£1500 stolen from checked baggage: Small Claims?

[Creation]

Hello everyone,

 

I flew Turkish airlines and on my return my bag was not on the carousel. I reported it missing and collected the PIR form. The next day I received the suitcase and the padlock had been ripped off (including the handles) and around £1500 worth of personal items (included a couple of electronic items) had been stolen from my luggage.

 

I submitted a written claim to Turkish Airlines for the damaged bag and included receipts for the missing items.

 

Turkish airlines sent a letter back stating that they would offer me $405 (equivalent to around £250) with the following statements:

 

1) The airline's liability is limited by the Montreal Convention.

2) Valuable items including valuable electric equipment (underlined by them) should not be included in the checked baggage.

3) If the carrier offers an excess valuation facility, a declaration can be made prior to the flight and applicable charges can be paid. As this was not done in my case, my missing electrical items will not be taken into consideration.

4) If I accept the offer, I have to sign a release saying no further action will be taken and that I cannot claim from my own insurance.

 

I've read a couple of online articles that says the Montreal convention does not make any distinctions for valuable items - "Airlines may try to say that they are not liable for valuable items. But, the legislation makes no exceptions, therefore they are liable for items such as cameras," bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/moneybox/3862749.stm

 

Also this website states that if my claim is not met, then I should consider the Small Claims Court: thetravelinsider.com/travelaccessories/lostbaggagerights.htm and that my chances of winning if I have receipts and the claim is not huge.

 

Turkish Airlines own website states the maximum they will pay according to the Montreal Convention is 1,131 Special Drawing Rights, approximately £1,101 turkishairlines.com/en-INT/services/passenger_services/pursuant.aspx

 

Is my claim for the full amount £1,101 valid and can anyone suggest the best way to write back to them and try to persuade them to pay out the maximum amount?

 

If not, could anyone tell me the best way to go about a Small Claims Court action? Can I have any input on the the venue and the timings? Are there any draft Letter Before Action letters I could read?

 

Thanks everyone

 

(PS, anyone posting that I should not have placed electrical items in checked baggage will be ignored. Kicked myself enough over this.)

[honeybee13]

Hello there. You may have answered your own question about the electrical items, but others here know more than I do. In case it helps, did the flight leave from the UK?

 

Were you insured for this trip please?

 

My best, HB

[geoff1248]

Maybe an obvious question but did you have travel insurance? If not then your household contents insurance usually covers you for items removed from the house temporarily. Also certain credit cards give you free travel insurance.

If none of the above applies then one of the other more knowledgeable CAGGERS will be along shortly.

[Creation]

Hi, yes I do have travel insurance through HSBC Premier but have not tried to claim through them yet as I thought I would inform the Manchester Airport police first and get a crime reference number and then to get Turkish Airlines Manchester office to begin an investigation.

 

My letters have been to the Manchester office of Turkish Airlines and their General Manager responded with the £250 offer. I am pretty sure that this is a deliberately low offer to try and get rid of me so will write to them again, but wanted some advice off here first about my rights and how to draft a Letter Before Action (and whether I can go the Small Claims Court or MoneyClaim Online route?)

 

If they pay me the full amount according to the Montreal Convention (£1100) then I may write the rest off to experience.

 

The inbound flight was from Jeddah-Istanbul-Manchester and upon arrival at Manchester the bag was missing. Outbound was the reverse.

[cerberusalert]

Moved to Holidays & Airline Co.s forum.

[geoff1248]

If you have insurance then why are you wasting your time with the airline. You have a crime number from the police so claim on your insurance and then claim off the airline for any excess the insurance policy has.

[perplexity]

Instead of setting up the airline as an adversary, I would concentrate on solving the crime. There should then be a common purpose.

 

What do the police have to say? There should not have been an enormous number of individuals with access to the luggage.