Re: Theft of Sony Minidisc Player, Tri-band Nokia phone and charger while traveling on flights SU 0536V and SU 0315V from New Delhi to New York City on April 25, 2007 Dear Mr. Elmanov, On April 27, 2007, I traveled to New York on Aeroflot flight SU 0536V leaving Indira Gandhi airport at 0430 am arriving in Moscow at 0930 am. I then caught connecting flight SU 0315V from Moscow at 1420, arriving in New York at 1640 EST. My baggage was checked all the way through and the identifying number on the Aeroflot tag is 0555 SU 699267. There was also the following code: BCGNTY. After arriving home I noticed that the lock on one of them was missing and at first believed it had fallen off during the journey. But after thoroughly going through the contents of the case, I found that my Sony minidisc recorder -- which I use a great deal in my work as a journalist -- and my triband Nokia phone and charger were no longer among the contents. This is a loss to me of approximately 450 dollars. I am extremely upset at the theft of my belongings while in the care of Aeroflot. At the time my baggage was checked I had locked the suitcase myself so this theft can only have happened when my baggage was in the care of Aeroflot. In the case of the phone it is a great immediate inconvenience as I had hoped to be contactable easily while in New York in case of an emergency at work or at home. As a journalist you can understand that I need to be reachable at all times. In the case of the minidisc recorder I will need to replace it immediately so it is an immediate additional expense at this time. I have already spoken to your representative at the airport who says that it is apparently Aeroflot policy not to reimburse such thefts if the passenger did not open and check their luggage at the airport and file a claim at that point in time. This is plainly unacceptable. A person who has been traveling for almost 24 hours across several time zones is in no mental or physical state to start opening their bags at the airport. I have certainly never seen passengers going through their belongings in such a manner at JFK. Although this may be a good way to reduce the number of claims you face from passengers who have faced theft while traveling with you, it does little to instill confidence in the integrity and reliability of Aeroflot. I therefore expect that Aeroflot will recognize their responsibility towards me as a paying passenger and take the appropriate steps to recompense me. I look forward to hearing from you during your working hours on Monday, April 30.Thank you in advance for your help in this matter. I will be traveling back to New Delhi on Aeroflot on May 11 and expect this matter will be resolved by then. Sincerely,
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