Mumbai: A month after he lost his luggage on a flight from Mumbai to Muscat, Abdul Aziz Barudgar, Air India is still clueless about where the bag got misplaced.
Mr Barudgar, a frequent flier on the national carrier, was on October 29 dismayed to find that one of his five bags was missing after he reached his destination Muscat on AI 985.
He promptly enquired with the airline baggage counter, but learnt that his bag — which had some luxury items — had not even been loaded in the aircraft.
Mr Barudgar then approached the airline baggage counter on the international T2 in Mumbai once he had flown back, but was in for a shock as even the city officials had no idea about the location of his bag “I was sure I would get my bag in Mumbai as I was assured by the officer in-charge in Muscat airport regarding the same. However, after spending almost an hour at the counter, I learnt that my baggage was misplaced and the airline was clueless about its existence.”
The passenger, who has sworn never to travel with Air India again, said that the misplaced bag had branded and costly things in it and moreover also had his medical kit. “Luckily, I had access to the list of my medicines and hence I could buy them immediately after leaving the Muscat airport.”
An airline spokesperson told The Asian Age that it was trying its best to locate the misplaced baggage. “We have placed a tracer for the bag concerned and have been constantly investigating the matter,” said the spokesperson, who did not wish to be named.
Sudhakar Reddy, national president of the Air Passengers Association of India said, “As per the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the airline should have given the passenger some amount of money in order to buy his basic requirement at that moment. However, now the passenger should be compensated for not being given his lost baggage. The passenger should lodge a complaint on government’s new portal Air Sewa.”
Compensation guidelines:
In case there is loss or damage to a passenger’s baggage, the airline concerned is liable to pay compensation of up to 1,000 special drawing rights, or SDRs (approximately Rs 92,684.42 in local currency). In the case of checked-in baggage, the airline is liable to pay up to this amount even if it is not at fault, unless the baggage was defective. But in the case of unchecked baggage, the carrier is liable to pay the compensation only if it is at fault.
