Why airlines must deliver delayed bags to passengers’ home address

By Appiah Kusi ADOMAKO, Esq

If you have arrived at the Kotoka International Airport from a foreign trip and your baggage does not arrive with you, it will be your responsibility to frequent the Kotoka Airport’s Lost and Found Unit until you find it. Sometimes, you may have to go to the airport more than six times before you can lay hold of your delayed bags.

The airline will not reimburse you for the expenses incurred in accessing the delayed bags. In other jurisdictions, these same airlines will deliver the delayed bags to the passengers’ address at no extra cost and where applicable, provide compensation or reimbursement.

Experience in Ghana

In Ghana, I recall in January 2017 I arrived from New York with Emirates Airline and my bags got delayed. I had to trek to the airport daily for six days and got the bags on the seventh day. A nephew had a wedding gown and in my luggage.

By the time I got the luggage, the wedding was over. On several occasions, I have had family and friends who arrive at Kotoka Airport without their bags and are continuing their journey to other parts of the country and they either have to cancel or reschedule their flight or stay in a hotel in Accra just to wait for their bags to arrive. Regardless of how long it takes and the cost incurred by the passengers before getting their bags, the airlines offer no compensation or reimbursement. Sometimes, getting through over the phone to the Airport’s Lost and Found Office to check whether your bag has arrived is difficult.

Experience from other jurisdictions

Bags not arriving with passengers when they arrive at their final destination is a global phenomenon, and Ghana is no exception. Airlines worldwide make provision for the delayed bags to be delivered to the passengers’ addresses at no extra charge to the passenger. I have personally experienced this.

There are a couple of times when I have travelled outside Ghana and my bags did not arrive with me. All that I was asked to do was to provide my residential address and within 24 hours, the airline delivered the bags to me. In 2014, I travelled to Birmingham, UK for a four-day conference and upon reaching my final destination, my bags did not arrive. I told the airline staff that I was in the country for a conference, and had nothing on me except what I was wearing and my backpack.

The airline gave me a credit card worth GBP 400 to go buy whatever I would need for the first day of the conference until the bags arrived. I was able to buy a suit, a shirt and a pair of shoes and other necessaries required until the bags arrived. Fast forward two years later, I travelled with the same airline and when I got to Accra, my bags did not come. The airline did not do anything except to say go and lodge a complaint with the Lost and Found Luggage Unit at the KIA Airport.

Airlines mandate

Airlines are generally responsible for ensuring that delayed baggage is returned to passengers as quickly as possible. Most airlines (but not in Ghana) deliver delayed baggage to the passenger’s provided address, typically at no extra cost. This practice aligns with common industry standards and customer service expectations.

If a passenger’s baggage is delayed, he/she may be entitled to compensation for essential items he/she needs to purchase while waiting for their luggage as happened to me in Birmingham, UK. This is regulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Montreal Convention, which sets the rules for international air travel, including baggage delays.

Whereas the Montreal Convention provides the broader framework for airlines when it comes to handling baggage delays, most countries have domesticated these laws in their consumer protection laws and regulations. Unfortunately, Ghana does not have a Consumer Protection Law.

When the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) got the opportunity to draft a Consumer Protection Directive (Ghana Civil Aviation Economic Directives 2019: Part Two Consumer Protection), it left the matter untouched. The issue is that airlines operating in the country do not accord Ghanaian travellers the same level of courtesies and respect they show to passengers on other routes and destinations.

Allowing airlines to deliver delayed bags to passengers’ addresses can significantly improve the overall travel experience. It reduces the inconvenience and stress caused by luggage delays, showing that airlines care about their customers’ comfort and satisfaction. Most of the traffic at the Kotoka Airport can be reduced if airlines can deliver the bags to passengers’ addresses.

Conclusion

Asking airlines in Ghana to deliver delayed bags to passengers’ addresses is not too much to ask from airlines in Ghana.  If it is done in other jurisdictions, it means it can be done here in Ghana. Courier companies in Ghana are able to deliver packages and letters across the country overnight. Ghana Post GPS has made it easy to locate every address in the country. GCAA must domesticate the Montreal Convention protocol on delayed bags and mandate the airlines to offer the same level of services it offers to passengers from the US, UK, EU, Canada, and the rest.

In the long run, the passage of the National Consumer Protection Act will go in a long way to protect Ghanaian air travellers from the discriminatory and unfair practices exhibited by multinational airlines operating in the country.

The writer is the West Africa Regional Director for CUTS International Accra. CUTS is a research and public policy think tank working on consumer protection and education, competition policy and law, economic regulation, road safety and international trade.  [email protected], www.cuts-accra.org

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