Camera Went Missing On Flight - Worth Claiming?

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BobbyFowler

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I had a good Nikon Camera packed in (stowed) luggage on the way over to Washington. We flew to London & then on to Washington. There's no sign of the camera on this end. I've double checked with my folks as we left from their place. We're emigrating to Oz at the moment. I'm wondering if it's my own stupidity & I actually left the camera in their place. They say there's no sign. The thing is that I also brought a video camera & I have that. I'm 99% sure it was in the bag all along. Anyone with any experience of their bags being tampered with? I've got VHI Travel Insurance. I've got the folks to make a final check on their side. Presuming that they say there's no sign - is it easy / worth my while to make a claim?
 
By your own admission you are not totally sure that the loss was not due to your own negligence so surely to claim would be dodgy?
 
I know what you mean. It's a Digital SLR so it's a big piece of kit. There's always a seed of doubt. If it's not in the parents place, at the very least beside where I was packing the bag in the sitting room, & it's not in my hotel room, then I'm taking it that it's gone AWOL in the meantime. But like I mentioned, why was the Video Camera not taken? As I think about it though, the Video Camera case looks a bit like a toiletry bag.
 
Who says it was taken? You could presumably have just left it behind in the taxi/car, airport etc.?
 
I closed the case (but didn't lock it) in my parents place. I put it through in Dublin airport. I didn't see the case until arriving in Washington. I didn't open it until I arrived in my hotel. There's no sign of the camera. The case would have gone to London & then onto Washington.
 
I'd say it's worth a try. Travel Insurance covers you for loss and you've lost something. Should be fairly straightforward to claim .
 
The golden rule of travel is never ever put anything in a checked bag that you can't afford to lose.

Have you filed a report with the airline? Police? You will need these to claim.
 
VHI travel insurance won't cover "checked in items", so I'm afraid you will have to suffer the loss. Ha d a similar prob last year flying from Madrid, camera was missing when we got home.
Its a lesson learnt.
 
What's not covered

"Loss, theft or damage to Valuables from checked-in luggage left in the custody of an airline or hotel and/or Valuables packed in luggage left in the
baggage hold or storage area of another carrier."

You're right there Pat. Normally I'd always have these valuables in my carry case. Not this time though. Like you said, lesson learned.​
 
Quick follow up to this - my dad mentioned this so I thought I'd just post this before following it up. Are the Airline I travelled with responsible for baggage that is checked in? It's a year down the line but can I claim any loss from them? Anyone with any experience of this? I ended up going out & buying the same camera in Oz.
 
We had clothes stolen from luggage on an Air France flight from Jo'burg to Dublin via Paris. They took 2 Lions jerseys we bought which were in a plastic bag with receipt. We claimed from Air France and they paid us the cost of the Lions jerseys but not my 3 year old jeans as we could produce the receipt for the jerseys. We had to lodge theft claim within seven days after flight, but the whole thing was relatively straight forward. I would say claim if your happy that it was stolen from your luggage.
 
Stuff gets stolen from checked bags all the time. I have a friend who is airport police at a very busy airport and he says that they are all the time catching baggage handlers with cameras. Its a huge problem.
 
Happened my friend on a flight home from JFK. There was a abag overweight so she put her hand luggage through i an hurry, forgot about all her expensive jewellery (10K worht) and when she got home the jewellery was gone. Never leave valuables in checked luggage esp going to/coming from the US.
 
Bob the slob said:
Never leave valuables in checked luggage esp going to/coming from the US.
Click to expand...

I think the US bit is uncalled for. Baggage theft and theft from baggage is a universal problem, so I don't know why you single out the US? In general baggage handlers are poorly paid, not the most educated and have temptation put in their way all day every day...and like every job you're going to have a few bad apples. Add in a poor country and the risk increases!

Paris CDG and Johannesburg are two of the airports with the worst reputations I know of.
 
Its amusing looking back at this thread, with the recent events at Dublin airport. How right we all were.
 
About 11 years I flew with British Midland (Now BMI) from Belfast to Heathrow; when I picked up my rucksack from the carousel, the flap was open and a piece of clothing hanging out. I checked through the rucksack at the time and everything appeared to be ok.

It was a couple of days later that I copped that my glasses were missing (I normally wear contact lenses). I rang up the airline, they sent out a claim form; I bought myself a new pair of glasses and sent the receipt in with the claim form and within days I was re-imbursed.

What amazed me about the whole thing was that British Midland made no quibbles about it and just took my claim at face value; I know I only ended up claiming £75stg at the time but still......

Wonder if it would be that easy with Ryanair?!?!?!!?
 
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