Compensation for immediate expenses due to delayed baggage (replacement purchases)

Complaints Corner
1

What happened

I flew from SIngapore to Geneva via Zurich with Swiss on Jan 10th in business class, the 1st leg had more than 2 hours delay and I still don’t have my checked baggage TODAY (after 13 days)! I submitted the online form on the day of my arrival when my luggage did not arrive on the carousel and chose the option to have the luggage delivered to my home and have not received an update since! I called the customer service line 0848 700 700 but they say the line is only for reservation and asked me to call 0848 555 200 and the woman who works in Romania on that line doesn’t know where my suitcase is, not even if it is in Zurich or arrived in Geneva, nor does she care. Friday the 19th Jan I went to Geneva airport to physically check but haven’t found my luggage. the only replies I received from Swiss Customers Service is some AI-generated empty words. I find this unacceptable.

My questions

  1. when I contact Swiss customer service to ask when I can get my baggage, they start sending me a link about compensation for immediate expenses due to delayed baggage (replacement purchases). FYI we need to provide purchase receipts to benefit from this. Does anyone have any experience of this with Swiss, preferably in Switzerland? I’m wondering how much I can spend because I don’t want to waste money, everything is so expensive here, I would only buy things if I get reimbursed. I have read the FAQ section but your experience would be very helpful as their policy doesn’t seem very clear.

https://www.swiss.com/ch/en/customer…UDdzgcRPeMxBXc

https://www.swiss.com/be/en/customer…gularities-faq

  1. Is there anything I can do to help get my luggage ASAP? the weird thing is when I contacted them, I only asked when I could get my luggage and never thought about financial claims, but you are the one who kept mentioning this.

Thank you very much.

2

You can check this website for how much you are entitled to. It looks like 200CHF for immediate purchases. They will only repay 50% of things you can continue to use.

https://www.swiss.com/ch/en/prepare/…irregularities

The issue is, this is on your way home - so they assume you have more items at home to use and don’t need to purchase as much. Even travel insurance will limit their exposure on the return trip.

I had a bag delayed up 24 hours in BKK in January with my amex I was able to submit up to 2K in expenses for the delayed luggage.

After 21 days your bag can count as lost - have you logged into the system to track it?

If it’s lost you can enter the info here: https://mybag.aero/baggage/#/pax/swi…yed/manage-bag

Good Luck!

3
Just been through this process with Lufthansa (who own Swiss). Very frustrating. Nothing much you can do to hasten the process. Employees rely on what they can read on a computer screen, which may or may not reflect reality.

Submit your claim. You will get an offer. Reject it. You will get an improved offer. Make a decision as to whether it is acceptable. The airline is bound by international agreements (Montreal), not what they state on their web-site.

4
Thanks a lot, yes I did informed Swiss that my bag is missing on mybag.aero on my arrival the 10th Jan and I have chosen for let them deliver at my home address. In the first 10 days the status hasn't changed:

" Baggage details

Your baggage tag and baggage description details are listed below. You can check the status of your delayed baggage and, as needed view and modify the baggage details.

Baggage descriptions

Status

Current Status awaiting arrivalYOUR BAGGAGE HAS BEEN LOCATED

AWAITING ARRIVAL

We are awaiting receipt of your baggage at the airport.

View forwarding details.

Delivery/ Collection "

In the last weekend, there is a new status

"Further action is required regarding your delayed baggage.

Please complete the form regarding the contents of your baggage by selecting 'Contents list' from the main menu."

Baggage Inventory and Claim Form

Create Icon

You have not yet created a claim

Please complete the form and submit to us

It seems Swiss is now asking me to fill out another form ("contents list")?! I don't understand why Swiss keeps wasting my time, I already filled in all the info like flight numbers etc, I also specified the look, color and brand of my luggage, as the brand is a very niche Canadian brand, I think this info is enough to identify my unique luggage. (I don't think any of their unidentified luggage has the combination of the same brand, color and size), when I went to Geneva airport on Friday evening and talked to 2 Swissport employees, no one asked me for any additional info as it is obvious that the info I provided was enough.

PS: I would like to insert a print screen instead of the long text, but this website is the most difficult one I have ever seen to insert a print screen ... it even has a specific requirement for the pixel ... I don't know how other users deal with this.

5
Based on the last message and the request of the contents it would seem they believe your bag is lost.

They are asking for the contents so they can make you an offer. They won't make an offer until you list the contents.

6
thanks a lot for your experience sharing!

My hesitation comes from the fact that I have to pay first before getting their possible or partial refund.(as we have to provide the purchase receipt) and the money spent that is not refunded is therefore (partially) wasted and I don't have money to waste.

Initially, I didn't have any plan or thought of getting any financial compensation, I just wanted to get my luggage back. Swiss customer service is the one who kept mentioning the refund when I contacted them to get my luggage back. In the meantime, maybe they never checked my case and all their messages including the ones talking about refund are AI-generated.

7
Thanks! I struggle to understand how it could be lost. Everyone on the plane, including me, believes that the Singapore airport put the suitcase on the plane properly. So the problem is more likely on the Swiss side, whether it's Zurich or Geneva airport.

