Thai airline offers measly 2,000 baht compo for destroying passenger's luggage

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Sorry about the damage: Thai airline offers measly 2,000 baht compo for destroying passenger's luggage

Image: daily news

BANGKOK:-- Pictures of an airline passenger's damaged luggage after a Phuket to Bangkok flight are causing a stir on social media.

The pictures posted online show what is purported to be the state of a passenger's luggage after a flight between Phuket and Bangkok, reported Daily News.

When the passenger reached her destination the her bag could not be located and she reported it missing. The airline promised to investigate at both airports.

Next day the airline contacted her and told her to bring ID to come and claim it. She was shocked to find everything in the bag was damaged including an Apple laptop that was warped, cosmetics and clothes all unusable.

The airline concerned offered her 2,000 baht in compensation or a new bag, it was claimed online.

The pictures were posted on the Pantip site by user number 3194971. The name of the passenger or airline was not mentioned. The flight was on May 5th.

No indication was made as to how the damage occurred or if indeed the passenger inquired of the airline as to what had happened. Many online criticized the airline siding with the passenger for her loss.

Source and more pics: Daily News: http://www.dailynews.co.th/regional/400510

-- 2016-05-28

[edwinchester]

Wouldn't be surprised to find out that it was not properly loaded on the apron baggage trolley and was run over by another vehicle.

[Snig27]

Malaysian Airlines destroyed my wife's bag on purpose - she argued with customer service in KL over something and then watched the woman pick up the phone smiling. The bag arrived in BKK slashed and stomped on. Still arguing with them but zero compensation to date.

[phoenixdoglover]

This is why you never, ever, send your valuables such as a laptop computer, through checked baggage.

[jaltsc]

"The airline concerned offered her 2,000 baht in compensation or a new bag..."

And told her, that if she didn't want her luggage destroyed, she shouldn't have flown on that airline.

Of course, the airline involved can't be identified since that would be an act of defamation, no matter how true the claim is.

And the government continues to tell us how much they are working towards reform and justice. LMAO.

Edited May 28, 2016 by jaltsc

[Don Mega]

what sort of a half wit puts a laptop in their checked baggage ?.

Lucky its still there.

[gandalf12]

Why would you check in your computer? Have to be a bit loose up top to do that but on the bright side it was only an Apple computer so no real harm done

[augustwest]

Probably a blonde

[Plutojames88]

The notion all humans are not diverse is now gone.

Some races and nationalities see life differently.

Offer different judgements.

Offer different prospectives

[Kaalle]

Probably a blonde

That writes fluent thai?

[onlycw]

Well, I recall reading a warning not to put computers into the checked luggage. One photo shows a notebook, doesn't it?

[slapout]

Satisfaction guaranteed is not a goal of most of the businesses who depend on tourist for the major portion

of their income/sales, They seem to think '' here today gone tomorrow'' or as I had one indvidual tell me, I do not

care if I lose a customer due to poor service or food as someone else will come in and sit down at the table

that the dissatisfied customer was seated at.

[jethro69]

what sort of a half wit puts a laptop in their checked baggage ?.

Lucky its still there.

Why would you check in your computer? Have to be a bit loose up top to do that but on the bright side it was only an Apple computer so no real harm done

Well, I did that all the time, with the company laptop, as it was so restricted, so why carry around. Insured anyway.

[Prbkk]

Probably a blonde

That writes fluent thai?

That's the worst kind of blonde in my observation.

[impulse]

Read the T&C's, figure out what's covered and what's not, and pack accordingly.

Hint: Outside the nanny states, assume that nothing's covered in checked luggage, and in the nanny states, nothing valuable is covered.

On an aside, I'm surprised they let the laptop through in Thailand. Nothing with batteries has been allowed in my checked bags for the last 6 months or so. They ask every time I check in.

Edited May 28, 2016 by impulse

[Don Mega]

what sort of a half wit puts a laptop in their checked baggage ?.

Lucky its still there.

Why would you check in your computer? Have to be a bit loose up top to do that but on the bright side it was only an Apple computer so no real harm done

Well, I did that all the time, with the company laptop, as it was so restricted, so why carry around. Insured anyway.

Your employer was ok with you doing that ?

Mine would give me a written warning.

[Chicog]

what sort of a half wit puts a laptop in their checked baggage ?.

Lucky its still there.

Why would you check in your computer? Have to be a bit loose up top to do that but on the bright side it was only an Apple computer so no real harm done

Well, I did that all the time, with the company laptop, as it was so restricted, so why carry around. Insured anyway.

Can't have been that important if you'd risk it getting nicked or broken.

[impulse]

Well, I did that all the time, with the company laptop, as it was so restricted, so why carry around. Insured anyway.

