PUBLISHED ONJanuary 09, 2025 4:30 AMByKhoo Yi-HangThey wanted to take a break for the holidays, but so did their luggage - quite literally.
A Singapore traveller was shocked to find her sister's luggage severely damaged after a family trip from Singapore to Japan last year, according to a string of Facebook posts between Dec 4, 2024 to Jan 4 this year.
User Elizabeth Seah's outrage began in December last year when her family received their luggage in terrible condition after arriving in Osaka.
The luggage's outer shell had been smashed apart on both sides with several chunks gone from it, leaving large openings with sharp, plastic edges.
Contents of the luggage could be seen moving about within the cloth interior of the bag as they shifted it around; a wheel was also missing, causing the luggage to tilt when placed upright.
"My family happily land in Japan only to retrieve such a luggage," she wrote. "What is this?"
According to Seah in a post last Saturday (Jan 4), the luggage had arrived on the conveyor belt "with everyone staring at it", and ground staff offered little assistance to them.
Seah said that alongside her sister, they attempted to seek compensation from Jetstar Asia with the cheapest luggage they could find in Kyoto, where they were staying, but were allegedly rejected.
"The broken luggage was purchased a while back, we don't have a receipt nor bank payment records," she said.
"We tried to show them how much the exact luggage is selling on Lazada, but was also rejected."
Instead, Jetstar Asia allegedly instructed them to provide a quotation for repairs from a shop, which left Seah baffled.
"I'm curious why they cannot see this is way beyond repair. A repair at this stage? Are they serious?"
She added: "It was so badly damaged that it could not be used, we had to dispose of it on the spot. How to use such a dangerous broken luggage?"
They have also been asked to provide a "statutory declaration or a notarised affidavit", according to Seah's post.
This would be an additional $10 to $25 depending on the type of document required.
"They refused to let me know the compensation amount and I'm not even sure if it is worth all that hassle."
Responding to queries from AsiaOne, a Jetstar Asia spokesperson said: "We’re very sorry to hear of the damage caused to Seah’s luggage and the inconvenience it has caused."
The airliner is conducting an internal review and communicating with their ground handling teams to understand how this happened, so that this can be prevented in the future.
"In the meantime, our customer advocacy team is reaching out to Seah to see how we can support her further."
AsiaOne has reached out to Seah for more information.
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khooyihang@asiaone.com
