Baggage damaged - compo?

Hi,
A friend of mine had a bag lost when flying BA from Vienna to Cork , via London. The bag was eventually returned to her 5 days later, looking like it had been run over by a tank! Ripped, mangled, clothes soaked from 2 broken bottles of wine.
No explanation given by Aer Lingus Baggage handling who were dealing with it from Cork. A damage report has been filed with them and they will send the bag off to be repaired, although I honestly think it can't be fixed. I understand it will then be replaced.
My question is whether any compensation is likely to be offered by Aer Lingus? There was no major loss, but it was upsetting and inconvenient as several gifts and new clothes were soaked. What are their legal liabilties? Or is it more properly BA I should be contacting? Even a gersture would be satisfactory.

All comments welcome.

Thanks,
Brian

Have you contacted your travel insurance company ? They should deal with this.

She didn't have any travel insurance - in spite of my advice!!

Bofarr01,

I don't understand why Aer Lingus would be handling the baggage in Cork. You said that this person travelled from Vienna-Cork via London with BA. Why were Aer Lingus involved - did they operate the flight on behalf of BA from London to Cork?

The rules regarding the liability of air carriers in the event of death or injury of passengers, loss of baggage or cargo or cargo or dely during international air transport are set down in the Warsaw Convention 1929 and latterly, the Montreal Convention 1999. The Montreal Convention was introduced in Ireland in 2004.

The carrier you need to get in touch with, is the one who operated the flight (in this case, either BA or Aer Lingus). Under the terms of the Montreal Convention 1999 they are liable for damage caused by delay in the carriage of passengers, baggage and cargo, unless they can prove that they took all reasonable measures to avoid the damage or it was impossible to take such measures. The limits of liability were fixed at (€5,900) in the case of delay to passengers, (€1,400) for loss, damage or delay of checked baggage, and (€24) per kg for cargo.

You appear to have already completed a PIR (Property Irregularity Report) and the luggage has been sent for repair.

I suggest your next step, should be to wait until the repaired (if possible?) bag is returned to you and if you are still unhappy, you now need to make your complaint (in writing) to the air carrier that damaged the baggage, remembering to cite the Montreal Convention. Your letter should clearly state you are making a claim for damaged baggage. I might recommend you check if you have any receipts for the damaged items as this will help with your claim. Alternatively, you could try sourcing the same items here or see if you could obtain a statement from a shop here in Ireland stating the replacement cost of replacing a similar item.

I hope this has been of assistance. You should note also, the information on Oasis about Airline Liability matters and the Warsaw Convention is out of date and is in the process of being updated.

Hope this is of assistance.