A family from the US claim they’re still chasing Irish airline Aer Lingus for a bag they lost in July last year.
Many passengers reported long delays at baggage reclaim and lost luggage at UK airports during the 2022 summer holiday season. This travel chaos was thought to be due to a lack of ground handling staff, after airports failed to replace workers following pandemic redundancies.
Christina Summers and Thomas Fike travelled with friends from Naples to New York via a connecting flight from Dublin on 13 July. The American parents say their daughter’s bag was lost at the Irish airport.
Ms Summers alleges she made multiple calls to Aer Lingus’ baggage claim number at the time and staff assured her the bag was in Dublin and it simply needed to be put on a flight to New York.
But – as reported by The Irish Times – it subsequently emerged that there was no record of this, “so they submitted a claim for the bag 21 days after their original journey.”
The family says that the bag and its contents were worth $9,100 (around £7,500). Inside the luggage was a leather jacket given to the couple’s daughter by her grandmother.
As part of a lost baggage page on the Aer Lingus website, it is stated: “If your baggage is delayed or missing, our liability is limited under The Montreal Convention.
“If you hold personal travel insurance, we recommend that you contact your travel insurance provider regarding any claims.”
As outlined by Aer Lingus: “The Montreal Convention establishes liability in the case of death or injury to passengers, as well as in cases of delay, damage or loss of baggage.”
The Irish Times reports that in September, “Aer Lingus paid $368 to cover the cost of necessary personal items and clothes lost with the bag, separate to the Montreal Convention.”
The family says Aer Lingus has not yet dealt with the compensation claim and that attempts to contact customer services for a follow-up have proved unsuccessful.
Ms Summers and Mr Fike added that the airline’s request for paperwork to prove the value of the lost bag is unrealistic due to the passenger being a 13-year-old. Additionally, they claimed that some of its contents were gifts, which there would be no existing receipts for.
Ms Summers said: “I am dumbfounded by the lack of customer service from Aer Lingus.”
An Aer Lingus spokesperson told The Independent: “Aer Lingus apologises for the overall time it has taken for the customer’s query regarding her lost baggage to be resolved.
“Aer Lingus did issue the initial cheque for interim expenses on the 29 August 2022 and acknowledge that there has been significant delay in resolving the matter overall to the point where compensation was paid.
“A member of our Customer Relations team has been communicating with the customer in the last week and a cheque has now been processed for the max compensation owed under the Montreal Convention* and the customer will receive it in the coming days.”
