On Monday I traveled out to Los Angeles from Chicago for work, and packed 4 bottles of wine into a styrofoam wine shipper. Dropped it off at the check-in desk at ORD (along with my regular 22’ rollaboard) and got on the flight. My rollaboard came through LAX baggage very quickly, but couldn’t find the wine box. The clerk in LAX says, “this is weird. we have no record of the box being loaded onto the plane to begin with.”
That was on Monday and despite texting me every 4 hours since then with the, “we’re still working to locate your bag” line, I’m pretty convinced that the UA team at ORD enjoyed some Allemand & Lambrays on Monday. I’ve begun filling out the necessary paperwork for my claims (original receipts for anything >$100) and noticed on the claim form that United explicitly excludes, “perishable and/or fragile goods” from these claims.
I’m still going to go through filling out the paperwork, but wanted to see if anyone here has gone through a similar situation and have any tips for me.
Since the issue isn’t whether something perished or was broken, hopefully you won’t fall under that exclusion. As I recall the law on liability for lost bags domestically, like the international treaty on the subject, is all in the airlines’ favor. Best of luck!
We had wine stolen at an airport from the baggage claim area. After documenting everything and numerous conversations, United (it was Continental at the time) gave us some flight vouchers. (They probably didn’t have to do that but we fly United on a regular basis and with status, club membership, etc. they decided to give us something.) Good luck!
In this case it is likely either the Wine Check would have also been stolen or it would have come out empty. Hopefully there were surveillance cameras in the operation. Good luck.
Is there any legal commercial transaction, in this country, that puts its customers more at risk for being robbed – during the transaction itself! – than air travel?
Does this perhaps go a long way to explaining why?
Matt, I don’t know the answer to your question but with the airlines record of lost baggage, I now fedex my wine ahead of time as often as I can. I would rather take my chances with fedex than the airlines.
My guess is that it wasn’t stolen BECAUSE it looked like wine, I would guess it was misplaced because it was in a box. Boxes are hard to handle and aren’t immediately ‘seen’ as luggage.
The fact that they are saying they never saw record of a box being checked is worrisome.
I don’t worry much about wine being stolen, as if someone were to steal something from the baggage carousel, they’d probably look for something more valuable, like electronics. Most people think wine costs about $3/bottle, so why steal it? (and I would assume few people who work in the baggage facilities on the tarmac are wine geeks)
Lastly, the airline industry doesn’t see boxes as luggage, plain and simple. When you check a box, you have to sign a waiver that releases all liability, since it is not properly packed in luggage. Next time you have wine to bring, put it in ANY bag you can find.
Sorry you are going through this Matt. Have not seen the claim form or exclusion, but I would question whether they even apply here. You are not claiming that your good’s “perished” or “broke” but instead, that the stuff is lost.
My knowledge is dated and secondhand but what I was told by a friend who was in charge of baggage handling for Northwest at leguardia was that stealing of bags rarely happened. Stealing items from out of bags was the real problem. When people can’t find a single item in their bag they assume they forgot to pack it, not that it was stolen.
I’m going to rethink the way I fly with wine. There’s some valuable information in this thread. Matt, I’m sorry it was your loss that led to that, and I hope the airline makes good on this somehow (although it seems like that isn’t likely).
Alcoholic beverages in retail packaging may be carried as checked baggage.
For alcoholic beverages less than 24 percent alcohol by volume (including most wines and beers) there are no restrictions on the amount that may be accepted in checked baggage or purchased after completing security screening at the checkpoint (duty free). If traveling internationally, alcoholic beverages may be subject to customs limitations in the arrival country and transporting alcoholic beverages may be subject to country regulations.
For alcoholic beverages between 24 and 70 percent alcohol by volume there is a limit of five liters (1.3 gallons) per customer that may be accepted in checked baggage, or that may be purchased after completing security screening at the checkpoint (duty free). Packaging must be in receptacles smaller than 5 liters. Alcoholic beverages consisting of more than 70 percent alcohol by volume will not be accepted.
All alcoholic beverages must be packed to prevent breakage. United shall not be liable for breakage or spillage of alcoholic beverages. Normal checked baggage allowance limits, excess fees and carry-on limits apply.
Up to 3.4 oz. (100 ml) of an alcoholic beverage may be taken through the security checkpoint, provided it is less than 70 percent alcohol by volume, in a container that is 3.4 oz. or smaller, and is carried in a plastic zip-top bag.
If you are flying to the U.S. and have a connecting flight, even duty free liquids that meet U.S. requirements will not be permitted through U.S. security checkpoints. If you have a connecting flight, liquid duty free purchases must be placed in your checked baggage. Since you will be required to reclaim your checked bags prior to passing through customs inspection, you can place duty free liquids into your bags and recheck it for your connection.
Note: Alcohol transported on an airplane cannot be consumed on board