Travel Troubleshooter: Italian airline loses her luggage, but won’t fully reimburse her shopping receipts

Q: I flew from Rome to Palermo, Italy, on ITA Airways. Unfortunately, my luggage did not. I filed a claim immediately at Palermo Airport. I didn’t receive my luggage until the end of my trip a week later.

Since my luggage was missing the entire trip, I had to make purchases, including luggage. My coat was in my suitcase. Thank God another woman on my tour lent me her coat. The weather was cold with heavy rain.

So many things that I needed were difficult to purchase because we returned from tours late in the day. I think I did a good job of keeping my costs to a minimum, but I still spent $992. I have copies of my receipts.

ITA Airways wants to reimburse me $733. I’d like to be fully reimbursed. Can you help me?

A: ITA Airways is liable for the entire $992. Under the Montreal Convention, if an airline loses, damages or delays your checked luggage, you’re entitled to compensation up to about $1,400.

Bottom line: If you can prove that you purchased these items while you were waiting for your luggage, ITA Airways should cover them.

Unfortunately, airlines don’t always pay what they’re supposed to. They may scrutinize your list and say, “We don’t think you really needed that.” I can see a few items that might have raised eyebrows, including $85 in cosmetics, a $6 mirror and a pair of shoes for $172. However, you were careful to document each purchase and noted the reasons for buying each item.

I think ITA Airways needed to tell you why it wouldn’t cover certain items, but I don’t see it justifying its decision not to reimburse you anywhere in your correspondence.

You might have avoided these problems by traveling light and carrying your luggage on the plane. I know this sounds unreasonable, but take it from someone who lives out of his luggage — it’s doable.

Given that ITA Airways didn’t really explain why it shorted you $259, I thought it was worth asking. So I did. At first, the airline said it couldn’t refund you because it didn’t have documentation for items. But it did have them, and you showed them the receipts again.

Finally, 10 months after you lost your luggage, the airline sent us a statement: “ITA Airways apologizes for the disruption and confirms that the customer will receive a refund for the expenses related to the purchase of items which occurred due to this inconvenience.”

Then it sent you a check for $733. I contacted ITA again and asked it to cover the rest of your expenses, as agreed. It finally did.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers. Contact him at chris@elliott.org or elliottadvocacy.org/help.