The pitfalls of airlines when it comes to claiming lost luggage in a group. There are many passengers who travel in a group and when they land, they discover that their luggage has not arrived at their destination.
Let’s take an example: during a flight of two friends with Royal Air Maroc from Paris to Marrakech for a two-week vacation, each had a checked suitcase. Upon arrival at Marrakech airport, the suitcases did not appear. After much insistence, the airline provided them with the Property Irregularity Report (PIR) to indicate that they had lost their luggage. The boys had to buy new clothes for their vacation and a new suitcase each to bring them back to France. Their luggage never appeared, so they ended up making a claim to receive the compensation they were entitled to.
But they made a mistake. They filled out a single PIR for the two pieces of luggage. When the claim was made and they received the compensation, they only received €1,414, which is the maximum amount provided by law per document.
Compensation for lost luggage
In the event of lost luggage, the passenger can claim up to €1,414 for lost luggage. In addition to this compensation, they can also claim the costs of not having the luggage and any damages incurred. However, to make the claim, it is essential to fill out the PIR document at the airport. You must keep in mind that if you do not fill it out, the airline will assume that you have delivered the luggage in good condition.
What is the PIR (Property Irregularity Report)?
The PIR is used to record an incident in the event of lost luggage. If you find that it has been lost when retrieving your luggage, it is essential that you go to the counter of the airline with which you contracted the flight and file the corresponding claim before leaving the baggage area.
The big pitfall of airlines
One of the major problems in group claims is that airlines give a single claim form to all passengers. The Montreal Convention is the regulation that governs incidents with luggage and is VERY CLEAR in establishing a limit of liability PER PASSENGER and not per item. Here is the literal text of Article 22 of the Montreal Convention: In the carriage of luggage, the liability of the carrier in the event of destruction, loss, damage, or delay is limited to 1,000 Special Drawing Rights PER PASSENGER unless the passenger has made, at the time of handing over the checked luggage to the carrier, a special declaration of interest in delivery at destination and has paid a supplementary sum if the case so requires. Under this criterion, if a group of passengers loses more than one piece of luggage and only fills out a single PIR, airlines would take advantage of the Montreal Convention by compensating for a single piece of luggage.
In this case, they should have filled out a document each since the law states that one must be filled out per affected passenger in order to receive the maximum amount of €1,414 per person.
Tips for making a lost luggage claim
The most important thing is to go to the airline counter and fill out the PIR PER PASSENGER. In this way, we register our problem of lost or damaged luggage for each piece of lost luggage.
If we need to buy essential items or clothes for the lost luggage, we must keep the purchase receipts to credit the airline for the subsistence expenses due to not having the luggage.
Regardless of what has been bought, and which must be reimbursed by the airline, the company is required to compensate up to €67.33 per day for lost luggage, up to a maximum of 21 days.
