Damaged luggage

[Gal]

Jen and Kyle are just landed home at Newcastle airport ten minutes ago, she's just text me to say the suitcase I loaned them has had the zips ripped off and was hanging open on the carousel! I hope they haven't lost anything out of it....they're filing a report as I type.

Has this happened to anyone else? What experience did you have?

[Osc]

Oh no How infuriating Not experienced that, thankfully, although someone once took our case by mistake in Dublin airport.

At a slight tangent, American customs have the right to open your bag in transit if they suspect something suspicious. We "lock" our bags using those keyring rings, and when we got home from Nashville, I noticed that one of them was open. However everything looked ok, but it seemed that a couple of things in the case had been moved around. We had bought a bottle of caramel sauce (for Michael's icecream ) and I had packed it in its bag. When I opened the bag, there was a very polite printed card from American customs saying they had looked at it - it must have shown up as a suspicious mass on the scanner.

[cruiser2]

Many years ago we had two expanding cases. We only found they had been damaged when we got home. We had just taken them off the carousel at Manchester airport and put them in the car without really looking at them.
Made a claim on the insurance which was paid without any problem.
We then bought two new Delsey cases. On one trip from America one of the wheels came off. We reported at the airport and given a claim form. Told we had 21 days
either to buy a new case or get the existing one repaired. Bought a new one and the claim was paid in full. This was American Airlines, not our travel insurance.
On a cruise in America, the handle on one of our Delsey cases was broken when it arrived at our cabin. Told Guest Relations on the ship. The empty case was taken away as they said it could be repaired. returned still damaged two days later. We bought a new case in San Fransisco and got a refund from the cruise line.
We now have four Delsey cases which have been to many places including America many times.
Like Osc we always lock them and have found little notes inside when they have been opened by security in America.
We do not like the new cases with zips as they can easily be broken open. We are keeping ours.

[JoM]

How annoying Gal. I hope that nothing is missing.

Osc, we use the TSA locks when travelling to the US. Surprisingly we've not - yet - had a note in any of the suitcases to say that they've been opened by US security. I always expect to find one though.

[Gal]

Thanks for the replies - they don't seem to have anything missing, luckily and the case was old so not too bothered about compo for that. Even so it does make you wonder what actually happened....

[TheOstrich]

Always reminds me of a holiday trip I made with some mates back in the 1970's, at the time of the Troubles, to the Channel Islands from Birmingham Airport. The flight was called and we were ushered through the usual channels, where we were pulled to one side and asked to open our luggage. Security then went everything with an extremely fine toothcomb, piling everything up on the table and rooting through it.

When it was eventually repacked and we were given the all clear to continue, I did remark to one of the security people "Blimey, that was a bit excessive, we're only going to flippin' Jersey".
"Oh sorry," he replied, "we thought you were the tail end of the Belfast flight!"

[Workingman]

I used to fly with BMI, Leeds/Paris/Leeds twice a month.

On one return my sturdy fiberglass bodied case was trashed! I filled in the claim and explained that I would be flying out again on the Monday.

On Saturday there is a knock on the door from a man in a BMI van with a big box and best wishes that it would do the job. Inside was a super high quality expanding wheelie case and the envelope in the front pocket contained a gift voucher to be spent airside. Great service.

Gal, the age of your case is immaterial, and you are not getting "compo". You should be receiving sufficient funds to buy an equivalent replacement - expect no less.