The loss of luggage is quite common. Your luggage could have left on another plane, got lost during loading, or another person could have picked it up by mistake.
As a rule, if a passenger reports the loss on time and correctly, it is found within two to three days. Usually, luggage is lost during transit carriage. Luggage transfer during transit is a rather difficult stage to track. Thus, several airlines and airports are involved in this process. Also, there are other reasons, such as an error during registration, a torn tag, a suitcase can be removed from the flight to ensure proper balancing of the board, and so on.
What should one do if a suitcase did not appear on the conveyor belt?
Since no one is insured against the loss of luggage, take all the most valuable and necessary things in your hand luggage. Keep your documents, money, phone charger and other things which you need at hand. Do not forget to familiarize with the rules for the carriage of luggage and hand luggage.
If you insure your luggage, then the probability that you will be compensated for its loss increases significantly. An insurance policy protects a tourist's personal property during the flight. Luggage can be insured for any amount.
You can do this at any insurance company at your choice. In this case, insurance allows you to get the maximum compensation for lost luggage.
If a passenger has not received his checked luggage after arriving at the point of destination, stop or transfer and has declared this, an airline or an authorized agent serving the passenger takes measures to search for luggage within the airline's procedures.
First: contact the airport staff or the staff of airline that transported you. In majority of cases, there are "Lost&Found" or "Baggage Search" desks located not far from the baggage conveyor belt. If there is no such desk, report your problem to the airport staff or a representative of the airline carrier. Do not leave the terminal or the airport territory without settling your question.
Secondly: in cases of delay in the delivery of luggage, partial losses of luggage, damage or loss, as well as in case of luggage delivery without presenting a luggage receipt and a tear-off ticket of a luggage number tag, an act of malfunction during transportation is drawn up, which is signed by a person receiving the luggage and the airline.
There is a special form called "Property Irregularity Report", which you will be asked to fill-in, where you need to specify your contact information, flight number, describe the luggage signs (colour, dimensions and other notable details).
Thirdly: be sure to attach the tag (luggage receipt) that you received at check-in as a sticker on the boarding pass. You need to get an act where the registration number will be indicated.
If the luggage is lost at the airport, it is usually found within one to three days. If a luggage is found, the airport employees will contact you to discuss the delivery option. There are two options: luggage will either be brought to your home (or to a place you want), or you will have to pick it up yourself from the nearest airport. If no one has contacted you after 21 days from the moment of luggage loss, it is considered that it has disappeared irretrievably, and you may not hesitate to contact the airline for compensation.
Compensation for a luggage lost on international flights is paid in accordance with the provisions of two Conventions signed by Kazakhstan –Warsaw and Montreal, as well as the internal rules of the companies, so each case is considered individually.
To get a compensation, you should provide the following:
You will also need to make a list of things and indicate approximate dates of their purchase and costs.
If a passenger has not received his checked luggage after arriving at the point of destination, stop or transfer and has declared this, the airline or an authorized agent serving the passenger takes measures to search for luggage within the airline's procedures.
Employees of the department will check all areas of the airport and compartments of an aircraft. If afterwards the loss is not found again, and a suitcase has not arrived at the destination for sure, they will draw up a certificate of non-arrival of luggage. The data will be entered into the international baggage tracing system called "World Tracer", through which the search will be made.
The "World Tracer" database has its own website where passengers can search for traces of their luggage on their own. On the website you will have to fill out a special form by entering your surname, identification code and the number that you were assigned after contacting the Lost & Found service. The "World Tracer" system will search for your luggage for hundred days and if the search procedure does not give results, the luggage will be considered permanently lost.