Long time lurker but now I need advice...
Hubby did AlaskaMan last weekend (the 7.5 mile hike I did with him at the end... whew!) which meant we flew Alaska Airlines from Denver to Anchorage. He had his bike in a Scicon bike bag, and when we got to Anchorage we saw that there was a crack in the seat stay. Took the bike (Cipollini carbon) to a local shop and the mechanic agreed it was cracked, and advised against racing it. We splinted it with electrical tape, he did the race... and now we are home in Denver trying to figure out what to do.
We called the airline immediately after seeing the crack and they said we first needed to file a claim with TSA since they inspected the bike. We got a call from TSA yesterday and they are looking for the video of the inspection. Then today we got an email from Alaska saying that since TSA inspected the bike Alaska cannot take any responsibility. Hubby called Alaska again, and now they are saying that it in in their Contract of Carriage that a bike will only be accepted for travel of it is in a hard case. <pink> They have nicely offered a $200 coupon for a future flight </pink>. Note, we paid the $75 bike fee... so they definitely "accepted" a bike in a soft case!
Do we have any recourse, or are my next several paychecks going to a new bike frame?
Open to all guidance....
Leslie
Hubby did AlaskaMan last weekend (the 7.5 mile hike I did with him at the end... whew!) which meant we flew Alaska Airlines from Denver to Anchorage. He had his bike in a Scicon bike bag, and when we got to Anchorage we saw that there was a crack in the seat stay. Took the bike (Cipollini carbon) to a local shop and the mechanic agreed it was cracked, and advised against racing it. We splinted it with electrical tape, he did the race... and now we are home in Denver trying to figure out what to do.
We called the airline immediately after seeing the crack and they said we first needed to file a claim with TSA since they inspected the bike. We got a call from TSA yesterday and they are looking for the video of the inspection. Then today we got an email from Alaska saying that since TSA inspected the bike Alaska cannot take any responsibility. Hubby called Alaska again, and now they are saying that it in in their Contract of Carriage that a bike will only be accepted for travel of it is in a hard case. <pink> They have nicely offered a $200 coupon for a future flight </pink>. Note, we paid the $75 bike fee... so they definitely "accepted" a bike in a soft case!
Do we have any recourse, or are my next several paychecks going to a new bike frame?
Open to all guidance....
Leslie