Emirates Airlines or Bangalore Airport Crew...

I don't know if there could be a more appropriate title for this write up.

I was travelling to India on vacation after a long stay in US. Not that this was the first time I travelled back. I had been thrice before on British Airways, Luftansa and Air India, and to different cities, Chennai and Bombay.

What was different this time? I went on Emirates, with change of flight at Dubai and my final destination being the new International Airport at Bangalore! Like everybody, I always take home gifts to my relatives. This time, I spent a little excess on ipods, perfumes, sun glasses, jackets and some other stuff. Afterall, my confidence in carrying these gifts was high due to my prior trips. In addition, a couple of my friends requested me take their stuff too. I tried to caution them that I was carrying excess stuff and can easily fall prey to the customs. One of my friend backed out, but the other two agreed to take chances.

So here I was, travelling all the way from Portland, Maine to Bangalore, India via Dubai on the famous Emirates Airlines. Being one of the leading airlines, which considers customers as its first priority, my expectations were high.

My journey began without any flight delays. I reached Bangalore on time and waited for my baggage at the claim section. All bags arrived very slowly. Few of the ones had white chalk marks on them (A simple process followed by the customs to inspect in the custom clearance section). I didn’t claim anything on the customs clearance form as my total value was well within the allowed limits. Finally after waiting for an hour and a half, the airport crew said there were no more baggage and both my bags were missing!

I got to the Emirates Baggage Claim complaints section. I was surprised with the kind of pro-activeness they showed. They had already drafted up my baggage complaint form and were waiting for a few more details on what kind of items I had. If they already knew that my baggage was lost, why in the freaking world did they not tell me before!!!

Anyways, I had lost baggage experience before (though not in India) and I trusted the system. So, even though I was frustrated, I tried to be as courteous as possible and co-operated with the agent. There was another person whose baggage was also lost and he was swearing the hell out on these guys. I just wondered what an impatient person he was and what good his shouting's going to do at this hour. But the agents were not shaken by his anger. They continued with their process. I was impressed with their professionalism (!).

There was one guy called Shiva in the Emirates Baggage Claim / Complaints section. He helped me with my complaint form. I mentioned to him that I had a few expensive items in my bag and due to US regulations I hadn’t locked my bag. He assured me that as long as the baggage was with them, it was safe. He also took me to a customs chief and introduced me. I explained my situation to him. In a typical Indian officer’s style, this guy asked his constable to explain what needs to be done. He told me not to worry; it is an easy thing to do. Then his constable requested me to buy a Jonny Walker black label bottle from the duty free shop. Bribe is a very common thing in India. It was foolish to object these small things, so I went and got him a bottle. He was happy and told me to stay assured. As soon as they got my baggage, they said they will ship it to my address.

Shiva gave me his number and asked me to contact him for anything. I then caught my flight to my home town.
It was awesome to be back in Karkala, my home town. The warm weather was a treat to me after coming back from the kind of cold we get at Portland. I had only my carry-on bag with me. My cousins were waiting for their gifts and I told them about my lost baggage. I was not as disappointed as I was still relying on the assurances by both Emirates and the Customs officer.

Next day, I got a call from the emirates agent and she said, they still haven’t traced my baggage but they are doing their best. I thanked her for the update as this again assured me that they were working on this issue and trying hard. After two days, I got a call from them saying they found my baggage. They were ready to ship it. I gave them my uncle’s address in Bangalore. Shiva told me that they locked my bags before handing over to the shipping guys. After about 4 heours, my uncle from Bangalore called me up and mentioned that two of my lost bags have been delivered. I was happy and thanked Shiva. I went to Bangalore next day and was eager to check my baggage.

When I lifted both my bags, they seemed to be lighter than when they were packed. I opened the seals, and to my dismay, everything except my clothes was stolen!! I had seen this kind of incidents on TVs and papers. Little did I expect this to happen to me. And here I was, boiling red hot with anger and at the same time totally confused about what next to do. I called up Shiva and he advised me to fill up the baggage theft form with all the details and email it to a lady called Nirupama who was their boss. I did the same, but didn’t get a reply back for a week. Then I sent them another email after which I got a reply from her.

Nirupama first empathized with me in her email. Then she mentioned that they conducted an investigation.
They found that my baggage had lost around four pounds when they compared the weight at Portland and at Bangalore. As per Emirates' reimbursement policy, they provide 20 USD per pound and hence I was eligible for 80 USD!! I couldn’t believe that the reputed Emirates Airlines had such a condescending attitude. Were they so cheap! Does this rule make any sense? I had IPods, which hardly weigh anything!!! All in all, her casual approach to this seemed to me that they didn’t even conduct any such investigation and were just trying to close this out. What was the whole point of sending the inventory list if their policy was to reimburse by weight!!! I didn’t think that the guys who operated these airlines were bull heads!!!

I wrote back to her about my dissatisfaction and mentioned that I will go to consumer court if they don’t reimburse the right amount. The immediate next day, I got another email from Customer Affairs that they have started looking into this issue in more detail. Wow!!! What professionalism in operating the world’s best airline. They need such a shouting to start their work.

I thought to give them a few more days to get back. I was at least happy that they didn’t deny the theft. Again after a week, when I didn’t hear back anything from them, I sent them a reminder again. This time, I got an email from their customer affairs with all their apologies at the beginning of the message. Then they mentioned that they are not liable for electronic goods. But they are ready to reimburse around 200 USD for my perfumes and jackets. Also that they are ready to reimburse on bills, things that I purchased when I didn’t have my baggage with me. This was nowhere close to what I had lost. Hence I denied this offer.

I have now filed a complaint in the Consumer Court. I am hopeful that something good will come out of this.

My intention is not to get picky on the money that I get back. It is about holding them responsible for this incident so that they impose seriousness against such instances. It is that I dont want anybody else to go through the same pain I have been through.

I still don’t trust the customs officers at Bangalore. They could very well have been the theives. But I don’t have anything to hold them responsible. When I got my bags, they had an Emirates seal on them. Hence even if the officers were involved, they would have some accomplice(s) from the Emirates Airlines.

How could I have done things differently?

a) I should have locked my bags with TSA approved locks. Note that these locks are permitted in United States as there will be a master key with US customs and security if they need to open

b) I should have not revealed the items to the Customs Officer. These people are wolves. They are bloody thieves. They are so cheap that they loot even a penny from you.

c) I should have claimed all my goods in the customs form. I came to know that if anything is lost, customs / airlines are liable to reimburse everything that is mentioned in the customs form. Note sure if this is entirely true.

d) Lastly, I should have never carried all these items in my checked in bags. These items could be carried in carry on bag itself where they would have been much safer.

How could the system be better?

a) Airlines should be strict against employees involved in such thefts. The punishment should be immediate termination of job, a huge fine and handing over to the nearest law and order department. In my view point, every baggage goes through strict screening. There are Close Circuit Cameras in the airports and if Emirates wants to, it could still conduct a good investigation and find the culprit.

b) Airlines must be held liable for these thefts by law. They must be liable to pay a good compensation to the customers. The compensation must not just be limited to the value of the goods.

c) There must be a strict law against the customs officers involved in bribes. The process must be screened by airport authorities without the officers' knowledge. If they are caught, then they must be immediately terminated from the service and must be black listed for any future government opportunities.

It is easy to mention these these changes. However, to put them into practice in a country like India is next to impossible. Hence we the people, must exercise caution. This is the only way we can keep the lions away from the smell of blood.