Around the world in 118 days: one airline passenger’s $3,000 battle to retrieve lost luggage

Marko Bogicevic maintains his ordeal began because he had the gall to share a joke article about yuppies losing bags on flights from Australia to Europe.

It was fateful irony, he's certain, that led to not one but three bags being lost on a short trip abroad, leaving Bogicevic several thousands dollars in debt and tying him into a tortuous long-distance dispute with Air France.

"I made fun of them [the yuppies]," he said, "and two weeks later my girlfriend [Dani Meyerowitz] and I were going to Europe and, of course, we lost our bags."

It would be almost four months before one bag was recovered, during which Bogicevic paid to replace many of the items inside it, only to find his claims for compensation frustrated by Air France.

The saga began when the couple landed in Nice at the end of a connecting flight from Sydney and watched the baggage carousel slowly spin, to no avail.

The airline was not completely unhelpful.

"They gave us a little toiletry bag with a toothbrush, a razor and T-shirts," Bogicevic says. "We still use them - a plain white, extra large T-shirt. It almost makes up for the fact they owe me $3,000."

Bogicevic and Meyerowitz lodged the missing request and claimed for immediate items.

Expecting to be reunited with their luggage as they travelled around Europe, they watched at first with some amusement online as one of the two bags travelled from Singapore to Paris, to Nice, to Lyon, to Marseille, to Paris, to Florence, and back to Paris.

A moment of hope came when Air France told them one bag was in Marseille, but could take five days "for processing" and the counter might be closed - it was Saturday, in the middle of summer.

"We went to a desk, and this was when Dani broke," Bogicevic says. "The lady was really rude and aggressive, she told us 'we can't help you, it's not here, if you want to call someone there's a phone over there.'

Before heading home, Bogicevic travelled to his home country of Bosnia to pick up a battered suitcase that belonged to his grandfather, packed with sentimental items from his late grandmother's home - including hundreds of letters written by his mother to her parents when they were refugees in Europe.

On the journey home, this time with Austrian Airlines, things again took a turn for the worse when Bogicevic arrived in Bangkok to a text.

"Your luggage has been delayed."

Three from three.

The grandfather's case arrived within a week of the couple's return to Sydney. But the saga of the Air France bags continued.

Meyerowitz's bag had arrived, but when Bogicevic called Air France they insisted it was in Perth.

That left his original bag, which the airline said was still in Paris. In response to Bogicevic's emails in August, it said inquiries were continuing, but "due to an unexpected increased workload resulting from exceptional circumstances, we are not able to answer you within our usual timeframe".

Six weeks had now passed since the bag was lost. After constantly calling and waiting on hold, then getting passed from one person to another, Bogicevic decided to make an official lost baggage claim.

"It was the definition of lunacy doing the same thing over and over again," he says.

By now the bag had disappeared from the online tracking system. He lodged a long list of itemised claims both for essentials and to pay for other possessions lost with the bag, amounting to about $3,000, many of which he had replaced after returning to Sydney.

No response came from Air France.

Then, exactly 118 days after checking in his luggage, he received a nonchalant call from the airline telling him to head to a services desk behind McDonald's at Sydney Airport. His green suitcase had been found.

"I had to go into the airport, park my car, pay the [$20 parking] fee and find my bag amongst the piles," he says.

Standing in the purgatory for lost bags faced with his relic from the past, his anguish dissipated for a moment.

Air France has not responded to the compensation claim. The airline did not respond to questions from Guardian Australia.

The consumer advocate Adam Glezer, who runs Facebook groups dealing with travel industry complaints, said it was "extremely abnormal" for Australian customers to have issues with airlines resolved due to a lack of regulation and accountability.

"You're dealing with someone, they hang up or pass you back and forth, and you feel trapped with nowhere to go."

Glezer said Covid layoffs had also contributed to travel chaos including missing luggage and flight delays.

"A lot of airlines laid off workers over Covid and had to rush them back on without the skill set and experience," he said.

"It's become an absolute punt if you're going to get your luggage on the other side."