In January, I went on holiday to Mauritius with a friend. We flew with Air Mauritius from Gatwick Airport.
When we arrived we were checked in by the Air Mauritius agents, Red Handling.
We boarded the plane, but shortly after were called to the door. A gate agent asked for our details saying there was a problem with our luggage. I asked if our bags were on board and was told they were.
When we arrived in Mauritius, though, my bag wasn’t there. I waited for an hour to speak to lost luggage and filled out a property irregularity form.
Where’s my bag? Our reader was left with only the clothes he was wearing after his suitcase was never loaded on to his flight to Mauritius
I headed to the hotel with only the clothes I was wearing, a few personal items and medication which I had thankfully packed in my hand luggage.
The next day I bought a t-shirt and swimming trunks from the hotel gift shop, and a couple of days later took a 75 minute bus into the nearest town to buy extra clothing and toiletries.
After a week, my bag still hadn’t arrived so I had to make a second round trip to a supermarket to buy more clothes.
In total, I spent £75 on clothes and toiletries, as well as a phone charger – and the time spent trekking around to buy them took away from the enjoyment of my holiday.
The suitcase finally arrived at the hotel 10 days into the holiday. I was told it had been stuck at Gatwick for all that time.
When I arrived home, I tried to make an Air Mauritius baggage claim online but the form would not send.
I haven’t been able to reach it by phone or email. I think I deserve compensation for the items I had to buy, the inconvenience and the airline’s poor communication. Can you help? G.P, Dorset
Helen Crane of This is Money replies: Airlines’ propensity to play fast and loose with our luggage means that many of us have endured the pain of paying eye-watering sums for gift shop sun cream or rinsing out our underwear in a hotel sink.
In your case, you had paid £4,000 for you and a friend to visit the tropical island paradise of Mauritius, and were looking forward to spending long days on the beach and by the pool. Unfortunately, your things arrived ten days later than you did.
Not knowing where in the world your stuff is is stressful, and traipsing around an unfamiliar place to pick up essential items can put a real dampener on a relaxing holiday.
Unfortunately, airlines don’t tend to pay out much money when it happens.
When you contacted me you mentioned that you thought you’d be covered by the Montreal Convention, an agreement forged in 1999 between the majority of countries across the world, which (among other things) sets out what airlines must do when baggage is delayed, lost or damaged.
Airlines are liable for baggage delays if it was their fault, and can pay up to 1,288 special drawing rights (the International Monetary Fund’s unit of accounting). That is approximately £1,360 at the time of writing).
However, this is a maximum, there is no minimum, and so airlines usually pay far less.
Next time, it may be worth taking out travel insurance which includes lost baggage cover. This would be much more likely to repay the cost of buying essential items than the airline’s compensation scheme.
That said, I do think the communication you’ve had from both Air Mauritius and its agent, Red Handling, has been exceptionally poor, and for this you do deserve some money back.
Clearly customer service at the airline is as dead as the island’s famous Dodo.
First, you were told on the plane that your bag was there, when it was not.
And after you arrived in Mauritius, the next time someone contacted you about the lost bag was on day six of your holiday, when a company called World Tracer – employed by airlines to track down lost baggage – sent a text message asking you to describe the bag.
Nervous wait: Our reader’s baggage never turned up on the carousel when he arrived
Six days is a long time when you are continually washing your few items of clothing in the hotel sink.
You told me: ‘I wasted two beach days alone, hunting out a place for a couple of bits and pieces to wear and bathroom supplies in a town an hour away on ropey bus.
‘I had to do this trip twice to another town as the previous supermarket had very little my size, I had to use coloured underpants as shorts.
‘I didn’t want to buy lots of clothes as I have enough as a 76-year-old to last my life.’
No one from Air Mauritius or Red Handling – the firms responsible for losing your luggage in the first place – ever called to check whether the bag had arrived.
