Here is an update as to the status of our travel insurance processing.
American Airlines - I suspect that American still holds on to the hope -however faint - that my missing bag will eventually be found. The fact that its been five weeks since report of the mishandled baggage is besides the point. AA's Central Baggage Service tells me it is still working on bag tracing but its hard not to believe that this office is merely waiting for the bag to show up on its own at some American Airlines location. I was told by American Airlines staff that 97 percent of all delayed baggage is found and delivered. This statistic may more accurately reflect baggage recovery from domestic flights and recovery within five days of delayed bag report. Maybe I read too many crime mysteries, but I seem to recall that the first 48 hours yield the most results in typical investigations. Perhaps my lost bag has become a "cold case." One would think that if there is only a three percent chance that a mishandled bag will be found after five days, then the incident should be turned over to the claims office for payment within a week or two of the missing baggage report.
If the airline baggage tag was torn off the bag, the bag's two red and orange personal identification tags haven't assisted the search to any degree. I'm wondering of the value of personal luggage tags at this point - presuming the bag wasn't stolen.
I am hoping that Central Baggage Service will soon turn the incident over to the AA Claims Office. I was informed that the Claims Office will take three to five weeks before paying a claim - even though all paperwork describing the bag and its contents with valuation was sent to American over four weeks ago. Call me skeptic, but I wonder if this slow claims process is another way for American to add time to the search process and/or delay actual payment.
TravelEx - Four weeks after submitting a travel insurance claim, TravelEx paid the maximum luggage coverage (about half of content replacement value) and provided full reimbursement of all the trip delay/interruption costs. Once a full description of the luggage contents and trip costs were submitted to TravelEx, the next time I heard from the company was the receipt of a postal envelope with two checks inside. No discussion or negotiation was necessary with the claims administrator. TravelEx was informed that American Airlines was unsuccessful in its baggage search after four weeks and that was enough time for TravelEx to generate a check for lost luggage. This was a reasonable claim experience from my perspective.
Credit Card Insurance - As TravelEx covered all trip delay/interruption costs, I asked the credit card insurer to drop a similar claim. There was no financial gap in TravelEx's coverage for trip delay/interruption.
The credit card insurer claim for lost luggage continues to be on hold status. Unlike TravelEx, the credit card insurer is waiting for American to either find the bag or forward me a check. Given that I've received payment from TravelEx for about half value of the lost bag contents, the credit card insurer wants to know the extent to which American covers the remaining balance and, if there is still a coverage gap, then the credit card insurer will determine how much of the gap it will reimburse.
Overall, American Airlines contributes the most delay to the claims process when dealing with delayed or lost luggage. If I understand the schedule, it could take ten weeks for American to either find a delayed bag or produce a check for a lost checked-in bag and its contents. Presuming the latter, the credit card insurer settlement will likely require an additional three to four weeks after a decision by American. So, all told, settling a reimbursement claim for a lost bag could take over three months to resolve. Not at all a timely process. Rather than wait, I'm starting to replace items in the lost bag in preparation for our next trip.
Lessons learned:
American Airlines - I suspect that American still holds on to the hope -however faint - that my missing bag will eventually be found. The fact that its been five weeks since report of the mishandled baggage is besides the point. AA's Central Baggage Service tells me it is still working on bag tracing but its hard not to believe that this office is merely waiting for the bag to show up on its own at some American Airlines location. I was told by American Airlines staff that 97 percent of all delayed baggage is found and delivered. This statistic may more accurately reflect baggage recovery from domestic flights and recovery within five days of delayed bag report. Maybe I read too many crime mysteries, but I seem to recall that the first 48 hours yield the most results in typical investigations. Perhaps my lost bag has become a "cold case." One would think that if there is only a three percent chance that a mishandled bag will be found after five days, then the incident should be turned over to the claims office for payment within a week or two of the missing baggage report.If the airline baggage tag was torn off the bag, the bag's two red and orange personal identification tags haven't assisted the search to any degree. I'm wondering of the value of personal luggage tags at this point - presuming the bag wasn't stolen.
I am hoping that Central Baggage Service will soon turn the incident over to the AA Claims Office. I was informed that the Claims Office will take three to five weeks before paying a claim - even though all paperwork describing the bag and its contents with valuation was sent to American over four weeks ago. Call me skeptic, but I wonder if this slow claims process is another way for American to add time to the search process and/or delay actual payment.
TravelEx - Four weeks after submitting a travel insurance claim, TravelEx paid the maximum luggage coverage (about half of content replacement value) and provided full reimbursement of all the trip delay/interruption costs. Once a full description of the luggage contents and trip costs were submitted to TravelEx, the next time I heard from the company was the receipt of a postal envelope with two checks inside. No discussion or negotiation was necessary with the claims administrator. TravelEx was informed that American Airlines was unsuccessful in its baggage search after four weeks and that was enough time for TravelEx to generate a check for lost luggage. This was a reasonable claim experience from my perspective.
Credit Card Insurance - As TravelEx covered all trip delay/interruption costs, I asked the credit card insurer to drop a similar claim. There was no financial gap in TravelEx's coverage for trip delay/interruption.
The credit card insurer claim for lost luggage continues to be on hold status. Unlike TravelEx, the credit card insurer is waiting for American to either find the bag or forward me a check. Given that I've received payment from TravelEx for about half value of the lost bag contents, the credit card insurer wants to know the extent to which American covers the remaining balance and, if there is still a coverage gap, then the credit card insurer will determine how much of the gap it will reimburse.
Overall, American Airlines contributes the most delay to the claims process when dealing with delayed or lost luggage. If I understand the schedule, it could take ten weeks for American to either find a delayed bag or produce a check for a lost checked-in bag and its contents. Presuming the latter, the credit card insurer settlement will likely require an additional three to four weeks after a decision by American. So, all told, settling a reimbursement claim for a lost bag could take over three months to resolve. Not at all a timely process. Rather than wait, I'm starting to replace items in the lost bag in preparation for our next trip.
Lessons learned:
- Keep an updated inventory list of items in your checked bags. If you don't have an inventory, over the next 3-5 days, post bag delay, create one. If you're making a list from memory, you may find a few extra days will help you to notice the items you're missing.
- Keep e-receipts or email confirmations from travel items purchased online.
- As soon as you experience a baggage delay/loss or trip interruption, review the claims process and documentation requirements of your travel insurance sources. Note time restrictions.
- Periodically (weekly?) contact your travel insurers to ensure you are aware of any missing documentation or incident questions.
- Do not place rented or borrowed items in your check-in luggage - even a small item such as a camera battery charger.
Thanks for the two-part review and result of insurance claims. We have not had to resort to submitting a claim as yet, but I'm sure the day will come that we will have to do so.
ReplyDeleteAmerican finally moved our lost luggage paperwork to its claims office (3/26/2015). Fingers are crossed that the airlines will settle the claim by April 16 - about 11 weeks after the delayed/lost luggage report was initially filed. We were lucky that the luggage incident occurred during our return. It would have been an interesting challenge to replace our Antarctica winter clothes at the start of our trip.
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