(RELAXED LOUNGE MUSIC) www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023 ` Ever wondered what happens to that lost luggage? - We truly have no idea what we're going to find in these bags. We like to say that every bag tells a story. - And what you need to know about lodging your flood and cyclone damage claims. - If you're not happy with your settlement, you do have some options. - Garth's back with his mystery shopping list, checking just how much groceries have increased in a year. - Since then, we've had record inflation, so how are those same items priced now? - And we get to the sauce of a problem to find out if it's getting a whole lot bigger. (SPLAT!) - We need some tomato sauce, maybe some more tomato sauce... - Tena koutou katoa ` welcome to the show. We have got a cracking yarn on lost luggage coming up, but first, let's talk about` - Insurance. With thousands of claims lodged since the Auckland floods and the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle, insurance claims are back on our radar. - They sure are. And while you'll need to get specifics on your policy from your insurer, Alistar's got some tips on how to get claims right and what to do when they go wrong. - For starters, be patient. Insurers say they're prioritising urgent cases, so less urgent ones may take weeks, possibly months, to be processed. Don't panic if you don't have receipts for all lost or damaged items. Insurers won't necessarily require them, but any documentation and photos are helpful. Bear in mind what you're covered for depends on your policy, so you might be entitled to brand-new replacements, or you might get the depreciated value of items. In some cases, you might get a cash settlement, so, if you're able, you could buy items in advance knowing the money's coming. In other cases, insurers may stipulate preferred suppliers. Make sure you know what you're entitled to. Many policies include cover for the likes of ruined food or temporary accommodation, even for pets. Bear in mind there are limits to those accommodation payments, so if you're likely to be out of your home for a long period of time, spend wisely. And check with your insurer ` you may be able to tap in to an accommodation allowance even if you're staying with whanau. If you're not happy with your settlement, you do have some options. First port of call is your insurer, who'll have their own complaints process. If you're still not happy and your claim relates to your home, you can contact the newly formed New Zealand Claims Resolution Service. You can also take a complaint to the Insurance Ombudsman. The events of the past month are a reminder how important it is to regularly review your insurance, making sure you've got adequate coverage. We'd say do it every year. Consider chatting to a broker or check out online services for reviewing your insurance, and get in the habit of taking photos of receipts when you buy big-ticket items, so you do have a digital record. - Ooh, good tips, Star. It's gonna be tough out there for some people, but you just have to really make sure you have very clear conversations with your insurer. - Now, moving along ` uh, you've lost your bag at the airport? - Yes. - Yeah. I've lost bags, I've lost children, all sorts of things ` but have you seen lately those shots of the luggage mountains at the terminals? And you might have wondered what happens to all those belongings. - Well, for two of our viewers, their lost luggage was very personal and irreplaceable, so we needed to get Gill on the 'SUIT-case'. - Leave the dad jokes to me. And what she found was a luggage trail with some gobsmacking twists and turns. - # Pack up your bags and go... - GILL HIGGINS: Well, we've been packing ` bags have been going, but not always arriving. - I got there and there was no bags. - We'll show the crazy journey your missing bags might take,... - I'd just given up. - ...how your stuff could be on sale... - It's a treasure hunt, and you're always going to find a bargain. - ...and check out whether checking in your bags with AirTags can help. - I know exactly where they are, but I can't do anything with it. - For months, seas of suitcases have been spreading around the world, and, here at home, it's a headache for airlines,... (POIGNANT MUSIC) ...and heartache for people like Sandra. - I just` really just want my photos back. - She'd packed them in her case ` a big regret. They were of her dad, given to her on the trip back to her family home. - My dad died nearly 11 years ago. - So ` incredibly precious to you. - Oh, hugely. Hugely. Mm. - Yeah. Yeah. - And the photos ` like I say, there's only probably