On Thursday 15 May I flew with easyJet from Barcelona to Stansted. I checked in one suitcase. When I collected my baggage at Stansted, I found that it had been damaged. The case had been torn on the side and that the pull handle had been ripped from the back of the case. I reported this at the airport on, arrival and was told that my claim was against easyJet as the carrier but that as I was returning to Barcelona on the following Monday there would not be time to process my claim and that I should make it on my return.
I did so. I took the case to a baggage shop, which gave me an official claim form (and charged me 24 euros for doing so) stating that the case was in new condition (I had had it about a year and had used it maybe half a dozen times), was beyond repair, and that its value was sixty euros. On 25 May I mailed easyJet with a copy of the form and photos of the case. I received a mail by return, which said:
Thank you for your e-mail which has been passed to our Baggage Claims Team.
They will endeavour to respond to you with more details within 14 days of receipt of this acknowledgement.
Kind Regards,
easyJet Baggage Claims Team
On 3 June I received this (my emphasis):
Ref: EZB080528HAREF
Dear Mr Harvey
Thank you for your letter from which I am very sorry to learn that your baggage was mishandled following your recent journey with easyJet.
Despite our very best efforts to avoid this type of occurrence, where there is a mixture of manual and mechanical labour unfortunately such incidents can happen, although only to a small percentage of the baggage carried on our flights.
Fair enough. I understand that.
To enable us to give further consideration to your claim, I would be grateful if you could please forward to us the following documentation.
Original or clear copy of your booking confirmation covering the entire air travel.
Thank you for your co-operation and we look forward to hearing from you in due course.
Yours sincerely,
Eloise Rowland
Baggage Claims Department
Now, this is very odd. I would have thought that the baggage receipts – which bear my name and the date and flight number – would have been sufficient by themselves to act as confirmation that I had booked and flown on that date. But if easyJet need more, then they need only to look to their own records of passenger lists, which they are obliged to keep for a certain time. Why should the passenger be obliged to send additional information, which he might not still have? One obvious answer does spring to mind, of course. In fact, I was able to send a copy of my booking form and did so on 3 June. I received a mail by return, which said:
Thank you for your e-mail which has been passed to our Baggage Claims Team.
They will endeavour to respond to you with more details within 14 days of receipt of this acknowledgement.
Kind Regards,
easyJet Baggage Claims Team
On 26 June I sent another mail to ask what was going on. I received a mail by return, which – you will not be surprised to know – said:
Thank you for your e-mail which has been passed to our Baggage Claims Team.
They will endeavour to respond to you with more details within 14 days of receipt of this acknowledgement.
Kind Regards,
easyJet Baggage Claims Team
There the matter rests. I have sent another reminder. I hope that I will soon be able to report that the matter has been resolved satisfactorily.
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