Air Canada “destroyed” Donna Wells-Boyle’s expensive luggage. Why won’t it repair or replace it? And how much does it owe her?
Q: Air Canada destroyed my Rimowa suitcase on a recent flight from Toronto to San Francisco.
The airline instructed me to send the suitcase to a repair agent in Texas. The agent declared the suitcase unrepairable even though they had no contract with Rimowa or product expertise in that brand.
Air Canada then offered me a choice of inferior replacement bags, which I declined, and recently sent me a $230 check in proposed compensation.
I paid roughly $1,000 for my Rimowa bag, which was of a quality worthy of a lifetime suitcase, so neither of these options is acceptable to me.
I have had multiple unsuccessful phone calls with Air Canada. I’ve escalated my complaint to the CEO by email using your contact information on your website. I have received no response.
I want Air Canada to either send the luggage to an authorized Rimowa repair shop and pay for the repairs or refund me for the luggage. Can you help? — Donna Wells-Boyle, Portola Valley, Calif.
A: Air Canada should have handled your luggage with care. And if your checked baggage was damaged while it was in the airline’s custody, it should have promptly paid for a repair or replacement.
Under the Montreal Convention, which governs international flights, Air Canada’s maximum liability is $3,800, considerably more than you claimed.
Before I understand what went wrong, I must say something about checking $1,000 luxury designer luggage. I saw this recently when I was standing in front of a five-star hotel in Barbados (I was not staying there—too expensive!). Another guest had Italian designer luggage unfit to be checked, even on a private jet. It was strictly for show.
Elliott’s guiding principles for luggage are durability and inconspicuousness. You scored well on durability: Your checked bag was made of sturdy plastic, and, in your words, it was in “perfect” shape after many years and tens of thousands of miles of commercial air travel. But you also want your checked bag to hold up to the rigours of travel without attracting too much attention, and pricey Rimowa luggage is a little flashy. You were lucky it wasn’t stolen.
That doesn’t let Air Canada off the hook. It accepted your bag, and you paid a fee to transport your luggage. Sending your luggage to someone who doesn’t understand how to fix Rimowa’s luggage is not my idea of assuming responsibility for the damage.
Unfortunately, you bought the bag over 10 years ago and do not have the receipt. The bag’s serial number (assuming it’s not been thrown out at this point) would tell me the exact year of purchase. It certainly is past what was, at the time, its five-year warranty. (I believe the bags are now sold with a lifetime warranty.)
You kept an excellent paper trail between yourself and Air Canada, which showed that you followed all the correct procedures. It shows you are trying to get the luggage repaired. Air Canada is offering you an unacceptable replacement, and you sent a $270 check, which wasn’t enough to replace the luggage.
Here’s where things went off the rails a little. As I mentioned, your luggage is well-worn, and you don’t have a receipt. When you request a replacement, Air Canada can ask for proof of your purchase. You may not get the total amount if you don’t have it. Also, given the bag’s age, there’s some depreciation.
It looks like you appealed this to one of the executive contacts for Air Canada that I publish on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. And it also looks like Air Canada didn’t bother to respond. Not good.
I asked Air Canada to review your luggage claim. Air Canada says that “after further review,” they are sending you an additional check, so your total compensation is $500.
“I still think they owe me more,” you told me, “but I’m going to call it a day at this point.”
Written by: Christopher Elliott
BIO:
Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. You can email him at chris@elliott.org or contact him on his site.
© 2024 Christopher Elliott.