of the locking unit was completely ripped off and the case was beyond economic repair.

BA’s outsourced luggage handler, K2 Global, were helpful and they recommended, as a replacement, one of their own branded cases, which so far is performing very well – I would go so far as to say I would be prepared to buy one. It is only right that if BA’s luggage handlers cause damage, it is put right. Likewise, last Autumn, I had a case slashed with a knife, whilst in the care of easyJet (no doubt to see what was inside) and received an American Tourister (2nd brand of Samsonite) as replacement. Same principle, if the case is damaged in the airline’s care, they fix the problem – it’s a cost of doing business in the sector.

Where this seems to be a problem to me, is when you consider exotic baggage – LV cases are very expensive and if I was an airline, I would make the passenger take extra insurance to cover the difference in repair cost between a normal and exotic bag.

Such exotic cases need to go to an authorised dealer (not the airline’s outsourced partner) and the repairs are very expensive – whilst I believe the airlines should be held responsible for the cost of repairs/replacement, it should perhaps be capped at a maximum liability of (say) £750 per case, with a top up policy being required for anything above. There is a already such a cap in place for baggage contents and every airline is required to offer additional insurance to extend this cover, so why not for baggage?

[MartynSinclair]

In the same way that some companies have a limit on the amount of cash they can hold, I think airlines should limit the value of cases they will accept.

Checking in a super value case and expecting it to come back without a scratch is lunacy…

[capetonianm]

Checking in a super value case and expecting it to come back without a scratch is lunacy…

If you look at that creature in the article you’ll realise that he is far from normal or sane.

BA damaged beyond repair a brand new Rimowa which had been a present. Those of you who know the brand will know they are very expensive, and it’s not something I’d buy as it is looking for trouble, as pointed out, to travel with such luggage.

No complaints about the way BA dealt with it (that makes a change!) and I can’t remember the name of the company we had to deal with in respect of the replacement, it may have been K2 Global but I do remember they were somewhere in the Thames Valley area. They took ages to provide the replacement and kept saying they were waiting for the manufacturer. I had to keep reminding them as they never called despite promises. After a few months, and I remember that the damage occurred in November and still by May we were waiting for the replacement, I made the umpteenth call to them as I’d previously been told to expect it ‘towards the end of May’. I rang on 26th May (a date which for other reasons I have cause to remember) and said to the agent that I was told to expect it ‘towards the end of May’.

His response was : “I don’t know if you can use a calendar but if you look at today’s date you will see it is the 26th of May and that is not the end of May.” Arrogant prick, so I lost it and demanded that he got a supervisor to call me back ….. the result was that the next morning a replacement brand new shiny Rimowa was delivered.

K2 Global are not on my Christmas card list.

[LuganoPirate]

Just out of interest, do they let you keep the old case or do they keep it?

[capetonianm]

No, they took the old case, but it was so damaged that it wouldn’t have been useful for anything except storage.

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=803835]Just out of interest, do they let you keep the old case or do they keep it?

[/quote]

In my two cases, both companies asked me to dispose of the old case – I guess mine were not of the order of magnitude of value that Capetonianm’s was so they were happy to avoid the handling costs, with little motivation to prevent any type of resale. You’d be surprised how much second hand Rimowa handles, locks etc. go for on eBay – maybe the baggage firm sells old branded cases to such repairers for parts?

[Author]

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