Airhead wrote:
Tell the airline of the situation and related costs. Let the airline know you are entitled to all expenses since the luggage did not make it and were stranded in an airport away from the destination. The airline has to pay these expenses. Take legal action after they refuse to pay the claim. That avoids weird loop holes in the law that may make you look negligent if you take rash action too quickly. And believe me the airlines have small bands of lawyers who are ready and willing to do whatever it takes to win.
You can expedite the situation simply by sending the airline what, in legal terms, is called a "demand letter." In this letter you do, as Airhead has suggested: Tell the airline of the situation and related costs. Let the airline know you are entitled to all expenses since the luggage did not make it and were stranded in an airport away from the destination. Also make it clear, in the letter, you will not accept flight vouchers in lieu of cash as payment. As I've said in previous posts said vouchers are sometimes not even worth the paper they're printed on. End your letter by saying you expect payment within 60 days; that you will commence litigation if said payment is not received. Also, obtain, from the Washington Secretary of State's Office, the address for "legal service" for the airline you intend to sue. An original copy of your "demand letter" should be sent to said "legal service" address. You may wish to send a copy of your "demand letter" to the airline's corporate headquarters. However, if it were me, I would not do it. A letter sent to the corporate headquarters simply gives the airline a better opportunity to defend itself (when, in fact, it probably has NO defense.) Sending a letter only to the "legal service" address will satisfy the Court's requirements, and, there's a chance the contractor which the airline employs, to operate the legal service address, won't forward your letter in enough time for the airline to properly prepare--thus you stand a better chance of no one showing-up for the airline, and you get a default judgment.
As to the "small bands of lawyers:" Lawyers are NOT allowed in the vast majority of Small Claims Courts. Perhaps the airline can send a para-legal, however you have a right to make a motion to have the para-legal dismissed in the interest of fairness. Whether the Court rules in your favor remains to be seen.
Another poster on this board, "Jetliner," seems to take the opposite view about lawyers being allowed in Small Claims Court. He would have you believe that few, if any, Small Claims Courts bar lawyers. I'll bet, if one checked, Jetliner's home state of Florida probably bans lawyers from Small Claims Courts. Jetliner goes ballastic whenever the "divine authority" of an airline is challenged.
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