However, my luggage is not a famous brand and it wasn't new, so I don't see why anyone would take it, unless it stayed unattended in the airport for weeks, then I could understand. maybe I waited too long before going to physically check it in Geneva airport, the Geneva Swissport staff told me that their system on one hand says the luggage arrived in Geneva on the same day, the 10th, but also they haven't scanned it in Geneva (no scanning record in Geneva). what a mess!

8
It's a process, frustrating yes but they will follow it. They are not "wasting your time". They looked for your bag from the details you provided at the time, now it seems they are classing it as lost, so now want an inventory.

That would be normal, so now they have asked for the inventory, no inventory no offer, simple really.

9
You do not have to give a full inventory. Just a couple of items that will enable someone to identity it in the case that it has lost all its baggage tags. A full inventory is only required if it is lost. Your compensation claim for delay is only possible when you get it back, so you have to wait 21 days to see if it turns up before it is officially lost.

Lufthansa wasted my time continually asking me to do things when it was on them. I was told BS several times on the phone. My bag did turn up after 18 days, no explanation was given - that was on the way out. On the way back the bag was damaged after a flight delay due to "not enough staff for baggage handling". I suspect that is the real reason for so many baggage horror stories lately.

10
Delayed baggage compensation is only for immediate required purchases. For example - if your only toothbrush and toiletries are in the bag you can purchase those. If you haven't already made purchases it's highly unlikely they will reimburse you at this points with reciepts dated so long after the delay.

For my experience with Amex you had to make your purchases with 4 days of the baggage being delayed or lost and before it arrived.

I'm not an expert - but for now your only compensation would come if they say your bag is truly lost. Then you will have to list all the contents etc. and they make an offer.

11
I would have thought the same.... They will reimburse basic toiletries, perhaps a change of clothes or 2 but to say after 2 weeks that suddenly you needed those items will not hold I think.

12

The four days limit is nonsense. If your bag is delayed you are entitled for compensation for items that you need that were in the bag. Since you do not know how long the delay will be, this is a developing situation.

This site explains the situation:

https://passengersfriend.com/en/flug…per%20traveler%20per%20traveler) .

13
This site also states that "If the luggage is delayed on the return flight, you have no reason for replacement purchases."

14
Did you say that you flew to Zurich and then to Geneva from there?

Have you been able to go back to the Zurich airport to see if you can find your luggage there?

Also, had you attached an address label to the luggage before it was checked in, and which address did you use? And have you also tried contacting the Singapore airport to see if the luggage is there?

15
This may or may not be true. If you are returning home it is difficult (probably still possible depending on what was in the bag) to argue for delay costs. However the return flight may not be to "home" but rather just another temporary destination which then results in additional expenditure.

16
I have 2 experience with Swiss: once arriving back in Zurich, I was able to get reimbursement for basic toileteries, can't remember the exact value but I think it was around Fr.60.

The other time my flight was diverted somewhere else, I was put up in a hotel for about 36 hours with no access to my luggage (it wasn't lost, it was just not released to me). I could claim for toiletteries and basic clothing and the value was close to Fr.200.

I had a number of experiences with Singapore Airlines though. If you are flying economy, you get almost zilch. If you fly business class, then they will give you about USD280 or equivalent in cash straight away when you go to the lost baggage counter.

Once, I was given a much smaller amount when I arrived in Zurich, but as I have had experience with the USD280 I immediately challenged them and they pointed out that I gave a Swiss residence address on the form. Aha... so when I explained to the lady that I actually have another passport and a non-swiss address, she proceeded to take the form, shred it, and asked me to fill up another form with that non-swiss address, and gave me the USD280

17
I was only referencing my experience with AMEX Platinum travel insurance

"For my experience with Amex you had to make your purchases with 4 days of the baggage being delayed or lost and before it arrived."

18
Thing is I think the reasonable thing is to immediately buy what you really need and then agree with you that if the time goes on you may need more things

But if you bought nothing for 2 weeks, it's hard to claim you suddenly needed something.

OP what do you need to buy?

19
I arrived for a six week stay. After I wore the same clothes for three days, I then bought more (from Costco, a bargain store) over the next two weeks. When the bag finally arrived I made my claim for clothes and toiletries. Lufthansa initially cut the claimed amount by 60% but doubled their offer when I refused this.

The frustration was in dealing with their call-centre who gave me conflicting and erroneous information on a daily basis. I finally got an apology but no explanation for what had gone on.

20
Maybe consider buying an airtag if you have an iphone. At least you will know where the luggage is when it is lost.

It happened to me once, luggage was not delivered in the carousel in Geneva.

Not much information from the airline, but once I was sure luggage was arrived according to the airtag, I went to Geneva airport, using a special door to access the carousel, grabbed my bag and logged off at the counter.

If I had waited for someone to contact me, who knows how long it could have been.

The only downside I met was that localisation information is neither in real time, nor always accurate : hitting the refresh button in front of the carousel could generate high stress level, although your luggage is 50m away but too far from an iphone relaying its position.