Four days later, it did finally turn up at your hotel – just a few days before you headed home.
But when you got home and tried to make a lost baggage claim, you found it hard to get a response out of Air Mauritius.
The online form didn’t work, and you spent hours on hold on the phone to no avail. Red Handling simply directed you back to the airline.
You are far from alone in this experience, if reviews are anything to go by.
Beautiful beaches: But our reader’s relaxation was interrupted by hour-long trips to the supermarket to buy clothes, as he only had what he travelled in
A whopping 87 per cent of the airline’s 146 reviews on Trustpilot are one-star. Many say it’s impossible to get through on the phone, and that sometimes the line is engaged or they are hung up on.
Others say that they have not been informed of flight delays or cancellations until they arrived at the airport.
The firm’s automated email says customers can expect to wait 22 days for a response.
And that is if they get through at all, as some Trustpilot reviewers say their emails have bounced back because the inbox is full.
Air Mauritius has been bad at getting back to me, too – in fact I have been completely ignored, both by the airline and Red Handling. If I can’t persuade it to answer the phone, what hope do its customers have?
Over a period of several weeks I called Air Mauritius, emailed many times and even tweeted, none of which got any response – unless you count the scam accounts on Twitter spoofing airline employees and trying to get me to send my personal details.
I do worry that desperate customers might be fooled by these. By not picking up the phone or answering emails, Air Mauritius is forcing them to vent their frustration on social media – and putting at significant risk.
Gone shopping: G.P had to buy replacement swimming gear and toiletries for his holiday
Red Handling doesn’t make its phone number public, so I have resorted to repeated emails which I know were received but again were ignored.
That said, since I emailed it outlining your situation, Air Mauritius has approached you with several compensation offers. They began with £68, but the latest and ‘final’ offer is £143.
You aren’t happy with this and I can understand why.
It is nowhere near the £1,360 maximum they could pay, but it does at least cover your losses for the clothes and toiletries you bought in Mauritius – and a bit extra.
The next step is to try complaining to the Civil Aviation Authority, which you are able to do as Air Mauritius is not a member of an alternative dispute resolution scheme.
If that doesn’t work, you could take it to the small claims court – though the costs of this would almost definitely outweigh those you incurred due to the delayed suitcase.
I’m glad you contacted me as I could warn other holidaymakers about the firm’s shoddy practices – and wish you good luck if you do decide to take this further.
CRANE ON THE CASE
- Muggers used my Revolut account to buy £3,900 of crypto
- London Marathon trainers I ordered from Asics never turned up
- Eon sent my small dance school a shock £95k energy bill
- I paid Virgin and O2 £650 for a Sim card I didn’t want
- Barclays debanked our tennis club and we couldn’t pay the bills
- I paid £5,000 to a kitchen firm that went bust
- Cinch sold us a car… but the bonnet wouldn’t open
- We couldn’t go to Hawaii due to wildfires – but insurer won’t pay
- My call with Three’s bereavement team was strange and upsetting
- HSBC refused switch bonus because I had account 21 YEARS ago
- Ovo bungled my elderly Dad’s £2,285 credit refund
- Thief took my savings – but Revolut says it ‘wasn’t suspicious’
- My roof blew off in a storm… but my insurer isn’t paying me
- I paid £889 for a robot vacuum that doesn’t work
- My daughter was attacked – but EE won’t refund £260 phone bill
- UPS and Packlink made selling Star Wars toy an epic drama
- The CRANE ON THE CASE naughty and nice list 2023
- Thames Water says it needs to fit ‘smart’ meter: Is it a scam?
- Our car was flooded in Storm Babet: Where is Sheila’s Wheels?
- Rightio charged my elderly mother £353… to change a FUSE
- I have £1,300 in scrapped Tesco savings stamps
- My car broke down and now the RAC has LOST it
- I took a BA voucher during Covid, but now I’m too ill to fly
- Why can’t we cancel Sky TV? We’ve written, emailed AND phoned
- I owe £8,400 in PCNs as my name was spelt wrong on TfL record
- I’ve been trying to sort my £6,120 energy bill debt for a DECADE
- My Premier Inn room was 28 degrees: Why isn’t it refundable?
