Hi De Di - did you ever watch that series on ITV I think called Gatwick (funny enough about Gatwick) which was a behind the scenes series, pre all the millions spent there upgrading it. Well on it, one was dedicated to Baggage handlers and the journey of 'the cases' and they really do get battered and bruised by the very long conveyor type belts that they have to travel. They mentioned that some passengers don't make it easy, because they tie long scarfs and the like to the cases so they can easily recognise them, however they frequently get caught in the conveyor belts and cause the machine to cease.

I know you may not use Gatwick but assume the same it said in most airports, but I do agree if they damage it then they have to rectify it - it was interesting though

Basically the baggage conveyors put the luggage in the right area by reading barcodes on the cases which obviously cuts out a lot of manual work , but there is still the manual handling at points , damage could occur anywhere though and there are bigger demands on baggage handlers to get luggage correctly loaded and if like many other businesses these days more than likely less staff to get it done !! Everyone wants lower prices and more work done by less people and this sometimes results in standards slipping and things going wrong , there are different luggage handling companies ( at Gatwick ) and its a very cut throat business with airlines demanding the lowest possible prices , and sometimes we end up getting what we pay for ?? Depending on your viewpoint in a race to the bottom !!

Still not very good when cases / contents get damaged , luckily our current cases have lasted about 4 years and still reasonably ok , but they weren't cheap , and having seen how they are thrown around I'm quite surprised they are still ok hope you get your claim dealt with soon

Cases are piled upon cases, it's the only way they can be taken to and from and loaded onto the plane - add to that all the handling they require and the long conveyer belts and it's not difficult to see how they get damaged.

As stated above to, people's tags and scarfs and ribbons etc all get tangled or caught along the way.

After a recent holiday, our hard Samsonite type case arrived in reclaim with a substantial hole punched in it !!!
Looked like it had been dropped from a great height onto a piece of angle iron. We were given a similar (but cheaper) hard case in the reclaim area as compensation.!
A major issue is that more and more people are using flimsy lightweight luggage to compensate for reduced standard baggage allowances -these frequently appear on the reclaim belt ripped open -can't believe that these will last more than 2 or 3 trips.

One of our cases got totally mangled on the way to Costa Rica. We were on a tour and didn't have time to visit the replacement shop in San Jose so decided to deal with things when we got back to the UK. Iberia told us to send it off for repair - it came back held together with gaffa tape and superglue. We should have pushed for a new one, but it was costing a fortune to phone them in Spain everytime so we just bought a new one ourselves. Like brewerdave's case, our had definitely been dropped as the handle mechanism was completely bust!

We reckon the damage this time must have happened either as it was loaded at Amsterdam or unloaded at Brum. We checked the cases in at Chicago when they were tagged. The handle of the case was ripped off completely and the tag with it so if it had been damaged loading or unloading the Chicago flight it would not have found its way onto the Brum flight.

Today I phoned the handling company as they had not contacted me. I have now been told that they do not handle claims for KLM (which is the info I was given at BHX) and so now I am having to contact KLM direct!!!

Perhaps we should all switch to old fashioned steamer trunks. They seemed pretty indestructible.