Jet Airways-horrible service-HELP!!

shere

Montreal Convention supercedes the Warsaw Convention. India and Canada are signed up for the Montreal Convention. The weight based compensation was stipulated in the Warsaw Convention. Under Montreal you are entitled to upto 1000SDR

The Warsaw convention only applies if you are going or coming from a country that has not signed up for the Montreal Convention.

The airline has 21 days to find your bags before they have to legally accept it is lost.

Contact the JA chap again and mention to him that air travel between India and Canada is governed by the Montreal Conention and as such they owe you the equivalent of upto 1000SDR. Tell him you will give he 7 (or 14 days) before you initiate a legal claim.

Mickey S

The important words here, though, are "up to". The airline is liable for up to 1000 SDR, but is only obliged to pay the replacement value of the items actually lost.

And, as you have admitted,so you may get very little from the airline even if they do finally admit that the bag is lost and that they are liable.

Ariell

Thank you very much Shere!! How do you know this? Do you know where I can confirm this online? I've done a search and cannot find the information.

machadinha

Don't know anything about this, but: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Convention . See the extrenal links at bottom there, including http://www.montrealconvention.org/ . I won't vouch for how reliable that latter site is, but check it out.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Convention

ps Do please remember Wikipedia is an open project, made by its users, and there's a lot of unreliable information there. I'm only offering it for quick easy reference, and it usually offers further links, or will at least produce some keywords to do further web searches on. You should never go by its information alone.

Have you contacted your aviation authorities by now? I would. This company is clearly mucking you about, and my guess is they won't like it.

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Ariell

Well yes, I meant that there is no one item of any huge value that someone would want to nick it. I haven't sat down to figure it all out but in total, I'm guessing the cost to replace everything to be, at bare minimum $700.

capt_mahajan

They are stonewalling.

What does it say on your ticket for lost baggage compensation? Usually there is some small print.

Sure you would have seen this but anyway
http://www.jetairways.com/Cultures/e...age_Tracer.htm


Provided your baggage is declared lost:

I think you need to arrive at a figure and throw it at them, and then insist on being compensated that much. Threaten small claims/consumer court, writing to media and complaining to authorities in Canada/India.

And don't forget to include the cost of the suitcase!

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machadinha

ps This may be tricky to tackle, but emotional value, too, has a price tag to it, as far as I know.

Anyway it all sounds very childish and ridiculous, what the hell are they doing over one lost bag (or two, whatever). But I guess by now it's very much become a matter of principle, and you should be the winner. W*nkers.

That site above http://www.montrealconvention.org/ on just a little looking around seemed pretty informative to me btw. Its existence alone would also suggest you're far from the only one having to go through this. One might ask what's it to me; I just get tired of the way it's getting perfectly normal these days for service agencies to offer no service at all, then blame you for complaining if you have the audacity to do so.

So, er, go get 'em. If you can be bothered, that is your choice.

ozman

so what does it mean u give up, I think u should take them to small claims court and also don't forget claim for ur mental anguish good luck and keep us posted, I am planning to visit India in august I will remember not to fly Jet Air.

Nick-H

It is not the mistake, or the problem, it is the attitude of the company in dealing with it that counts.

Ariell

Thank you so much for your continued support!

Captain:
About my ticket. Well see, that's not so informative really. I bought it online through Expedia. Called Expedia twice today to see if they can advise me. Apparently once the trip is complete, their job is done so they were no help, other than to tell me that I need to contact Jet Airways.

(Sidenote as to why I called Expedia twice:
Me: bla bla bla (explaining situation)
Rep: Hmmm ya, you'll have to contact the airline for that. What did you say it was, Jet Airlines?
Me: Jet Airways.
Rep: Oh, ok, do you want their number?
Me: Ok (thinking she had some secret helpful number)
Rep: hmmm.... [flipping pages].....hmmmm.... Did you say West Jet?
Me: No, Jet Airways.
Rep: hmmmmm..... are you sure that's what it's called?
Me: Yes, I'm sure.
Rep: Can you hold please? [comes back a minute later] Here's your number.
So I saw it was a different number and called right away but turns out she had given me the number for JAPAN Airlines! )


So then I went back to check the terms of the ticket and found this:
"Passengers on a journey involving an ultimate destination or a stop in a country other than the country of origin are advised that the provisions of a treaty known as the Warsaw Convention may be applicable to the entire journey, including any portion entirely within the country of origin or destination. "

Hmmm, MAY be applicable?? And then further down, it stipulates the standard $20/kg of the Warsaw Convention. Yes ok, lovely but what happens when the journey does NOT involve a final destination other than the country of origin? What happens when your journey is back to the country of origin?? Then what?? No mention of this.

