[morris lando]

Following is a letter of complaint I sent to Qatar's main office in Doha and personally gave to their operations manager in Khartoum on January 4. To date I have had no response from anyone.

Dear Sir or Madam:

I wish to make a formal complaint about the terrible service of Qatar Airways in Sudan and Doha that resulted in the loss of a bag containing US$3,000 of scuba equipment. The sequence of events is as follows:

1. I checked in with Qatar Airways, flight 521 from Khartoum to Doha, on December 18 with a connection on flight 656 to Cebu on December 19.
2. I checked in one bag in Khartoum and had another carry-on bag with most of my scuba safety equipment.
3. After getting my boarding pass I went through security and was told that I could not take the carry-on bag with me because there was two (underwater) flashlights and a scuba regulator in the bag.
4. I explained that the equipment was very valuable and that I have always carried it as a carry-on but I was told that I must check it in.
5. The female Qatar Airway agent at the boarding gate took the bag and issued me an Interline limited Release tag (#0157QR211698) showing that the bag was to go to Cebu. I told her that the equipment was worth $3,000 and that my safety under water depended on it and that some of the equipment was fragile.
6. I asked that she put a fragile sticker on the bag but in the following 15 minutes before boarding she had not done so and I saw her kicking the bag to move it.
7. When I arrive in Doha I had only enough time to get to the boarding gate for the Cebu flight. I asked the man collecting my boarding pass in check on the computer to make sure both on my bags had been transferred and HE REFUSED TO DO SO.
8. When I got to Cebu the bag with all of my equipment was not on the plane.
9. I spoke to the Qatar baggage agent in Cebu and he filled out a Property Irregularity Report (PIR), kept the original Interline limited Release tag (#0157QR211698) but gave me a photocopy of it.
10. During the next two weeks I made frequent calls to your agents in Cebu (Floyd, Epi, Kris) and they told me they were doing what they could to trace the bag. A week or so later they faxed me a Passenger Property Questionnaire (I was staying at a dive resort on Leyte) and told me to fill it out and turn it in when I returned to Cebu for my return flight to Khartoum on January 2. (I have a copy of the two-page form but they kept the original.)
11. When I was at the Cebu airport Floyd showed me a number of emails and faxes that had been sent to Khartoum and told me that he had NEVER RECEIVED ANY RESPONSE.
12. He also explained that the Interline limited Release tag number (0157QR211698) had never been entered into the computer system and so there was no ‘official’ record of it.
13. He also told me that I would ask that an agent meet me upon arrival in Khartoum but there was NO AGENT AT the AIRPORT BAGGAGE AREA.
14. I listed 15 items on the Passenger Property Questionnaire with a total (replacement) value of US$3,000. I may be able to find a few receipts of bank/credit card statements for some on the items but not for most of them as I often paid cash for them.

Obviously I want to be reimbursed for the replacement value of this equipment but I also want to file a complaint for negligence (#6, 11, 12), incompetence (#6, 11, 12, 13), and theft against the female agent in Khartoum and negligence (#7) and incompetence (#7) against the male agent in Doha.

I will go to the main Qatar Airways office tomorrow and try to talk to the manager. If I am not totally satisfied with the outcome I will file a criminal complaint for theft with the police against Qatar Airway in Khartoum.

This was my first and probably my last flight with Qatar. While I was very pleased with the help your agents in Cebu gave me I am equally (if not more) unhappy with the negligence and incompetence of those responsible for the loss of my equipment. Do you really want such people working for you?

Morris Lando

I cannot imagine that it will do any good but I will file a police report for theft against Qatar Air and all of its employees in Sudan.

[The_Judge]

I saw this complaint on another site and thought I'd give my 3 cents worth here.

I've not really thought about filing a police report for a missing piece of luggage but I'm all for it. It may put an end to lost luggage if the police actually acted on the complaint and more people started doing it. Good luck and keep us posted.

[jimworcs]

I would absolutely love it if the police actually investigated and forced the airline to investigate. If ever there was a clear cut case, this is it. The passenger did everything they could to protect their property...