I'd rather have them steal my personal laptop than to fill out all the forms and jump through all the hoops to get a replacement from our company IT group.

[phoenixdoglover]

Company I last worked for had a policy against putting computers in checked baggage. I should know, I wrote the policy.

But there were some events no policy could anticipate. Like the day our Executive VP got a new laptop. He took it home to learn. At his car, his hands were full with stuff,so he set his new laptop bag down, and retrieved his keys. Got in the car, backed it out of his space. The next morning he returned his laptop to me, with a big tire track on the bag. Oh, that was a goooooood day. :-)

Sent from my HTC One_M8 Eye using Tapatalk

[seajae]

we had 2 suitcases ruined by the new airline, both had the handles broken off them. When we confronted the sales point with it they promptly closed the office and walked out. The head office refused to do anything about it when we contacted them as they said we had no proof they did it, they are cheap and do not have any customer service or care for what they do, wouldnt be surprised if this is from the same people.

[Pib]

The Apple store awaits this unlucky person with open arms.

[onthemoon]

Did she buy insurance? If not, carrier's liability limitation according to the Warsaw Convention applies, as for all IATA airlines.

[impulse]

The Apple store awaits this unlucky person with open arms.

More like "haughty indifference" than "open arms".

(Well, some of them geniuses are pretty nice...but some are real tools.)

[onthemoon]

we had 2 suitcases ruined by the new airline, both had the handles broken off them. When we confronted the sales point with it they promptly closed the office and walked out. The head office refused to do anything about it when we contacted them as they said we had no proof they did it, they are cheap and do not have any customer service or care for what they do, wouldnt be surprised if this is from the same people.

What is "the new airline"? If it is not an IATA airline, their conditions of contract might say that they accept no liability whatsoever. Read the ticket, I suggest.

[kingalfred]

I had a bag ripped by that budget Thai airline with a bird name and was only given.400 baht

[impulse]

What is "the new airline"? If it is not an IATA airline, their conditions of contract might say that they accept no liability whatsoever. Read the ticket, I suggest.

Good real world suggestion.

But regardless of what's written on the ticket, there's a reasonable expectation that a company being paid to handle my goodies should handle those goodies with reasonable care, and should accept responsibility if they don't exercise reasonable care.

I doubt the ticket addresses other common issues like what happens if I get electrocuted by badly maintained wiring on the airplane, fall off the jetway because the guy doesn't park it close enough, or get food poisoning with the other 150 people on the aircraft because they mishandled the food. But it's reasonable to believe they have some liability if they were negligent or deliberately caused me harm. Regardless of what's in the T&C's, there are legal duties of care, and consequences for negligence of those responsibilities.

Otherwise, they have carte blanche to take a sledgehammer to every bag they handle, and it's tough noogies to the passengers because the ticket says so?

Edited May 28, 2016 by impulse

[Winniedapu]

we had 2 suitcases ruined by the new airline, both had the handles broken off them. When we confronted the sales point with it they promptly closed the office and walked out. The head office refused to do anything about it when we contacted them as they said we had no proof they did it, they are cheap and do not have any customer service or care for what they do, wouldnt be surprised if this is from the same people.

Thais fondly imagine that they deliver famously good service.

While that might be true in a few expensive hotels, my own experience has been that Thai service is the worst I have encountered outside of Kuala Lumpur. Ever. By quite a wide margin. Thai International appears to be notorious for poor service, though I am relying on other comments, never having risked flying Thai.

Closing the door or window and walking away is quite a common way of avoiding loss of face so that didn't surprise me much. Good luck to the lady, but I suspect that unless she is well connected, she's lost the game.

Shouldn't be that way but too many people say it is to think otherwise.

W

[Thian]

Wouldn't be surprised to find out that it was not properly loaded on the apron baggage trolley and was run over by another vehicle.

I wouldn't be surprised if it happened by throwing another heavy hard suitcase onto the bag while loading the trolleys.

Once on Swampy we were all waiting at the gate behind the window while i noticed a groundworker throwing suitcases in the trolleys. It seemed like a game for him to throw them as hard as possible.

[edwinchester]

Wouldn't be surprised to find out that it was not properly loaded on the apron baggage trolley and was run over by another vehicle.

I wouldn't be surprised if it happened by throwing another heavy hard suitcase onto the bag while loading the trolleys.

Once on Swampy we were all waiting at the gate behind the window while i noticed a groundworker throwing suitcases in the trolleys. It seemed like a game for him to throw them as hard as possible.

Yes, I used to work as groundcrew for a while back in the UK and seen that happen more than once.

[dcnx]

Carry on only. Always.