So after much scouring of the web I found this very informative legal document which lists all the countries governed instead by the Montreal Convention (Canada being one of them). It states that if your journey is a roundtrip to and from a country governed by the Montreal Convention, this is what applies regardless of whether you went to another country where instead the Warsaw Convention applies (as applies in India according to this). I knew that Jet Airways guy was talking crap but I just needed a bit of proof! I'm posting a link to the article for anyone that unfortunately finds themselves in the same situation: http://www.eckertseamans.com/file/pd...s/j1023668.pdf

Thanks for the link to the baggage tracer. I've checked that but always get an error message: "system cannot locate a valid file for your entry. Please contact the airline." Very helpful. And everything they say in their FAQ has not been the case with me. They say 'we will keep in touch with you on a regular basis' once your baggage is lost. Nope. 'If your baggage is not located in 7 days, we will send you a questionnaire' that will supposedly help them widen their search. No questionnaire here! Today I got a call from a JA rep asking me again which airports I flew between. WHAT??? What hope is there for them to find my bag if they can't even keep the simplest of facts straight? Isn't that info. in the REPORT and all my emails????




Thanks Machadinha! Oh yes, I can definitely be bothered. I am very persistent, stubborn in fact, (and thorough), especially when dealing with big corporations trying to push people around. I won a $4000 claim with my car insurance company a few years back because I knew they were full of crap. Dragged on for months but I won in the end.

Yes, I've contacted aviation authorities here. The Canadian Transportation Agency seems the best bet. They have the jurisdiction to force airlines to pay for damages. I have to file a formal complaint which could take months to be resolved so that's why I thought I would see how it goes before going that route. But I will give JA 10 days max after I see what they have to say tomorrow before filing the complaint. But seems CTA have good success from a number of the decisions I've read thru.

(Again for the benefit of anyone that may need it in the future, here's a link to one of their decisions: http://www.otc.gc.ca/rulings-decisio...-A-2007_e.html Concerns a passenger vs. Aeroflot for delayed delivery of baggage. AF claimed they weren't bound by the Montreal Convention and picked some randomly miniscule amount to reimburse the passenger rather than full amount of replacement items that they had to buy in the interim. CTA said, basically, you're wrong, and AF had to pay the passenger the full amount).




Ozman: Thanks for the support! You know it's really too bad if JA does lose customers because everything about the flight was excellent -- clean, great food, tons of movies/tv, very friendly staff. But God with their could-not-care-less attitude after landing, I will never fly with them again!!!

The thing I don't get is, JA has only been offering flights to North America since September. All part of their big plan to take over the international market. So you'd think they'd be jumping through hoops to develop loyal customers here. I see their CEO hopes to be one of the top 5 international airlines by 2013. Ha. At this rate, they have no hope!



Nick: Could not agree with you more! I'd be willing to forgive most things if it's dealt with appropriately.

Sorry for the extra long post!

capt_mahajan

ariell, good luck then.

and do pretend to be livid at every opportunity

Nick-H

The Indian airline industry is expanding too fast, maybe.

How many years is it since there were just two domestic airlines? And now the domestics are going for international.

Jet was one of those early ones, though, so they should not lack experience in the basics of running an airline.

Rasika

Hmmm, you are right, and Jet Airways is always on the news. I wonder if you could follow up the aricles which appear on, say, Google news, summarising your experience? Even if one or two letters appear, they are bound to notice?

I just notice on search at news.google that several articles have appeared in the last few days.

Good luck!

Aishah

I think this Thread should be a sticky - there is a lot of really useful information here and sorry, Ariell, that you are having such a rough time, but what is coming through are some excellent ideas for others who strike the same problem.I am becoming increasingly apprehensive re flying with Jet Airways in April but my ticket is already booked and bought. It is jointly operated with Qantas for the sectors I am travelling. I will definitely take a set of clothing and important stuff with me on board. And should anything happen with the bag in cargo, then this thread will be the first place I shall turn to after lodging report at the airport.
You must be absolutely worn out Ariell with the tension of this - it is shocking how it is going... Good luck with your next 'move' against the company. It is a sign of the times that no one from the company will do anything much to help unless you jump up and down and threaten them. Appalling.

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shere

Good idea or how about a new sticky to cover the basics including stadards airlines must meet in accordance with Warsw/Montreal convention(s).

eg lost baggage, overbookings.

If someone does not have the time give me a few weeks and I will put one together and try to keep it updated.