You’ve arrived at your destination, your waiting to collect your suitcase before heading off to your accommodation only to find out that its been lost or delayed.
So how do Virgin Atlantic deal with this situation?
Virgin Atlantic say that if your luggage does not appear on the baggage belt, then head on over and speak with baggage hall staff and make a report (which is known as a PIR – Property Irregularity Report) there and then. They can’t begin to look for your bag and neither can they accept responsibility for delayed luggage unless you report it before leaving the airport.
Virgin Atlantic have baggage service staff at every airport that they fly into. They say that if they are not by the baggage belt, then you will find them at a service desk within the baggage hall area. Their Central Baggage Tracing and Claims departments are situated in the UK. They belong to the global baggage tracing network, WorldTracker – which links them to the baggage offices of more than 2,200 airport locations.
When you are reporting delayed baggage to their baggage hall staff:
Give an accurate description of your bag – by telling them any features you can thing of can help them to locate your bag more easily. The also suggest having a picture of your luggage on your phone just in case.
You will be able to monitor the progress of the tracing procedure in relation to your bag. Get in touch with their baggage staff at the airport where you reported your delayed bag, or their central baggage tracing department in the UK.
Alternatively you can log in to their baggage tracing page to check online (please note that you will need the 10-character reference number which they gave you when you reported the delay)
Contact numbers for their baggage services are listed by airport.
Buying essential items when your baggage is delayed:
Virgin Atlantic understand that you may need to buy some essential items such as cosmetics, toiletries and basic clothing to keep you going until they can find your bag.
They say that as long as you let their staff in the baggage hall know that you bag has not arrives and they create a
Property Irregularity Report, they will reimburse you for the essential purchases when you return home up to the value of $50 if you are in the States, or the equivalent of £50 in all other destinations.
To make a claim please make sure that you keep all of the receipts and send them to their Baggage Claims Department.
If your bag turns out to be irretrievably lost, they will deduct any sum paid for essential items from the final settlement costs.
To claim reimbursement for essential items, please send them the following information within 21 days of your bag being returned to you:
Receipts for your purchased items.
The Property Irregularity Report (PIR) Number given by the airport when you report your delayed baggage.
Your flight details.
Your full name and address.
Virgin Atlantic say that they will do their best to attend to your claim as quickly as they can, but it can take between 21-28 days from the date that they received your claim before reimbursement.
Once your baggage has been found:
As soon as they locate your baggage, they will arrange for it to be delivered to you. Unfortunately, due to custom regulations they are unable to deliver delayed baggage to addresses in Lagos or Accra, you will need to collect it from the airport yourself.
If they are unable to locate your baggage within 21 days of you reporting its delay to their airport staff, they do say that they are very sorry as at this point they will declare it ‘irretrievably lost’.
If you do not have travel insurance and you need to make a claim, take a look at their making a baggage claim page here: Making A Baggage Claim
You can view all of this How Virgin Atlantic Deal With Delayed or Lost Baggage information here: How Virgin Atlantic Deal With Delayed or Lost Baggage
