Lost bag is worth 5 million dollars
Many fliers hate paying for checked and lost bags, and one of them was so infuriated that she sued the airline company.Danielle Covarrubias from Pierce County wants American Airlines to pay 5 million dollars for her lost bag. According to Covarrubias’ complaint the airlines have never respecter their agreements with the passengers when they have lost or delayed the luggage and what’s more, they failed to refund the passengers their baggage fee. The American Airlines argue her version of events and say that passengers can ask for a fee refund as part of a baggage claim.
Covarrubias tells how she paid 25 dollars to check her bag with American Airlines while flying from Seattle, Washington, to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and how she never found the bag when she got off the plane. The next day she called American Airlines to find out the status of her bag, but each time she was told that they do not know where the bag is, whether it was lost or whether she will get it back. She asked them about the solving to this problem, but the airlines told her that there is nothing that could be done. Covarrubias says that the content of the bag valued 800 dollars, and that she had to spend 300 dollars for new clothes and toiletries and she asked that her baggage fee will be immediately refunded. According to the American Airlines the incident happened on a flight from Chicago, in the second part of her trip to Michigan. The initial flight was canceled, so they transferred Covarrubias on another airline. When she arrived in Grand Rapids and could not find her bag she spoke with the other airline about the issue and the bag was found and delivered back to her within 24 hours by an airline representative. Tim Smith, the American Airlines spokesman, said that the other carrier told them Covarrubias never made any claims related to the late shipping of her bag and the airlines could not find any proof of her contacting or talking to any American representative about her bag. He also says that any customer who files a baggage claim will be able to include a request for a checked bag fee refund as part of the claim.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 769 million dollars were collected under the form of baggage fees from January to March. Charging fees for services that used to be included in the ticket price is a method used by the airlines in order to keep fares at the same level as before.11
