[Julie]

I recently travelled via Air France from Birmingham to Charles de Gaulle, catching a connecting flight to Atlanta, and then via Delta to New Orleans. On arrival at Atlanta my luggage was missing, and I was told to report this at my final destination, ie: New Orleans (this was however a Delta desk with Delta reference). My luggage finally appeared, after a lot of telephone calls after 48 hours (it had apparently been left in Paris), the case was ripped, every single item of toiletry was broken, the case of soaking wet.....not from the toiletries as they were inside another bag......but it smelt disgusting and the clothes were wet and stained brown. I can only assume the case had been left in the rain and due to the heat the water had become stagnent. I had to throw half of the clothes away as even after washing they still smelt, and some items were dry clean only, along with some electrical items.

On my return journey, it was no surprise to find my luggage had gain been left behind in Paris by Air France again, and I reported this at Birmingham, and have an Air France reference, that appeared 16 hours later.

Problem I know have is Air France wont take responsibility for the lost and damaged luggage on the outbound journey as I have a Delta reference, although the first time I spoke to them I was told to write to them enclosing all the baggage claim forms etc, but that person has now left the Company apparently.

They are so rude, they dont have the ability to let me speak to a Supervisor, and dont know the telephone number for their complaints department.

I really dont know where to go from here...........(I have also tried my travel insurance, Axa).

[jimworcs]

You are entitled to redress and the level of compensation is covered by the Montreal convention. Because this is an international journey, your compensation is limited to the special drawing rights which are documented on the website.

You can complain in the UK to the Air Transport Users Council. As your journey originated and terminated in the UK, they should be able to assist at least in pressing AF to respond to you. AF and Delta are in the Skyteam alliance, so it is utterly disingenuous for them to blame each other.

Once you have been compensated by AF, you can also claim on your AXA insurance for anything that was not covered. If the clothes were destroyed, then you are entitled to claim. If Axa are unhelpful you can appeal to the insurance ombudsman, who's findings are binding on the insurance company.

As a last resort, it is very easy to file a small claims court claim in the UK, which will at least force AF to respond. It is cheap and can be done entirely online.

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

This link explains everything...

[Julie]

Thanks so much for your help, I will follow up everything you have suggested.