Quote:
Originally Posted by jimworcs
AA will have a hard time justifying their behaviour towards you in court, and you might have a chance of getting someone with an ounce of common sense to review your situation. Unfortunately, it appears the airlines have trained common sense out of their employees.
|
Funny, I was just about to suggest the exact same thing! For about $30 (sometimes less) you can file in small claims court. I would suggest filing in whatever small claims court has jurisdiction in Denver as it is apparent that initially your bag did not make it out of DEN. Regardless of where it went from there, the event that caused the loss and your inconvenience most likely happened at your point of embarkation.
Now here's the issue I am having when reviewing your story. Of course, if you file and AA doesn't send representation to dispute your case you will receive a summary judgement. However, you should be careful about how much you file for. The problem arises with your itinerary. As you indicated, your bag was "short-checked" to DFW, however your final destination was the Dom. Rep. Airlines have very different liabilities dollar-wise for domestic and international baggage. So what are you legally entitled to? It's a very grey area. You could argue that since the bag was checked to DFW that it should fall under domestic liability which is limited to $3000 per passenger. AA, should they decide to appear, could argue that even though the bag was initially checked to DFW, your final destination was the Dom. Rep. making it an international itinerary the liability for which is only $20 per kg. Let's assume your bag weighed 50 pounds which is the limit for transportation without an additional fee. The maximum liability in this case would only be about $450.
Finally, there is the matter of the voucher. Should AA decide to show up for the court date, they would assuredly try to mitigate any judgement by the $300 you already received in the form of this voucher. Additionally, did you sign anything when you received the voucher? If so, were you careful to read what you were signing? Unfortunately, you might have signed away any right to further recourse if you signed something to the effect that you were accepting the voucher as "payment in full" for any loss or damages.
I agree that your treatment by AA in this matter has been abominable. Fortunately, I have never experienced a lost bag but have had several delayed which were always delivered within 48 hours. In most cases the system does work, however it isn't 100% and unfortunately you have experienced this first-hand. I was on a cruise a few years ago where a fellow passenger did not get her bag before boarding the ship. It was a trans-atlantic positioning cruise and we were 5 days at say on the crossing. Her bags did not catch up to her until out third European port. Fortunately she was traveling with friends who loaned her clothing to wear but still for the entire time she worried about her belongings catching up with her in Europe. I'm sorry your vacation turned into a nightmare.