What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? new york
I recently traveled out of the country and American Airlines lost my luggage. I was panicked and didn't want my first vacation ruined.
I was told to call when i got to my hotel, to check if luggage was on the next flight....its wasnt. I was told to call back about 5 more times that night (every time a new flight came in), still no luck.
Thank god by the next night my luggage finally arrived after a few more calls checking in on more flights.
Now my phone bill has arrived and the price is ridiculously high. I never planned on even using it and just took it for emergencies.
Is there anyway that the airline can be held responsible for my bill or partially for it??
American Airlines reserves the right to deny claims not reported within 24 hours (7 days for international travel) of reciept of your baggage. <--- this kills most claims immediately/legally as far as the DOT is concerned.
Next,
EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENT:
IF your bag is EXPECTED within 24 hours of your orignial arrival in your final destination: Every effort will be made to to return your baggage within 24hrs of filing a delayed baggage report. In these cases, AA will not authorize ANY expense reimbursement.
IF your baggage is EXPECTED more than 24 hours after flight arrival:
(this is general not specific to One World Alliance Airlines ie. AA) they will generally authorize up to 25USD per day for necessities, after the first 24hrs up to 125USD per ticketed passenger, WHILE YOU ARE AWAY FROM YOUR PERMANENET RESIDENCE .....<-----very important, also negates most claims. Reimbursement is generally based on the actual expensed incurred up to the maximum.
Normally you must file reciepts/bills , etc with the luggage office of the operating carrier bringing you to your final destination.
Lastly,
I'm not sure where you flew to but at the arrival city when you filed your claim with the operating carrier <---also very important to find out who, bc its often not who you bought your ticket from. If you have your boarding documents you can check to see what 3 digit series your ticket begins with to determine the airline you payed the money for the ticket to vs. who you actually filed a claim with. It is a thirteen digit series located in the bottom center. ie. 006 2485849163 would be a valid Delta ticket. 012 Northwest 005 continental and so on. Remember the first three digits are what concerns you. On your claim you should have recieved a File Refrence Number for your delayed baggage ie . LGWAA12345 where LGW represents the IATA airport code the claim was filed in, and AA represents the IATA airline code of the operating carrier, and 12345 represents the individual file number.
Knowing what all these mean will save you a lot of headache. your bag tag can be very helpful as well in determining what actually caused the bag to be delayed. many airline luggage handelers denote special circumstances identifiable by a numerical code that coincides with a delay chart, used to close out your file and charge the approprate station where the fault occured. If you have/ or can get this info. It will help you as well.
All in all, AA will probably not reimburse you for any charges your wireless provider assesed during that time. Most US airlines and European airlines use fairly sophisticated tracking systems to identify and resolve delayed baggage issues and often will offer the option of tracking your luggage via the internet thru a service that can aleart you once your baggage has been located. They also provide status updates via the refrence number, generally speaking.
Also note, that unless you were in someplace like Paris or London, those being the most popular european, or really international destinations that AA would serve on a more than 3 a day basis, the likelyhood of you getting your luggage on the same day when it has not arrived in customs is slim to none. For security reasons, airlines and security officals will regualrly hold luggage to be sent on the same flight number as the previous day due to the lack of frequencey of flights between any two international routes. This is also done in a effort to prevent further loss of your luggage by expediting those on non partner carriers, who although may have a greater frequency of flights than AA, do not necessarily have luggage handeling agreements.
That said, I would say you used your phone on your own dime, out of perogative and not because anyone, or airline forced you to and are simply out of luck. Sorry and Hope this helps...
