Emirates AirlinesEmirates Airlines Stole my Laptop & Trying to cheat me off my Fly-Rights New York City New York

Good Evening Ben,

I have read your report earlier with keen interest, and being a Travel Industry insider I feel it only fair to shed some light on what I feel could potentially happen here, and also shed some constructivism to prevent the same happening to others.

Emirates (EK) don't actually fly from PHL but code share with several carriers within the US; notably American (AA), Continental (CO), Delta (DL) and of course United (UA) as you've pointed out. My initial assumptions are that you had to check your laptop whilst in transit. I would ask you to clarify as to the reason why you had to do that. It's understandable that laptops are carried as cabin baggage almost exclusively and if you never registered a protest, then you would have waived your rights under the Montreal Convention. Most importantly, I realise that having to change airports between LGA and JFK would have contributed to you having to visit the transfer desk in Terminal 9. Your mention of 'being asked to check in your carry on all of a sudden during transit; makes me suspect that this had happened either before or after you visited the desk.

The reason this is important is that if EK officials at the transfer desk asked you to do this, they would have given a reason. Normally, it's because the carry on is over the allowable hand baggage limits OR oversize. I suspect that if it wasn't in a laptop CASE then this may be a contributing factor.....your clarification needed.

From personal experience, the transfer desk at JFK is always quite disorganized and anything could have gone astray. Granted, I won't mitigate EK's responsibility here but the fact is that the bag could have been taken off the carousel in Chennai (depending of course how it 'looked' - a laptop case is almost certainly quite appealing to thieves at any time.

Finally, I am utterly confused as to what direction you were traveling in. Your report states that you traveled from PHL to MAA, yet later you stated that EK gave you the wrong flight information and sent you on a wild goose chase between JFK and LGA. Am I correct to assume that a), this part of your journey was on the RETURN trip?, and b), If so, you mention that you had 3 pieces of luggage - this WOULD be a contributor to your issues if they were 3 CHECKED pieces.

Please let me know - perhaps I could help you somewhat.

Best