a few` (SNIFFLES) of him in there, but they... they're different memories that I'd forgotten. - This was Sandra's flight path way back in August last year ` from Manchester, UK, via Dubai and Sydney with Emirates, then on to Queenstown with Qantas ` only, due to a late arrival, the last leg was switched to Jetstar. - No bags. And so we came home. I rang every day. - Calls to Jetstar... - They were pretty good as far as dealing with people. - But eventually said... - 'Actually, we were doing this as a courtesy. It's not our issue.' - So Sandra tried Emirates ` after all, she'd booked the whole trip with the airline directly. - Thinking, 'Then the buck stops there.' - Emirates thought otherwise. - Emirates said, 'That's not my problem. We weren't your last carrier.' - There is an International Air Transport Association clause that says the final carrier is responsible, but it's not legally binding. - I kept saying to everybody, 'But nobody's helping. You're all telling me to go to the other person. 'I paid to get us and a bag back from one country to another, and somebody's at fault here.' - This is where it starts to get crazy. In November, some good news ` not from Jetstar nor Emirates, but from an online pharmacy in the UK. - They contacted me by email and said, 'We've found your medications ` oh, and a bag.' - The bag was found in Manchester, UK, with the airline easyJet,... - I've never been on an easyJet flight in my life. (LAUGHS) - ...and was picked up by a company called Unclaimed Baggage, who asked the pharmacy to ask Sandra where to send it. - Great. It was going to Stansted. She was going to get it on the next Emirates flight out. And then the days were ticking by, and I wasn't hearing anything. - So it made her wonder ` who was this unclaimed baggage company? - If you Google 'unclaimed baggage', then there's a` It takes you to a website. - Which explains it buys up bags that haven't been claimed. - It does say on it they've got to have gone to lengths to find you, and clearly they do, but then they can sell your belongings. It seems so wrong. - Yeah. - Really, really wrong. You` Yeah. You can't just sell people's stuff. - Oh, yes, you can. This is their warehouse in America. - We have contracts with all of the major airlines, and once a bag has been lost for a minimum of 90 days after an extensive search for the owner, then we purchase those orphaned suitcases from the airline. We truly have no idea what we're going to find in these bags. We like to say that every bag tells a story. (CHUCKLES) - 'It's not really a happy ending for the owner, though, is it?' Some people think that this is wrong somehow, that the airline and yourselves are profiting from their loss. - Right. That's true. So... We never wish for someone to ever lose their suitcase; however, we kind of view ourselves as that sustainable solution, so these items aren't being tossed to a landfill. - Some goods are donated, some recycled, others sold. They boast 5000 new items every week and are now selling online in New Zealand. Sandra worried this was the fate of her bag, so she contacted Emirates again. - And I got this one man ` really rude ` and said, 'It's not our problem.' 'The bag never left the UK. How is this not your fault?' So this is when I` I contacted Fair Go. - We'll leave Sandra for a moment and catch up with another passenger. Paul was missing seven bags after a long family trip to South Africa ` so, heaps of clothes, and... - Mementos, and holiday shopping for seven weeks for my two daughters, 11 and 12, and they had saved for a year. So, right now I will do just about anything to get those mementos back. No money in the world can replace those. - Paul had put Bluetooth trackers like this in each bag. - I could see in Sydney that our bags were 200m away from us` while we were sitting waiting to board for the plane. - Nice. - But then, when we arrived in Auckland, - (GASPS) - ...all of a sudden the bags were 2100km away from us. - 'And, days later...' They're still in Sydney. - 'He's filled in forms, he's made calls,...' - But I just get standard responses back. I just have nowhere else to go now. - Except Sydney Airport ` given he knows where they are, he offered to fly back and get them. - They just give you the standard line of 'We're sorry for the inconvenience, 'we are still looking for your bags. Please be patient.' - With frustration piling up like the bags, we asked the representative of Aotearoa's airlines why things had got so bad. - There are fewer airlines flying here. - 'Which means more connections.' - Every time a bag stops, there's that opportunity for that bag to` to miss its