- Barclays shut our community garden bank account
- I got a parking ticket waiting in the McDonald’s drive-thru
- My brother passed away before stag party, where is my refund?
- Tesco Mobile refused me a phone contract… because I don’t drive
- Where is PPI rebate I’m paying Brooksdale a 48% cut to get?
- P&O cruise turned into holiday from hell when I caught norovirus
- Nationwide has frozen my bank account… for being too charitable
- Does pension credit mix-up mean my wife overpaid care fees?
- I sold a caravan to Royale Resorts, where’s my money?
- My vulnerable in-laws got ‘debanked’ by HSBC
- My K-pop obsessed mum racked up hundreds on Spotify
- UPS charged me an extra £441 to post my boat sail
- My case was broken on Ryanair flight and I can’t get money back
- Enterprise charged me £982 for damage to Nissan Micra rental car
- I was switched to Ovo and now my bills are mind-boggling
- Scammer bagged an iPhone 14 using MY O2 account
- A Chinese firm registered its business at MY home address
- I sold my laptop online but buyer claimed I never sent it
- Evri delivered my son EMPTY BOX instead of Christmas present
- Where is inheritance we were promised by ‘heir hunters’
- I’m locked out of my BA account, have I lost my 650,000 Avios?
- A scammer bought £3,000 flights using MY card
- We booked ‘superior’ cruise cabin but got one next to engine
- My 13-year-old was scammed via Paypal. It says he owes £4,500
- I sent £2,000 of my late wife’s savings with wrong account number
- Ovo billed me £33,000 for a month of energy use in my two-bed flat
- Eon left a leak after it fitted my new boiler and the ceiling fell in
- My camera doesn’t work and I can’t contact online dealer
- I am terminally ill but can’t cash my Scottish Widows pension
- Most shocking CRANE ON THE CASE horror stories from 2022
- I was sent a shoddy mobility scooter… but Amazon says it’s fine
- My son was stranded in Australia in 2020 – I’m still waiting for…
- Home Office rejected my visa, when will I get NHS payment back?
- Investec won’t renew my 93-year-old mum’s savings with no ID… or…
- I built my own house and HMRC should refund VAT – where is it?
- We booked our holiday for the right dates… but the wrong year
- I’ve been waiting three years to get refund for Thomas Cook holiday
- TalkTalk sold me an internet phone line that doesn’t work
- Barclays says it’s closing my accounts and I have no idea why
- I spent £1,200 on hotels and trains when Blablacar bus was late
- Holiday Extras won’t pay out for trip after our son’s death
- My ex racked up £30k in Dart Charge PCNs due to mental health
- My bills went bananas after I had a smart meter installed
- My Cork flight was cancelled and Aer Lingus no longer flies
- Why won’t BA pay for my lost laptop and jewellery?
- I parked in more than one marked bay – can Premier Park fine me?
- My son got chickenpox before our holiday… can we get a refund?
- Our Tui wedding was booked where same-sex marriage isn’t legal
- Why won’t Ovo let me pay after it didn’t bill me for nine months?
- Northern Provident went under, where is my £10k Isa cash?
- I moved out of my damp home but British Gas wants £5k in bills
- My Macbook won’t turn on, why won’t John Lewis fix it?
- Bulb wants to charge me £2k for energy I used four years ago
- A fraudster hacked my email and went on a £6k credit card spree
- I’m owed a £164 tax refund after Covid cancelled my holiday
- My son turned 18 – why can’t he access his Child Trust Fund?
- My son spent £1,000 on iPad games… will Apple refund me?
- My BA flight and car hire has dropped by £500 – can I rebook?
Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.