A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us a case in which Qatar Airways destroyed their Rimowa bag on the Doha – Seoul segment and refused to compensate adequately.
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You can access Qatar Airways here.
Reader’s Email:
I am reaching out for advice regarding a dispute I have with Qatar Airways. I live in Seoul and fly to Europe both privately and for business regularly and last time I decided to do a business trip to Paris with Qatar in their QSuites for the first time. The overall experience of the flights as well as the lounges in Doha and Paris was very good, and I certainly felt I could plan future trips with Qatar as well. However after the experience below that is not likely to happen.
On the way back from Paris to Seoul I took a two nights stopover in Doha. On arrival in Seoul I noticed that my suitcase was cracked. This was a one year old Rimowa suitcase with a price of EUR 1.100 (~USD1.200). I took the piece to Rimowa in Seoul for evaluation and they confirmed in writing that the case is damaged beyond repair and needs to be replaced.
After providing all the information requested to Qatar Airways luggage office in Seoul they made a “final” offer of USD 399 in cash and told me this was the most they could offer. This is way below the Montreal Convention recommendations so I responded with that fact and some other arguments.
The response was a template email which did not address any of my comments – the staff member either did not bother to read my email or did not understand enough English to comprehend it. This does not really reflect what I expect from a “5 Star Airline” with premium pricing for Business Class!
Clearly the proposed compensation is widely inadequate. The damage was caused by Qatar during the flight from Dona to Seoul (although my ticket is Seoul – Paris via Doha. Do you have any suggestions or ideas how I can approach this to get proper attention with Qatar? I am OneWorld Emerald (Finnair Plus Lumo) and although I do not have status with Qatar specifically that should still also count for something.
The Qatar Airways first requested the following information from the reader:
Hello from Qatar Airways baggage team at Incheon
First of all, we apologize for your damaged bag
We would like to request below information for your case
- passport copy
- purchased price, purchased date of damaged bag.
- damaged bag brand image
- receipt of damaged bag (if you hold)
And then:
Hello from Qatar Airways baggage team at Incheon.
First of all, we apologize for your damaged bag.
Qatar Airways can offer Maximum USD399 with your bank account for compensation.
And if you have travel insurance, we can offer insurance documents if you want.
It is impossible to duplicate the claim form Airline and Traveler’s insurance for your compensation
That means that if you accept Qatar Airways compensation, we can not offer insurance document.
Please reply us back as soon as possible.
The reader exchanged a couple of more emails with Qatar’s handling agent at Incheon without any change in the compensation offered.
The reader has three options:
- Accept the $399 from Qatar Airways and move on.
- Accept the $399 from Qatar Airways and try to claim the rest from travel insurance (if the reader has one)
- You can take Qatar Airways to court in South Korea or try to use the EU’s Small Claims Process, which may be applicable here.
Qatar Airways and the other two ME airlines (Emirates & Etihad) are all excellent in the air, but if you run into any problems, like the reader’s broken checked luggage, you are basically on your own.
The airline’s liability for checked luggage is rather low (1,288 SDR), but the EU is currently proposing that this be increased.
Note that the limit is the same regardless of how many bags the passenger checks in.
1,288 SDR is roughly 1,605 euros or 1,680 USD, which is insufficient if you use quality luggage, which can cost more than a thousand euros.
Conclusion
The airline’s liability per passenger is really low and doesn’t necessarily even cover the cost of the luggage itself.
Then, as is the case with Qatar Airways here, they try to lowball their payment, and there is no other recourse really than getting the courts involved or the consumer ombudsman.
If you travel a lot, I encourage you to look into yearly insurance that covers sudden illness and lost/delayed/stolen luggage and personal items during travel.
