Items removed from our baggage Air France

We have just returned from our Honeymoon after getting married down in South Africa. We had a wonderfull time and beautifull wedding there.
However I bought 2 Lions rugby shirts as it marks the year of our wedding in South Africa. Our bags were marked priorty by Air France as a gesture for our occasion. When we pick up my bag in Dublin one side had been unzipped. The green plastic bag the 2 shirts were in was still in there but the Lions shirts are gone.
We are devasted by this as they were half the price of here firstly and we bought them in South Africa where we got married in the year of the tour which is marked on the shirt.
Do we have any comeback with Air France?? The excess on our travel insurance probably means thats not an option. Any suggestions welcome as we are very upset by this happening.

i did a quick search as i remembered an old thread similar to this.

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=72464&highlight=airline+items

i didn't read the full thread, just the first few replies and Paris was mentioned twice.Did you have stopover in Paris? also a mention of a flight from South Africa.

what a horrible thing to happen to you.

i hope you get some result.


but it may just be one of those things you have to put behind you and remember your lovely wedding and honeymoon.try not to let it spoil the time you had.

Yes, flew Johannesburg to Paris onto Dublin.

Theft is a major problem in S.A.
This problem has been reported on, but little action seems to have taken place by the South African government
[broken link removed]

We were victims last year when travelling from Johannesburg.
Had two watches stolen which I had hidden in a pair of socks. Im guessing only an xray would have known where they were.
My thinking is the security personel are also involved.

it's a hard lesson to learn but you should never pack anything in your checked in luggage that you would be upset to lose. As a seasoned traveller I bring an almost empty carry on bag so that I put anything of value either financial or sentimental in that. A lesson we learned some time ago. Sorry to hear you had to go through this too.