connection. - 'Then there are cyclones, storms...' - Bags may be delayed by weather events. We are receiving something like 200-odd mishandled bags a day, give or take, and more or less working our way through that amount each day. - Most bags do get back to their owners in a few days, but definitely not all, and it's for those passengers that customer service really needs improving. - Every day that passes, I'm less and less confident that we're going to get our bags, and the most frustrating part is, I can't get ahold of anybody at Qantas ` a human being that will actually talk to me. - But Fair Go could ` and look what happened. Qantas flew the bags over, saying the delay was caused by the flooding at Auckland Airport, reducing how many bags could be sent. Paul thinks differently. - The` the lot from, uh, Fair Go ` I had a bit of a help, I think. - Either way ` happy customers. - As for Sandra, she'd about given up, but... - Every time I get in touch with Fair Go, it moves another step. - Her sister's friend, an Emirates employee, found the bag in Dubai and says she pushed the airline to get it sent. Emirates got in touch, saying... - 'As a gesture of good will, to get it to Queenstown.' It's like, 'Good will (?) That's what I paid for.' - Mm. Mm. - You know? This is actually the service I paid for. I paid to get my bag from there to there. - # Reunited... - But at least it was finally on its way. It had been missing for five months. Sandra could hardly believe it was back. - So excited. Here's, uh, my photos. - (CHUCKLES) - Oh, my goodness. - Aw... - Oh, no, that was my` That was the night before my wedding. You can't replace this. - Mm. Aw... - (CHUCKLES) Honestly, I'm so, so stoked. (PEACHES & HERB'S 'REUNITED') - That brings a tear to the eye. So good to get those precious photos and gifts back. But Gill tells us that Emirates simply never got back to us to explain how all of this could've happened. - And while she was tracking down that lost luggage, she also had the chance to test out the response times of several airlines ` the results are coming up. - MAN OVER PHONE: No, I'm-I'm` I actually have to run. (DISCONNECTED TONE) - Plus, Garth's been out mystery shopping. - We want to check prices at each of the big three brands. - Hey, Toyota. - (BABY FUSSES) - WHISPERS: Got something safe? It's kind of a big deal for me now. - Yeah, take your pick! WHISPERS: 'Oh, sorry. 'These all come with Toyota Safety Sense as standard.' - Will it be looking for signs of danger? - Well, yeah. It has a pre-collision system with autonomous emergency braking. - Can it help me stay in my lane? - Actually, it can. (CAR ALARM BEEPS) - (MAN SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) - Can it help me keep a safe distance from others? - Yep, that too. - Do you do 5am test drives? - Nau mai, haere mai ` welcome back. Look, we all know businesses make mistakes. It happens. And here at Fair Go, we are very interested in how they fix those mistakes. - That's right. Well, Gill put the heat on four well-frequented airlines to see who comes out on top and which airline is truly a CARE-line. - GILL HIGGINS: Oh, it's that sinking feeling ` it's the last few bags and yours isn't there. But what's even worse... - MAN: Please continue to hold. - ...is when customer care is missing. - Every time I rang, it was` I had to go through the whole thing again. - If you say you're gonna call back, call back. - They're all anonymous. - If you, operationally, you cannot deal with the luggage, you're gonna have to put up less flights. - So, do any airlines make the grade as CARE-lines? We line up some of the frequent flyers to our shores ` Air New Zealand, Jetstar, Qantas and Emirates. We asked for stats on missing bags, for any improvements in handling, tracing and customer care, and we factor in responses to our complainants' experience. (BLOWS WHISTLE) Let's fly. A quick start from our native flyer, promptly calling to say they'd soon respond. Qantas ` not much response there, and Emirates... Hello? ECHOES: Hello? Hello? Hello? But Jetstar gets going, also calling to say a response is coming. And here's a hurdle ` our complainant's problems. It's a pass. - They at least have a number you can ring. Probably eight times out of 10, somebody at some stage would ring you back. I've never had that with Emirates. - No, Emirates doesn't appear to be trying. Qantas just makes it. Paul was unhappy with the call-centre responses, but did finally get his bags. Oh, and look at Qantas go now ` it's in full flight. The only airline to give us stats on lost bags, and while it still took a month, Qantas was first to send Fair Go