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Baggage problems: Rene’s path to compensation for damaged suitcase

After his suitcase was damaged on his way home from Tenerife, René had to spend a long time in queues and on the phone, before finally getting help from ECC Denmark.

At the airport, René discovered that his suitcase had been seriously damaged on his way home from his holiday. However, getting compensation turned out to be more difficult than he expected. To be eligible for compensation, you must submit a receipt showing that the damage was reported to the airline in time. This is also called a PIR report. But he only discovered the damage once he was in the arrivals hall. So he went home with the intention of sorting it out the next day.

Run-around

“I couldn’t get a PIR report online, so I had to go back to the airport. I got the run-around here before I finally ended up in the right place. With a PIR report and extra documentation in hand, he contacted the airline. But the airline said they would not acknowledge the damage,” says René.

After seeking help through various Danish complaints channels, René discovered ECC Denmark:

I had positive dialogue with ECC Denmark, who took on my case and helped me get the compensation I was entitled to.

Common problem

Baggage dramas are unfortunately a familiar problem at ECC Denmark:

“We help many airline passengers with problems related to baggage. People are often frustrated that, like René, they find it difficult to get assistance or to even be to able to talk to the airline. It’s therefore important to make consumers aware that help is available,” says Claudia Lander Selck, a lawyer at ECC Denmark.

René Henriksen strongly agrees:

“I’ve worked in the insurance industry, so I know a bit about how things operate. But there must be people who end up missing out on assistance and compensation because the guidelines from the airline are poor and haphazard.”