I posted a while ago about problems we had on a trip to New York. Luggage lost, had to buy clothes etc etc.

We’ve eventually had an email back from the airline apologising for the “inconvenience caused” and then asking for our banking details:

“We have received all the documents successfully. Please send your Bank details including the IBAN and SWIFT codes for the resolution of the case.”

Now this is the first we’ve heard from them – they haven’t indicated what they are / are not prepared to pay for etc. Is this normal? Do we give them our details and wait to see what arrives into the bank and then argue about it again if necessary? This has never happened to either of us before so no idea what the protocol is, but I would have expected some indication from them as to what they were going to cover.

Anyone with experience?

Don’t they give guidelines as to what coverages they have, like $50 per bag for example.
Travel insurance should deal with the bulk.
Presumably amounts beyond that you already filled out when you filed the loss at the airport?

After two days of phone calls to them trying to find out where our bags were and what was happening, they told us our bags may never be seen again and to go out and buy clothes. . . . our bags arrived 2 hrs after we returned home from clothes shopping.

We sent them all the receipts, as requested, and this is the first response we’ve had back.

I guess my concern is that we give them our banking details, they pay something (but not everything) into our account and then they say the case is “closed” and give us the run-around forever regarding any outstanding balance.

The customer service we received (or rather didn’t receive) in NYC has made me very sceptical of them.

If you’ve sent them your receipts, then expect them to deposit the amounts spent on approved purchases.
Perhaps worth asking for details of what they intent to reimburse now that you have an active case handler?

We asked them for details of the proposed payment when we got the first email this morning and they’ve just replied saying “without your banking details we can not proceed”.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for payment details before handing over banking details is it?

You sure the email is legit?

My thoughts echo those of mattyfez.

I’d be getting those emails verified by another means before sending anything.

Delta paid via Cheque, I’d first suggest that is the way you want it settled, not sure how much negotiation you have beyond the amount in the T&C’s as said travel insurance is the main payout – it’s what it’s for

Assuming it’s from a legit email address, I’d give them the bank details and just say something like “my details are provided below in anticipation of the full amount of $xxx”. The point here is you’re documenting that you haven’t agreed to accept less than you asked for.

The bank details are pretty much whatever would be published on a cheque so they shouldn’t be able to do anything dramatic with them…but otoh you’ve probably sent them copies of your passports so…

When you say “outstanding amounts” – you mean if they don’t pay the full amount shown on your receipts?

Or just look them up and and call them to confirm rather than replying to the email.

Turns out I was correct to by cynical.

I batted back 4 emails requesting my banking details and each time I requested the settlement figure they were proposing.

At the 5th email I sent our banking details and again requested details of the amount.

A week later we received an email from a slightly different email address, one with “no-reply” hidden inside it, saying they had deposited 100€ into our account in full settlement.

We replied to that email by changing the new email address back to the old email address and after a few days received annother email saying that they had re assessed our case and we’re not going to change the amount paid.

Going to hand over to an airline compensation company now……