"Malcom Davis" wrote in message
...
Flying direct from Paris to Boston last weekend, Air France
lost our luggage. We filed a claim with the luggage desk
when it didn't show. Judging by the people doing the same, a
lot of luggage was lost on this flight. We were given a
tracking number. Since then we have been getting the
runaround. Entering the tracking number into their web
tracking system reveals absolutely nothing "tracing
continues, please try again later."

Do you have travel insurance? If so, file a claim with your travel
insurance carrier -- or at least contact them immediately.

If not, you are likely SOL, if your bag does not show, as there is limited
liability in regards to luggage on Intl Journeys to/from the USA.

As it has not been delivered yet, you need to find out what the process is
to file a claim with Air France to be paid for your loss with what you are
covered for by AF. They may have a rule requiring that you can not file the
claim until X # of days without your luggage giving them time to locate it
and deliver it. However, at this point, I would strongly suggest you get
the details to file this claim.

When you do file the claim with Air France, your luggage is only valued
based on the weight -- something like $9 per lb (or is it kilo?) with a max
of $400, IIRC. As such, you need to find out the specifics in regards to
what their liability is. It won't be much, unless you purchased additional
coverage or have travel insurance.

Afterwards, anything that is unpaid you might be able to submit to your
homeowners (or renters) policy -- but I'd be careful in doing so, depending
on your claim history and the amount you would receive after your
deductable.

I somehow suspect you do not have travel insurance as you are asking this
question (but could be wrong). While this won't help now, in the future, I
would suggest purchasing a good travel insurance policy to cover you in full
for such a loss. These policies are generally inexpensive (I like a company
called Travel Guard) depending upon who you purchase from. The policies
they sell are quite comprehensive and cover other things such as travel
delays, baggage loss, baggage delay, and even medical. I like the Protect
Assist plan they offer (and yes, I've had to file a claim for medical
expensives overseas and a travel delay overseas where I incurred expenses
out of pocket, which they paid -- so I can recommend them first hand).

I'd say it's still possible your luggage might show up, but you do need to
look at the worst case scenario of filing a claim at this point. Be sure
to document your phone calls to both AF and the courier company and know who
you spoke with, when, and what they said, in case you need to use this
information at a future point.

I wish you the best of luck. Lost luggage sucks, but most of the time,
fortunately it does show up. I dealt with lost luggage earlier this week
(flew Sunday and Monday) but my luggage did not arrive with me on Monday on
NW. I received my luggage late Monday night (this was in part because of a
flight cancellation Sunday night and my flight on Monday was weight
restricted). In Dec, I lost my luggage for close to 3 days with NW/CO, but
this too was due to a cancellation (weather) as I got a re-route from NW on
CO and my luggage came in once the snowstorm ended in NYC.

Last but not least, you can also file a complaint with the FAA, but that
would be for statistic purposes only, more or less. I would strongly
suggest it. FWIW, of the air carriers that report luggage mishaps, Air
France is the 2nd worse of European carriers at lost/delayed luggage. The
worst is LuxAir, while right behind Air France at #3 worst is KLM. I've
had KLM lose my luggage likewise, but luckily it's always been delivered
within 48 hrs. No Air France experiences.

Best of Luck,

Steve