Half way into a trip overse traveller Megan Stephens was given the good news that her missing luggage had been found. Then there was less welcome news that it was being dropped off outside her Auckland home, while she was halfway across the world.

When Stephens, 32, and her partner finally returned home to Auckland last weekend they discovered that the luggage had been ransacked and their vehicle broken into on the drive.

Stephens insists she had never asked for the bag to be forwarded.

“In what world would you send a suitcase full of belongings to a house where someone might not be home?!”

The couple were travelling to Europe over the new year when both their checked suitcases went missing.

To their surprise they were delivered to opposite sides of the globe. One to a New Zealand city they weren’t even travelling to.

“It’s such a long story,” she says. On December 16 they set off from Auckland to Paris Charles de Gaulle on United Airlines, with a stopover in Sydney operated by Air New Zealand.

After the “journey from hell”, which included missed connections and a five hour medical diversion to Lincoln Airport Nebraska for someone on their plane, the couple arrived in Paris 1.5 days late and without luggage.

They were told their luggage was being forwarded to them in time for their last night in Paris but to their dismay only one case turned up.

“We arrived in France without any luggage and it was cold. I didn’t have a single pair of pants,” says Stephens. “We spent about €500 on new clothing.”

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'Complete rigmarole': Megan Stephens and her fiancé. Photo / Supplied, Facebook

The couple also missed a trip to Disneyland Paris - a present from Stephens’ parents - and were charged a no show fee by their hotel.

Compared to this, what followed was a “complete rigmarole” says Stephens.

The first bag went missing in transit on the first flight, NZ103 operated by Air New Zealand.

Two weeks into the four-week trip Stephens received an email from her mother. The case had turned up at Wellington Airport without a luggage tag.

Having lost the checking tag, baggage handlers in Sydney had found Stephens’ mother’s contact details written on the bag and forwarded it to Wellington.

Stephens and her partner were still in Europe and trying to coordinate its return.

In emails on January 2 from Air New Zealand, the airline offered to forward the luggage to their Auckland address.

“We would prefer that someone would be home to retrieve your bag, but if it is safe to leave it somewhere on your property till someone gets home on that day, if you authorise this, we can leave it where you want,” read the message from Air New Zealand.

Stephens replied two days later, asking if a friend could pick up the case from Wellington Airport on her behalf instead.

That was the last time she heard about the luggage until after the flatmate told them the van had been broken into on Sunday January 8.

“I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t tell them to forward the case” she says. “It had been delivered that week and had been sitting outside the house for four days.”

The robbery was opportunistic and seemingly unconnected but, had she known the bag was there, she could have got a friend to collect it.

Air New Zealand told the Herald it was sorry to hear about the outcome of this case but the bag had come to them without a tag, only the contact information written on the luggage.

“Air New Zealand always ensures it has contacted a passenger before a bag is delivered to confirm the delivery,” says the airline’s Chief Operating Officer Alex Marren.

It was a third airline which forwarded the bag to Air New Zealand.

“While Air New Zealand had no responsibility for the lost luggage, our teams wanted to help – understanding it can be upsetting for anyone who has lost a bag. They managed to track down the contact details for bag’s owner and had been in touch about getting it back to her.”

At some point in the email exchange the airline had interpreted Stephens’ message as having “OK’d” the luggage for delivery. By the time she had followed up regarding collecting it from the airport the bag was already out for delivery. Ultimately, Air New Zealand says it would be the courier which has responsibility for the bag once collected from the airport.

“The scale of mishandled baggage is a significant global issue that many airlines around the world are currently facing,” says Marren. Air New Zealand says they are working with airports, border agencies and other airlines to find a “system-wide” solution to the luggage crisis, while also “working around the clock help reduce the number of mishandled or lost bags and reunite them with their owners.”

Stephens says that she never gave her authorisation for the delivery and was disappointed to hear that the bag was forwarded while she was making alternate arrangements.

“I wasn’t blaming [Air NZ] for the break-in to the van, I was just annoyed that the baggage had been sent and we had no idea,” said Stephens.

The couple do have travel insurance but haven’t yet submitted a claim. Neither has the airline mentioned anything about compensation, she says.

There was one saving grace of the holiday, says Stephens whose partner proposed to her on the trip. Fortunately he had the good sense not to check the engagement ring in their luggage and had kept it on his person.

 

Luggage Compensation

While passengers’ belongings may be covered separately by travel insurance, under normal circumstances airlines are liable for the safe delivery of checked luggage.

A spokesperson for Consumer NZ, Jessica Walker, told the Herald that airlines have an obligation to passengers to deliver their luggage safely.

“Under the Consumer Guarantees Act, service providers – such as Air NZ – must provide their services with reasonable care and skill. In this case, it sounds like Air NZ has failed to meet this standard because it delivered the lost luggage to the consumer’s home, when it should have known she was overseas,” says Walker.

In New Zealand, domestic luggage is protected under the Carriage of Goods Act and the airline is liable for loss or damage up to $2000. For International flights, which are covered under the Montreal Convention, airlines are liable for loss or damage up to $2700 per bag, including any expenses for clothing and replacements purchased while abroad. Usually it is the operating airline which has liability for carried luggage.

Passengers have up to 7 days to submit a claim to an airline relating to damaged luggage and up to 21 days for delays.

“There are strict time limits for claims under the Montreal Convention, so we suggest she contacts Air NZ immediately,” says Consumer NZ.

“If the airline refuses to budge, she can lodge a claim against Air NZ at the Disputes Tribunal.”

The airlines’ liability for the goods ends once the goods are delivered to the receiver or the receiver has picked up the goods.