Hello All New user here so bear with me. My parents travelled on a National Express coach to London Gatwick for a holiday in October, and gave the driver a bag (Hand luggage containing medication and a laptop), which when they arrived at London Gatwick, was found to be missing. This was reported to the driver and also to the National Express office at London Gatwick, and they continued to check in for the flight. On return to the National Express office, the agents recognised my parents and said straight away that the driver had found the luggage but as had moved on, my parents could not be reunited with the luggage before the flight. After many phone calls, it turned out that the bag which had been identified as being found and belonging to my parents, actually belonged to another passenger who had been allowed to take my parents luggage. I tmade the point that as my parents handed the luggage to National Express, it should be expected that National Express be responsible for handing the luggage back, but they have taken a very hands off approach as below. Each item of luggage is loaded into a separate compartments depending where the customers are travelling from, in your parents case they boarded the coach at xxx which is the same location as Mr xxxx The driver has no way of knowing which luggage belongs to individual customers, the driver offloads the luggage and expect each customer to identify and claim their own property. We cannot be held responsible for another customer actions. As they now knew who the customer was who took the luggage, National Express asked for permissiton to hand my contact details over to the customer who wrongly took the luggage, so we could basically work this out ourselves. After not hearing anything, I am losing faith in national Express and to see the luggage returned. I asked National Express on the 30th October to chase up urgently, and if they could provide the details of the customer who took that luggage. Today, I received a very unexpected text message from National Express, containing the customer's mobile number who took the luggage in errors. Also suggesting that if I don't hear anything back, I contact the police. I will be honest, I was not expecting them to hand out personal information. Rather than act in haste and repent at leisure by phoning the number immediately, I have sat back for 5 minutes and asked a couple friends for advice, and remembered the stories on here I had read about people in similarlaat situations. So I have the person's number who has my luggage. National Express have washed their hands of this. The simple answer is phone the person who has my luggage who has been ignoring any attempt by National Express to contact me, so I have to be wary of who I am dealing with and how this could escalate. Not looking for excuses, but I am recovering form serious illness, been off work for 8 months and am just about to start reduced hours work, so this is going to add uneeeded pressurs on me at at very important time of my life. Basically, I want National Express to pursue on my behalf as they allowed the luggage to be taken, including contacting the police if it is found the luggae has been stolen. I am going to contact National Express to disclose what personal information they sent to the customer who took the luggae, but looking for advice in my next steps, bearing in mind I think National Express shopuld be progressing this case to closure as the luggae was handed to them and they then allowed someone else to take the luggage. It looks to me like a process problem by National Express which sounds really easy to fix, but I can't acceopt that they can't take any responsibilty in this situation. Thanks for any replies and hope to hear from someone soon. Any questions please ask.

Can anyone tell me what I am entitled to. My partner and I booked a weeks cruise where we flew out to Barcelona with Ryanair. When we arrived at the airport, our luggage and about 8 other couples luggage were all left in Birmingham where we flew from. I explained to Ryanair that me and my partner were leaving Barcelona that night and won't be back for another week, vWe were advised that the chances of us getting our luggage to the ship are practically none. All we had were the clothes on our back and a pair of shoes in the hand luggage. We had no choice but to go to some local shops and pick up items to get us by so went and bought the essentials toiletries and about 2 tops, a pair of shorts, some underwear and my partner bought similar as and cheap dress for her to wear in the evening. We had a call 2 days later saying luggage is at the airport for when we return to pick it up. We had no choice but to go and buy some other items the next day as what we had wouldn't last for the week. We went and bought a few more things for day and evening and the ship we were on offered free laundry service to help us, which was a god send. In total we spent 547 EUROS. On our return we put a complaint into Ryanair for all the hassle and expense we had incurred along with how the holiday was ruined as we couldn't do everything that we wanted to, such as gala night etc. We heard off them this morning with a letter saying the expense is excessive and will offer 50 euro per day the bag was missing. This totals 350 euro. To me this isn't good enough as we spent £3000 on a holiday we couldn't fully enjoy and we had to clothe both of us for a week where we wore the same items over and over. Am I wrong in thinking this is not good enough and Ryanair have to compensate me for what I spent and the the holiday they ruined. I believe what we spent was not excessive for what we had to do. Look forward to hearing off you