some info. It says it's investing millions in more staff, training and overtime for areas including contact centres, plus more aircraft on standby to reduce delays and cancellations, which decreases the risk of losing bags. And Jetstar's found its stride, saying it's providing additional staff and resources and it's working hard, whereas Air New Zealand clearly needs a boost, as we've heard nothing. Does the trick ` its response is just delayed, not cancelled. It tells us it's introduced digital solutions to make baggage tracing easier, engaged volunteers to help, plus, baggage specialists are now on the job, and it's now reuniting five times as many bags with owners a day. So for these airlines, it's achieved ` but could do better. Emirates, though? Come on. Now we know how Sandra felt, so we tracked down their PR rep based in New Zealand. - MAN OVER PHONE: (DISCONNECTED TONE) - Well, he may have followed up, but we never had any response. - Emirates is this great big company, you know? It's a reputable company. I would never, ever fly with Emirates again. Not ever. And it's not because they lost the bag ` it's because they didn't own that, and they didn't try and put it right. - Hmm. In this case, Emirates isn't even taking off. - Even though the weather was bad, it was still shorts weather for Garth,... - (LAUGHS) - ...which is brilliant. Well, look, that's airlines done. Insurance ` tick. What is left? Supermarkets. - There is no question that grocery costs have risen in the last year ` the tell-tale sign, of course, that final grocery bill. - Mm. - But keeping track of just how much our weekly shop is increasing can be left in the too-hard basket. - So our resident shopper Garth revisited the very same set of groceries a year on to see how prices have changed. (UPBEAT GUITAR MUSIC) - GARTH BRAY: 'Fair Go is on the go.' 'The TVNZ 1 News truck has been recycled...' We say upcycled. '...to spread the fairness.' Given how much we rely on them, our first stop for 2023 ` the supermarkets. We want to check prices at each of the three big brands ` Pak'nSave,... ...Countdown,... ...and New World. Three stores, all nearby, in Auckland. This is a return visit ` we've been here before. Here's a wee reminder from the back of the shelf. ON VIDEO: We've been mystery shopping at three Auckland supermarkets since this time last year. And what's up? Well, prices, of course. We chose staples ` milk and cheese, bread and butter, cereal and yoghurt, eggs and bacon, and some treats like chocolate and soft drinks. 'Since then, we've had record inflation, so how are those very same items priced now?' As you'd expect, we're paying more for the basics and those little extras. The Fair Go basket we filled at Pak'nSave a year ago ` that's gone up $6 ` 8.8% higher. There was a cheaper cheese that would have saved five bucks, but for consistency, we've stuck with the same brand we've tracked all along. Foodstuffs, which is Pak'nSave, says most New Zealanders shop the specials at the supermarket, and the percentage increases in Fair Go's selection of products are predominantly down to specific products being on special at a point in time when they were measured in 2022. Comparing our Countdown shop to last year, it's up nearly $6, about 7.5% higher. Eggs there were the highest prices we've seen, but that nationwide shortage is affecting all of the stores. Countdown says there are a lot of factors that go into food prices, including: A year ago, our New World basket cost about the same as the competition. It's seen the biggest leap ` $11, a 14% increase for our sample. A lot of that was paying more for basics ` cheese, bacon, cereal. Foodstuffs, which is also New World, says we could have saved much more by switching brands like most people do. If the equivalent available product that was on special was selected by Fair Go, the percentage increase would have been 5.5% for New World and 7.2% for Pak'nSave. Both of these are well below current food price inflation, which, according to Stats NZ food price index was 10.3% in January. All had some specials or discounts, but almost no multibuys, the two for $5 deals ` not for what we shopped, anyway. And... our cheapest basket this time cost more than the most expensive one we calculated two years ago. So what was very recently considered a premium price at the supermarket is now what they'd call economy. No wonder we're feeling slammed. - Awgh. I think we all felt that ` certainly in the pocket. And we'll be keeping an eye on those prices all throughout the year. - Yes, we will. E haere ake nei ` coming up ` is your food packaging changing in size? Haydo goes to