For those of you that read the original account t(Northwest Nightmare) of my experience traveling to RSA on NWA last August and the subsequent loss of all my luggage/bow case, I have a final update.

Eventually all my gear was recovered but I still spent 10 days with no bow, no clothes and the loss of what I had hoped would be a lifelong dream hunt.

I tried to resolve the issue amicably by writing letters and making phone calls from the time I got home in August until October. In October I received a response from NWA offering me a $500.00 travel voucher. For clarification, I lost over $4,400 in daily fees, paid $2150.00 in airfare and ate up nearly $500.00 in phone calls.

Upon receiving the voucher I notified NWA that I would not accept their offer and would follow up in court. They responded by letter saying they were not responsible for the lost luggage(even though they lost it) and I could take it up with SAA.

I filed a claim in our local small claims court for $3000.00 which is the maximum amount allowed in Michigan. The benefit of using small claims is that you and the defendant must appear and no attorney’s can represent you or the defendant.

I knew if I filed in a higher court, attorney fees would kill me and NWA’s attorneys would drag the case out until I was broke. So I decided to take my chances in small claims and force the issue.

My case was to be heard on Friday, November 30 and on Monday, November 26, I got a call from NWA offering to settle. They made the offer to pay all my daily fees in cash and provide me with $2,150.00 in travel vouchers. I accepted the offer and the case is closed, this time the little guy won!!!

I certainly appreciate the settlement, but in reality, I assumed that is what would happen. NWA did not want a judgement against them, and did not want to have to send someone here from their headquarters to testify. It would have cost them much more to send someone here than to settle.

At no time until I pushed the issue in court did NWA ever offer to make good on my losses. I feel they were willing to leave me swinging until such time as I got tired of fighting and disappeared. In fact, an NWA employee on condition of anonymity, told me that is exactly what they do and it works some 95% of the time.

So before you start feeling warm and fuzzy about NWA, remember they waited until I pushed the issue in court before ponying up.

I did learn several valuable lessons throughout this process, much if it has been discussed in my previous thread. But to anyone that has a similar issue with an airline, let me teach you this mantra, Patience, Politeness, Persistance……..

I knew that yelling, threatening and name calling would not work in my favor, and would only affect my mental and physical health. When I decided to “fight†I fought to win, with a strategy. I let things play out and didn’t let it become an all consuming activity.

I gave the airline a timeframe (90 days) to compensate me, or negotiate or deny my claims. I never told them I was “going to sue youâ€, instead, I simply filed in court after I felt I had exhausted all my options.

Further, I set up a realistic goal of what I was willing to accept if the airline decided to settle. I pretty much knew I was going to win in court, so my minimum number was $3,000.00. Anything above that had to be viewed as icing.

Yes I did lose the “experience†of hunting, I did lose two weeks vacation, I endured incredible stress and inconvenience, but that’s hard to quantify and would have required going to a higher court. Again, you have to weigh out your options.

So am I “happy� No, but I do feel that we “settled†to our mutual benefit. My family and I have enough in travel vouchers to take a nice trip somewhere, and a little spending money, and a whole lot more wisdom.

As a final note, Outdoor Life is doing a story on my experience and will be in the Feb/Mar issue.

To all of you that supported me through emails and such, thank you, I sincerely appreciated it.

Hugh

Congratulations, Hugh! Thanks for hanging in there. Your persistence and success is the only thing that will make any airline think twice about their carelessness with people's luggage.

Small claims court rules vary from state to state, but most places they can be useful tools to get a miscreant to make right their misdeeds.

Good to hear you got your fees covered. Hope you go back to Africa soon.

Now, go hunting again and forget NWA. Have some fun, you earned it.

Good to hear the system worked for you. I am about to do a small claims thing against a big company as well.

Congratulations! You definately fought the good fight.

Just a big "ATTA BOY!!!!"

I assume that if or when you utilize those vouchers, you won't check baggage on the trip.

There are reasons why that airline is known in the business as "Northworst."

Way to go...if more people start following your lead then maybe the airlines will do a better job of getting luggage there on time. I wonder if a US resident can sue SAA or any other internationally owned airline. Do you have to file in court at your travel starting point or can you make the claim in any court?

Congratulations on the settlement and my respect for doing it the "right" way - taking the high road.
Dave

Roscoe,

My case may have been unique as the original mistake happened at my local airport through NWA. SAA didn't lose anything and quite honestly they were extremely helpful and went beyond beleif in trying to find my bags.

And remember I didn't file for "lost bags", there is an international agreement between all the airlines that limits the liability of an airline to replace lost baggage. I think its like $9.00 per pound.

I sued for negligence on the part of NWA employees. The negligence of the mistakes made by their employeess caused my bags to be lost and caused me to spend money on airfare and daily fees that I was unable to "enjoy". Had my bags simply been lost, I would have been SOL.

But because NWA didn't due their "job" of checking my bags all the way to JNB as I had instructed them, and because they didn't fill out the expedited tags to retrieve my bags correctly, I was "injured".

Had I not gotten copies of the expedited tags, Im not sure how this would have turned out.

Hugh

Way to persevere.