Airlines are within their rights to charge a supplement to customers checking-in their luggage, a court has ruled. The European Court of Justice ruled that airlines faced extra costs storing and processing checked-in luggage. But it added that hand baggage was necessary for passengers and should not face a price supplement. The decision is a boost to low-cost carriers that have made optional charges key to their business models. The court upheld a challenge by Spanish budget carrier Vueling Airlines against a Spanish law that prohibits airlines from making people pay for putting their suitcases in the aircraft's hold. The airline was given a 3,000 euro (£2,362) penalty by authorities in Spain for adding 40 euros to the basic price of four tickets bought by one passenger for return tickets between La Coruna in Spain to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. A Spanish court referred the case to Luxembourg to see if it complied with EU law on pricing freedom. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29253383 Huge blow for passengers as EU's top court rules budget airlines CAN charge travellers extra for checked luggage Court said checked-in baggage is not considered 'compulsory or necessary’ Vueling Airlines challenged Spanish law that prohibits extra fees Court of Justice ruled the law is in breach of European Union rules http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2760637/Victory-Ryanair-easyJet-EU-s-court-rules-budget-airlines-CAN-charge-passengers-extra-checked-luggage.html

Hi, I bought my suitcase from Matalan what I thought was around 11 months ago. I can't seem to find the receipt but was told by your customer services telephone line that it's not needed due to the warranty that is on the suitcase of which is 10 years. It seems that a screw has dropped out of the metal arm that the plastic screws into and therefore has affected the way that the handle comes up and goes back down deeming it a manufacturer fault. The manufacturer informed me to take it back to Matalan and get it exchanged. Hooray! Upon taking it back, they scanned a barcode inside which said it was £30, though I remember paying at least £50 for it. They can only assume that the last price they sold this particular model at (which is now end of line) was £30 in a sale, and nothing says otherwise that I didn't pay £30 for it. The new equivalent models are £45 to buy like for like. I've contacted all of my banks and all of my credit cards, and can't find any proof of purchase anywhere, so I can only assume that I paid cash, which is something I hardly ever do, and I'm trying to think back as to why I would have. Where do I stand legally, as a friend of mine states it was 2012 I bought it, but I honestly thought it was less than a year ago, so shows how much I know about dates and times. I'm not trying to [problem] anyone for more money or anything. I just want a like for like suitcase as part of the worlds lightest range, with 4 wheels and a working handle. Where do I stand? Many thanks.

I was flying back from Treviso, Italy to London Stansted wtih Ryanair. I was given as gifts one bottle of Whiskey and one bottle of Rum, both 40% ABV. Total volume was 1.5 litres. I knew that I wouldn't be able to take them in my bag as security don't let you take liquids so I bought a packed luggage for £30 the day of my flight. I got to the airport early and went to check in my bag at the bag drop-off. A ryanair staff member asked what was in the bag and I told her. She said I can't check in alcohol as it will explode in the flight. I told her I had bought the checked bag only for this reason as otherwise I'll just carry it with me as my carry-on. I argued with her for about 5 minutes that it was physically impossible for the alcohol to spontaneously explode, but she said this was ryanair's 'policy'. It was clear that she wasn't going to let me take the bottles (although eventually she did say wine would have been ok, despite also saying ryanair strictly allowed NO alcohol in checked luggage). I asked for a refund of checked bag as I wasn't using it, she refused on the grounds that I should have checked the terms and conditions before buying. I gave up as I did have a plane to get, and went home. At home I checked whether this was true and found Ryanair have no such policy. Clawing the internet for as much information as I can find it seems the general regulations are up to 5 litres of under 70% is fine. I tried to contact ryanair to again get a refund but found no contact details for them. Eventually I submitted a complaint to them through their ridiculous ask a question form. A few days later I got a response saying ryanair advises customers not to travel with dangerous goods. Quite a frustrating reply as it admits they have no policy against the alcohol and is a complete straw man of an answer. Of course I could not reply to this, just start at the beginning again. I checked to see if there was anyone I could escalate the complaint to. Ryanair effectively sold me something and then stopped me using it, but have kept the money. To me that is theft, never mind the needless costs I have incurred from not being able to take the alcohol with me. The only thing I could find as a route to complain was through the CAA. I filled out their form and submitted 'correspondence' between myself and ryanair. I got an answer the next day saying they couldn't help as I hadn't given ryanair adequate time to reply, despite them already having answered that they won't refund the money. Does anyone know what I can do here? It surely can't be right that ryanair can charge for things they don't deliver. And who can this be escalated to? The UK doesn't seem to have a travel ombudsman which is ridiculous when you think about it. Thanks for taking the time to read anyway