the sauce to find out. - And Edgar Dworsky` - Edgar Dworsky is America's Mr Consumer. - That's Edgar Dworsky. (DOG BARKS) VOICE-OVER: Imagine if you could start thriving. AIA Vitality is a science-backed health and well-being program that gives you the guidance, tools and rewards you need to thrive. So get AIA Vitality and start thriving. - Hoki mai ano ` welcome back. Have you ever looked at food you've been buying for years and wondered if something's changed? - Well, that actually happened to me, so I decided to find out. And ` warning ` this is a bit of a saucy tale. (UPBEAT MUSIC) - We need some tomato sauce, maybe some more tomato sauce, and maybe some mustard. Good to go. - 'Stories, sometimes, are right under your nose.' (SPLAT!) - 'I am befuddled,... - Tomato sauce, all day. - '...constantly, by how much sauce my children use.' (SPLAT!) 'Which got me thinking ` 'are the manufacturers making the hole too big, (SPLAT!) - '...or...' Am I losing my mind? I'm losing my mind. Two red lights. 'Soon, we'll chat to a US expert on such things.' Hi, Edgar, how are you? Welcome to the bottom of the world. - Hello. - 'But first ` a rumour.' 'Deep in the internet is a story about Colgate 'that, legend has it in the '50s, increased the hole so people used more toothpaste.' - # Cleaner breath, cleaner paste, cleaner teeth ` # three ways. - Hmm. - Pi, r squared. - Before we delve into that, let's do some maths. - But if you want to triple it, you increase it by the square root of three. - The Sacred Heart Girls' College Year 13 maths class knew all about condiments. - It, like, shoots out. - That's tiny. - They poked and peered... - That'd be, like, six, eh? - That's 8mm. - Their conclusion? - If you increase the size of the hole, there's proportionally less friction... - So more can go through. - So more can go through. - Volume equals... - 'Mrs Goodey helped the students calculate that if you want to double the toothpaste coming out, 'just make it...' - ...is 1.1... - '...times bigger.' - It dramatically increases the amount of volume that you're going to use. (HARRY STYLES' 'AS IT WAS') - The supermarket is full of holes of different sizes. Look at these two mayonnaise bottles, and then there's these two honey manufacturers. - Airborne, which has the big hole, claim that's because their honey is thicker. We wondered if going back in time could answer some of our questions. This... (WHOOSH!) ...is not that easy. We checked in with collectors around New Zealand ` Dwayne in Invercargill had tomato sauce bottles. Stephen in Palmy North had sweets, and Lesley in Masterton... - I have a paper straw, a plastic straw, but what you really want to see are my Mono drinking straws. - The hole in your straw has definitely got bigger, but we were still left wondering. So there was just one man to talk to. - Well, I found that manufacturers tend to be expert at packaging tricks. - Ed Dworsky. - And Edgar Dworsky` - That's Edgar Dworsky. - Edgar Dworsky is America's Mr Consumer. - I started as an investigator of consumer complaints, went to work for the Attorney General's office. - Do you think that the holes in things are getting bigger so we use more? - I have a suspicion that it's happening, but it's very hard to prove. Some of my readers commented about toothpaste ` that they thought the hole had gotten bigger. - Edgar actually found a 10-year-old toothpaste tube. The hole was the same size. Colgate told Fair Go the hole size hasn't changed in at least 20 years. - OK, I'm recording. - There is one man who has done something about the hole. Meet Michael Wyrsta from Santa Barbara, USA. - So you just put it on right on top. - Michael, who has a PhD in material science, invented a toothpaste cap with a smaller hole. - When you have little kids, especially, they just glom it on there and it all falls into the sink. - Tomato sauce. 'So, since we couldn't find any proof that the holes are getting bigger, 'maybe it's just my children's appetites that are.' - All right, what about the mayonnaise? You got the mayonnaise? - So, guess what? There's a company in Sydney that makes the holes, so I gave 'em a ring. They were very surprised to hear from the media. - (LAUGHS) - And do you know what ` a hole is called an aperture or an orifice. - Oh, wow. We might leave it there. - Whoo. - But if you want to get in touch, we're on Facebook and Instagram. - Who'd have thought? You can go to our webpage ` tvnz.co.nz email us ` fairgo@tvnz.co.nz or write to us ` PO Box 3819, Auckland 1140. - Thank you for watching. I'm looking for a babysitter. Especially at mealtime. Please, send them in. Until next week ` - BOTH: Po marie.