An undergraduate bio-engineering student in the US returning home for the Christmas vacation landed at Calcutta airport on December 19 without one of her registered bags and has not got it back yet.

This is not the first time S. Daswani has lost valuables in transit. Two years ago, after reaching the city from Boston, US, she could not find her laptop in the registered bag in which she had packed it. The bag that has gone missing this time contains winter clothing, books and gifts.

Last month, American Jauhar Hashmi arrived in Calcutta from New York via Delhi without one of his six registered bags. He got his bag back a week later.

Daswani took an American domestic airline flight from Boston to New York before flying Emirates to Calcutta via Dubai.

“Both my registered bags had reached JFK (airport in New York). I did not see them at Dubai airport since I had already checked in for the Dubai-Calcutta journey,” said the student, who had moved to the US two-and-a-half years ago.

She lodged a complaint with Emirates and claimed a compensation of $1,200 but the response has been “indifferent”. “I have been calling them several times a day. They have only been saying that they are trying to trace my bag,” Daswani told Metro from her parents’ south Calcutta home on Sunday.

She is scheduled to return to Boston next week. “I am spending my holiday in a T-shirt and a pair of denims because the rest of my clothes are in the missing bag. I don’t think I will get them back or the boots, jackets and other gifts I had bought for my relatives,” she said. Books that she had borrowed from her college library are also in the bag.

“Emirates regrets the inconvenience caused to the passenger. The airline is investigating the matter and simultaneously processing the passenger’s claim for compensation. Our staff are also in regular touch with the passenger and will take a final decision by the end of the week,” said a spokesperson for the airline on Sunday.

The rule states a passenger has to be compensated if his/her lost luggage is not traced within five days.