Woman accuses airlines after losing valuables

World
Europe

Using her savings to go on an overseas holiday, a Chinese woman who preferred to go by Li, had a great trip in the UK, but ended up with a terrible result – losing her valuable belongings.

Li has slammed both Malaysia Airlines and China Eastern Airlines online after she saw that her checked luggage was missing a Louis Vuitton bag worth more than 7,000 yuan (1,052 US dollars) and a treasured memento purchased during her trip. After multiple attempts, she has not yet received a satisfactory response from either airline.

Li's missing golden memento. /Weibo Photo

Li took a Malaysia Airlines flight from London to Kuala Lumpur on October 14, and then transferred to a different flight headed for Pudong International Airport, Shanghai. She placed both the bag and memento into her unlocked luggage.

After arriving in Shanghai, Li and other passengers from her flight found that their check-in bags did not arrive on time. They filled out property irregularity reports to receive their delayed luggage as soon as possible.

China Eastern Airlines is an agent of Malaysia Airlines for luggage issues in Shanghai, taking charge of problems like lost, delayed or damaged luggage.

The property irregularity report Li filled out. /Weibo Photo

On October 17, the delayed luggage was finally sent to Li’s home in Ningbo, east China’s Zhejiang Province. Not until she opened the case did she notice the bag and the golden souvenir was missing, and the place where she put her bag had been replaced with her wash bag.

Li's check-in bag. /Weibo Photo

Li then wrote a baggage way bill, adding detailed information about what she lost. Coincidentally, Li’s friend who traveled with her had lost goods as well, although it was some relatively inexpensive chocolates.

The baggage way bill Li wrote. /Weibo Photo

After waiting for ten days, Li called the airlines many times and sent nearly ten emails to them, yet the airlines only told her that valuables cannot be packed in checked bags and referred her to Malaysia Airlines' main office to resolve the problem. In an email, China Eastern Airlines told Li that her compensation amount is outside of their indemnity allowance, and the maximum amount they could refund was 300 yuan (45 US dollars).

China Eastern Airlines replied Li via email for the first time on October 18, saying that valuables cannot be consigned and Li's claimed indemnity is beyond their maximum. /Weibo Photo

China Eastern Airlines replied to Li on October 19, saying that Li could only get a maximum refund of 300 yuan (45 US dollars). /Weibo Photo

China Eastern Airlines’ latest reply on Saturday gave Li a case number, in an attempt to help her smoothly solve the issue with Malaysia Airlines’ head office.

China Eastern Airlines' latest reply on Saturday. /Weibo Photo

After Li’s case was posted online, others started sharing similar experiences on China’s microblogging platform Weibo.

“Last year from Kunming to Urumchi, I packed a handmade leather belt in my check-in bag, but only when I arrived home I found the belt was missing,” @Winnidawang said.

A staff at a travel agency surnamed Zhang told Zhejiang-based newspaper jingbaonet.com that “Missing valuables in check-in bag are not rare cases. Some guests made complaints to airline companies after losing their valuables, but they finally admitted to bad luck after not receiving any responds for a long time.”

However, others argued that it’s common sense not to put your valuables in checked baggage, noting that airports have thieves as well.

Li's complaint letter to Malaysia Airlines on October 20. /Weibo Photo

Wu Xiaofeng, a lawyer in Zhejiang told jingbaonet.com that Li should claim indemnity to Malaysia Airlines, the other side of the contract she signed.

To avoid facing a situation like Li’s, Wu reminds passengers to declare valuables for checked baggage in advance, buy baggage insurance and make complaints to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) or local Consumer Protection Association. If the complaint is invalid, customers can sue the carrier in conditional courts.