Hi, I just landed back in the USA this morning from a miserable return flight experience. My group was coming back from Venice from a wedding and several people had items stolen from their bags. Personally, I had several items stolen out of what was to be my carry-on. We got through check-in, checked our 3 bags (no valuables) and went through security with our 2 carry-ons with no problems. When we got to the gate (IBERIA), we had no issue until we were boarding. I had my wedding dress in tow and my carry on and my husband had his carryon. They pulled us out of line and said we had to check our bags. We argued and even put them in the size-tester and my bag fit with no problem, but they still said i must check them. I asked if I would get it back when we landed in Madrid or of it was going all the way through to CT, and was told we would get it back. Having done plane-side check in several times, I didn't question it too much. They gave me no time to go through my bag to take out my jewelry etc and assured me no one would go through it (I ASKED). When we landed we waited for our bags and they never came back to us. The pilot himself went to find them and said they were sent on with the rest of the checked luggage. When landing in Chicago I immediately opened the bag and discovered exactly what I thought - ALL of my valuables were gone...over $4000 worth of jewelry (vintage, non replaceable, wedding jewelry etc). I went to the IBERIA gate to file a claim and the worker told me they never should have taken my bag to begin with...we were targeted -DUH! WHAT IF ANY RECOURSE DO WE HAVE HERE??? I am about ready to find an attorney to start a class action suit against the airlines over this! It isn't the monetary value I am upset about - it's the complete violation and the fact that these things are irreplaceable to me. Can someone please give me some advise here???
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
First, I am sorry about what happened. It is rare, but it does happen. We are not attorneys so if you are thinking legal action, this is not the place for advice. Where are you with the claim with the airline? That needs to run its course first. If that leads nowhere, you can also often get recourse by contacting your newspaper's "help guru" or "troubleshooter" whatever they call them. Most major papers have one and from my read of ours at the Tribune, they can be very effective due to the exposure.
Posted by
Bromley, Kent,, UK
1829 posts
Posted by
Honolulu/Seattle, HI/WA, USA
2787 posts
Sorry about your loss but thanks for posting it here as a
"heads up" for others. I am going to Venice in September but, fortunately, I am leaving there by train. As I do go to Europe every summer I will avoid Iberia Airlines. I would also encourage you to post your comments on TripAdvisor.
Posted by
Port Townsend, WA, USA
100 posts
I am very sorry for your loss. And your post here may well remind travelers why it is a bad idea to travel with expensive jewelry (or other valuables for that matter).
Posted by
OP
Hampden, ME, United States
22 posts
Thanks for the advise. I know this is not the place for legal advice, but I know most of you are experienced travelers and could offer some good advise as to how to proceed. I did file the claim with Iberia about 2 mins after I saw all of my items were stolen. All they said to me was someone will contact me. The lady said my chances of getting anything out of them were slim to none. She also said they never should have taken my carry-on and checked it all the way through. This was part of the scam so that it makes it harder to know if the theft happened in Venice or Madrid.
I have filed a police report with the Chicago PD and they said it will be a week or so until I get any paperwork from them. I know i will never see my stuff again - that's the killer. As a result I do plan to blast Iberia and Venice on every travel website I can and hopefully make people more aware of these scams. I thought I was a pretty savvy traveler, I never bring jewelry or anything expensive with me, but this was for my wedding. I never let these types of items out of my sight and know not to check anything that has any sort of value to me (monetary or sentimental) These were in my carry-on - thought they would be with me the entire trip! UGH! Lesson Learned, but it still doesn't make it right for people to steal stuff.
Posted by
Chicago
2876 posts
" As a result I do plan to blast Iberia and Venice on every travel website I can" Hardly seems fair to blame Iberia or Venice, since these thefts can and do happen anywhere. According to a recent article, New York's JFK averages 200 such thefts per day. http://tinyurl.com/c5vaony
Posted by
OP
Hampden, ME, United States
22 posts
I know about the JFK thefts, it's been all over the news. I am not saying that it does not happen in other places, of course it does, and has been for years. In my current situation it is in fact Iberia that I was flying and out of Marco Polo in Venice...of course those businesses are to blame here. Maybe they should look at implementing more protocols in so called secure areas, more security cameras, choose more competent companies to outsource their baggage handlings etc. All I know is that I had all of my items in my personal possession at the boarding gate in Venice at Iberia and somewhere between Venice and landing in Chicago they went missing.
Posted by
Toledo
653 posts
Gina, I too am sorry that your valuables were taken. I guess the thing to do is get to the boarding gate early enough (and hopefully it's staffed) to be sure one can carry on a carry-on. If your stolen belongings were new, you might be able to file a claim with your credit card company, but that's not helpful in your case.