The new Rimowa you got over the weekend arrives all battered with scratches all over the sides and the fourth wheel is missing. And you don't know who to get annoyed with but something needs to be done about the damage.
Damaged Rimowa Luggage: Missing Wheel
There is always a high chance that luggage might get lost or damaged through the course of checking in up till baggage collection. At times, connecting flights or checking in late might result in lost luggage. Damaged luggage on the other hand, occurs more frequently. When you check-in, your baggage goes on the conveyor belt and gets brought to the DCV and eventually gets sent to the plane where people hand stack your baggage into the cargo. Through all that transportation, your luggage will inevitably suffer some observable damages, such as scratches or stains if its a cloth luggage.
Went to do some research for you guys and found this article on HowStuffWorks on Baggage Handling and its really detailed and will be an interesting read :)
Me and My Baggage
You'll notice the victorinox is cling wrapped, that's cos I didn't want it to gets scratched so I wrapped it at the Singapore Airport before flying to North America
What I wanna say is, take a photo of all your baggage before you check them in. Taking note to capture the zip, the number-code area, the handle and its best if you can be in the photo too. Well just to prove that it was indeed damaged on this flight. Just keep all these as proof till you collect and check your baggage and have ensured its fine.
Do remember also to know information about your baggage. If it is damaged, the airlines will ask questions about its state before the flight, the age and the price. Different airlines may require different information so having knowledge about your baggage will make the reporting easier. From my experiences, I know they aren't too caught up with it being accurate to the dollar or day, a good estimate would be sufficient.
It is also necessary to immediately file the damage case right at the airport where you collected your damage baggage. The more time you take to file the case, the more reluctant the airline will want to take responsibility for the baggage.
As soon as I noticed a broken wheel at the Milan International Airport, I went to the SQ Counter and told them about the broken luggage. As this was the start of my trip, I was unable to send the luggage for any repairworks. Unfortunately, I needed to lug this luggage all over the cobblestone streets in Rome and bridges in Venice. Even though there was nothing they could do for my lugagge immediately, they proposed that I file a damage case so that when I get back to Singapore, I can reopen it and it will still be valid. There was some paperwork I needed to take along with me so, do remember to keep those properly so you can reopen the case.
So what happened was when I got back to Changi Airport I re-opened the case and showed them the baggage. 3 or 4 days after, a staff contacted me to collect the broken luggage from my home. The luggage got delivered back to me after several days. It wasn't the first time I've filled a damaged baggage case but all occasions, I got my baggage delivered back to my home repaired and well :) Good as new!
