Lost luggage on airlines what is their responsibility

Question

My wife and I flew on Lufthansa Rome to Manchester transferring at Frankfurt. At manchester one bag failed to appear and was returned to us at home 5 days later. The bag had been opened and jewelry removed. Lufhhansa says "no coppensation" is this correct?

Answer 1

Probably not, although their responsibility is limited by the Warsaw Convention for the Carriage of Goods, you will have to look this up for yourself.

When the bag was returned to you did you sign for it?  Did you make any comment in writing to limit your acceptance?

Have you informed the police?

Do you have home contents or travel insurance?  If so have you advised them, they have a lot more clout than you?

Answer 2

It is. if you read the fine print you will find that it says "Under the Conditions of Carriage we accept no liability for the loss of jewellery, other valuables and money contained in checked baggage. You are advised to keep valuables, important documents and money either on your person or in your hand baggage."

Answer 3

You are probably covered by the Montreal Convention. In international and German domestic travel, the liability for damage, destruction, loss or partial loss and for late delivery of baggage is limited to a cumulative 1,000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) per journey and traveler. The SDR is the accounting unit of the International Monetary Fund (IMF); 1,000 SDR currently corresponds to about €1,100.

But, you would have had to report the damage within seven days after baggage handout when you noticed your bag was not there. The airline might have given you money for items such as toiletries or underwear that you had in your bag to use while you're waiting for your bag. If this didn't happen, it's too late to take any action.

With the missing items, it is hard to prove that the items were there in the first place. Most airlines (while I couldn't find any information on Lufthansa's website in particular about this) will not accept responsibility for valuable things packed in your checked baggage, and instead ask you to bring these things with you on your carry on luggage. I don't think there's any way to have these things returned to you or compensated for, as there's no way to prove that they were stolen, or that the airline is even responsible. Sorry I couldn't find more information on Lufthansa's particular policy on valuables.

Answer 4

Sadly this is correct, baggage handlers are poorly paid and subject to the same temptations as the rest of us, the airline can only do their best, and that's it.

Your only hope is the insurance company, who rarely pay anything out on valuables that are out of your sight, as your hold baggage is, best kept in hand baggage as my camera for example always is.

Answer 5

maybe but i would still check the EU regulations and check with the insurance company  

Answer 6

I've lost count of the number of times that KLM have lost or damaged my luggage. On 2 occasions they managed to delay it and trash it.