Hello I need help to clarify a few questions regarding filing a claim against Alitalia. I am in the process of filing a court claim against Alitalia because they delayed our luggage on a trip my wife and I did in July to attend a friend's wedding in Italy. Alitalia delayed our luggage by more than 36 hours. All our formal wedding clothes and shoes were in that bag and so we had nothing for the two wedding events. Alitalia call center told us to go and buy replacement clothes and they'll reimburse us. we specifically asked if there was an upper limit and they told us (and told the hotel we were staying at) that there was no limit. We spent the whole trip running from store to store to find suitable clothes for the two events instead of relaxing and enjoying our holiday! it was a nightmare. Also many stores close on Saturday afternoon, so we ended up having to go to the big brands for the shoes! so when we returned to London we filed a claim with Alitalia to reimburse us all the additional cost incurred as well as reimburse us the cost of the airline ticket, hotel and car we booked since our holiday was ruined. they initially refused to pay us anything, then they offered us 140 euros, then increased it to 200 euros after a long talk on the phone. When I informed them that I will be making a court claim, they increased their offer to 400 EUR, which is still far below the total claim amount. I'm in the process of filing the court claim online where it says I have to write "A short statement (maximum 1080 characters) of what you are claiming for and why." and I also have the option to send "detailed particulars direct to the defendant." The questions I have are: 1) what document do I need to send to the court or to Alitalia? 2) are there any legal forms I need to fill? 3) Do I need a solicitor or can I do it on my own? and what are the likelihood that I can win the case? thanks a lot!

Hi, We flew from Luton to Arrecife one Sunday evening a few weeks ago to find that my wife's suitcase had been lost. The Ryanair desk staff advised us to buy what we needed and submit the reciepts to Ryanair. We went shopping and purchased sandals, enough clothes for a couple of days, underwear and toiletries. We then heard late on Sunday night that the case had been found (in Bratislava) and were told it would be with us late Tuesday night. When we arrived home a week later we photocopied our reciepts which totaled just under 300 euros and submitted a letter to Ryanair explaining the situation. To our shock and dissappointment today we have recieved a response telling us that we will be sent a cheque for £85 and that as far as Ryanair are concerned this will end the matter. This seems very unfair as we were originaly told that our expences would be met by Ryanair, and when we went shopping on Sunday to replace my wifes clothes we had no way of knowing when or if the case would be found. We don't know how to proceed, just that we feel Ryanair are not being fair.

http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2012/dot1112.html DOT Fines Alitalia for Violating International Baggage Liability Rule The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today assessed a civil penalty of $80,000 against Alitalia, an airline based in Italy, for violating an international treaty by limiting reimbursement to passengers whose baggage was lost or delayed on Alitalia flights to and from the United States. “Consumers have a right to be treated fairly when they fly, and are entitled to appropriate compensation when their bags are lost or delayed,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “We will continue to take enforcement action when airline baggage rules are violated.” Following complaints filed with DOT by consumers, the Department’s Aviation Enforcement Office investigated Alitalia’s baggage policy. It found that for a number of flights to and from the United States, Alitalia was limiting reimbursements to between $50 and $75 per day of delay regardless of the amount of the expenses claimed by passengers or whether they provided original receipts documenting their expenses. Alitalia’s policy violated a provision of the Montreal Convention, an international agreement setting rules for international air travel. The agreement says that carriers may not limit their liability for loss or damage to checked baggage to less than approximately $1,700 per person, an amount that fluctuates based on currency conversion rates. The consent order is available on the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov, docket DOT-OST 2012-0002.