My wife and I recently flew Air France back from Italy. During the plane transfer in Paris, my wife and I made the next plane, but our luggage didn't.

We were told upon arriving at LAX that our discount luggage would arrive the next day and Air France would deliver it to our house. (I'll make it short) We didn't get our luggage until two days later and missing several items out of both bags. Approx. $2,000.00 in value and Air France says to bad, we'll only pay you $140.00 calculated on the weight of your bags. This is nothing short of looting our luggage and not taking responsibility for it. Can you help us.

Jim G.

James,

Unfortunately the Luggage rules on international flights are governed by different rules then domestic flights. These are normally printed on your tickets.

The only recovery that I can suggest is to talk to your accountant about taking a casualty loss on your taxes. Talk to him/her right away as he/she will know what kind of documentation that you will need at tax time.

You should also check your home owners insurance for any possible coverage.

In the future on both international and domestic flights,

the American Express Gold and Platinum Cards have a program that you can sign up for that adds $6.00 to the cost of each ticket purchased. This provides you the benefit, that if your luggage is late you can purchase up to $200.00 of necessities that American Express will pay for and an additional 6 to 8 hundred dollars if you luggage is not delivered within 24 hours. Check with American Express for full details.

Also check with your travel agent about luggage insurance on future trips.

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