[prabhuramsingh]

I traveled from Mumbai to Kigali on 19th July 2013 by your Flight ET611 and had a Change of Flight at Addis Ababa with ET811. The flight ET611 was delayed at Mumbai for about 1 Hour and a Half which was just communicated to the passengers without any regrets by the Airlines Executives.

At Addis Ababa, everyone had to rush for the next connecting flight due to the previous delay of 1 Hour and a Half at Mumbai. When trying to Board the flight ET811 to Kigali via Entebbe, some of the Airlines executives requested almost all the passengers to Check-in their Hand Baggage by saying there is no enough space inside the Aircraft. So, everyone had to leave their Hand Baggage in the Jet Bridge itself as advised by their executives. In my case, i didn't have a Padlock to lock my cabin Baggage which i had clearly informed to those executives. They promised me that nothing to worry about the Lock or the Baggage and gave me a small sticker for reference to collect the Baggage at Kigali and also put a sticker on my Baggage. (After boarded the flight i myself witnessed that there were enough room in the Overhead Lockers and wondered why many of us were asked to Check-in the baggages)

After reaching Kigali, i had collected my both Baggages (One was checked-in at Mumbai and the other was checked-in at Addis) and reached Home. While opening the Baggages, i found that my "Camera Bag that contains a Nikon D5200 Body with two Nikkor Lenses 18-55mm & 55-300mm and two Batteries - Bought them from USA in June 2013 through Amazon", "AT&T Mobile Phone Wrist Watch - Bought it from USA in June 2013 through Amazon along with the above mentioned Nikon Camera Bundle" and a "500GB Seagate Expansion Hard Drive" were missing from the Hand Baggage which i was asked/forced to Check-in at Addis Ababa.

I have made a complaint to them online on 22/07/2013 morning and also wrote an email to their Public Relations copying their COO's Email (Which i googled & found in web). Since not even an acknowledgment recd from any of them, again forwarded the same email to their Public Relations, Customer Relations copying their COO again and also their CEO (Which also i googled & found in web). Awaiting their reply on my issue..

Those lost items must come back to me as this is an absolute negligence and 100% Responsibility of Ethiopian Airlines, because their executives were forced me to Check-in my Cabin Baggage even after i explained them that i do not have a Padlock and i have valuables inside it.

[jimworcs]

The airline is absolutely responsible... there is a complete lack of effective accountability by airlines to manage the situation when hand luggage is forced to be checked. Passengers have no means of protecting their most valuable items.