Travel Question: Do I have much of a case over my case?

Have a question? Ask our expert Simon Calder

Luggage is more likely to go astray if it is checked in than if it is sent via an unaccompanied baggage firm (Getty)

Q I like the idea of dispatching luggage ahead of overseas trips with Send My Bag. But on my trip to Lisbon my case got stuck in a strike at the courier firm and was in Brussels for several days. If I’d known I could have made alternative arrangements and/or brought more clothes with me in hand luggage. Can I make a claim?

Name withheld

A “Unaccompanied baggage” firms such as Send My Bag offer door-to-door luggage service within Europe for around the same price as paying for a checked bag. Send My Bag charges £31 one-way for a 20kg bag to Spain. It’s valuable as a way to reduce airport hassle, and also for people with physical issues that make handling baggage a problem.

The idea is that if you’re happy to be packed and ready a few days before departure, you should find your bag waiting for you at your destination. The luggage is sent as a cargo consignment through courier firms such as DHL, usually by road (though you can pay extra for express, which goes by air). In practice the chance of it going astray is probably lower than if you check the bag in – particularly for a connecting flight.

But things can go wrong, as you discovered. Adam Ewart, the chief executive, told me: “Due to an unannounced strike in Brussels across the last week a small number of shipments travelling within Europe on our standard service have experienced a delay in delivery. Our team has been available 24 hours and have been working to keep delays to a minimum. The average delay has been one day.”

Timings for the standard service are not formally guaranteed, but 95 per cent of deliveries are on the promised day. When they are not, Send My Bag has a “goodwill policy” operated (no pun intended) on a case by case basis. So I suggest you contact the company and see what it might offer.

Every day, our travel correspondent, Simon Calder, tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder