Lost hold baggage - how to decide whether best to claim from airline or insurers?

[tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz]

Just that really.

Shit airline (not just the list baggage but a nightmare journey home from Italy which involved a cancelled flight and overnight hotel stop) has lost my bag. Filed report before leaving Birmingham airport hall so have my Property Irregularity Report. This was Saturday afternoon so they said to call if I've not heard after 3 days (been calling all day but no bugger answers).

So preparing my self for worse case scenario and needing to claim but it seems airline payouts can be pretty crappy but although insurers may be better we've an excess to pay

Daft question but how do I work out best way forward? If I call them both to find out what they are likely to do will it look dodgy as if I'm hedging my bets? I'm obviously only going to claim for what is missing but as I've got lots of stuff to potentially replace I want to get as much as I can.

Any words of advice?

Thanks folks. Feeling pretty fed up really.

Insurers normally won't pay out IME if someone else is to blame and could be claimed off. They may tell you that you need to claim from the airline.

Airline every time if you can - they usually pay much more

Ring your insurer and talk with them- they'll get this query all the time don't worry it won't look dodgy.

They can explain to you exactly what the cover is that you hold and how it works and talk you through any limitations you may not have noticed eg. on single items.

Insurance is probably the easiest claim but they may need you to recoup what you can from the airline first. I know with event cancellation you had to try to get all refunds due/ available back from a venue before making an insurance claim for what was left.

If the airport's not too far away I would go to lost luggage and see if it's there. Take your passport and your luggage tag. That's how I got my luggage back (albeit at a different airport) - the property irregularities reports were in a big stack on a desk and clearly nobody ever looked at them.

My travel insurance only paid out once you'd exhausted the airlines policy (I examined it closely although luckily didn't have to claim).

Next time I fly (if I ever do) I will be putting a GPS tracker in my luggage.

Thanks all for replying

Heard bugger all from the airport so called insurers who, although explained I had to try airline first, were helpful in answering random questions.

So I've been trying to call their bloody lost luggage number all day (no way to WhatsApp or do an online form) and they don't pick up

Unfortunately airport is just far enough away that, after factoring in fuel and parking costs, the contents of the case don't justify me going there to see if I can look.

On the bright side I'm a serial hoarder of receipts and have lots of photos of lost items being worn on holiday. If they ever pick up the phone of course.

Does anyone know - our insurance Ts and Cs state that if you claim and get £ and case subsequently turns up you need to pay £ back. Do they hold you to this?

How would they know the case turned up?

See I was wondering this. I'm guessing as part of a claim you supply the details from the form the airport give you ... maybe they are informed as part of the chain?

If things haven't changed since I used to deal with the claims, it's better to claim off the insurance (as they'd pay out by evidenced value minus wear and tear up to the policy limit for baggage, rather than weight) and then the Insurer would be able to claim the airline's liability amount afterwards as part of the 'not covering the proportion covered by somebody else' part. Same way a car insurer would pay for repairs and then persue the responsible driver through their insurance for the costs.

Thanks. Unfortunately insurance have said I have to try airline first but those fuckers don't pick up the phone (TUI). They have said they will consider any shortfall after the airline has paid

So preparing my self for worse case scenario and needing to claim but it seems airline payouts can be pretty crappy

For general info unless you've declared beforehand to the airline that you are carrying something of high value lost baggage compensation is usually capped due to one of the international conventions (Montreal?)...

The monetary value is expressed in a obscure unit called Special Drawing Rights (SDR) but I think max compensation from UK operators now equates to around 1300 Sterling.

Good Luck sorting this out.

Who was actually operating the flight? TUI usually acts like a travel agent or charters planes but the actual carrier is likely to have been some other company and you'll have to register your claim with them directly within a week.

It was a TUI plane for sure.

Of course if the shits would actually answer their phone one could clarify details like this before deadlines are reached.

Considering setting myself up on Twitter to contact them if I can't get through this weekend