You recently took a flight with an airline, but your baggage was lost during the journey, causing significant inconvenience. Write a letter of complaint to the customer service department of the airline. In your letter: - Describe the details of your flight and the lost baggage. - Explain how the loss of your baggage has affected you. - Request assistance in locating and delivering your baggage, as well as compensation for any necessary purchases made due to its absence.
Sample Response
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with my recent flight on September 28, 2023 with your airline. Regrettably, my checked baggage was lost, causing significant inconvenience.
On September 28, 2023, I traveled from London Heathrow Airport to New York John F. Kennedy International Airport on flight number GA456. However, upon arrival, I discovered that my baggage, identified with tag number GA789012, was missing. The loss of my baggage has disrupted my travel plans and inconvenienced me greatly. It contained essential items, including clothes and personal belongings, which are necessary for my stay at 456 Elm Street, New York, NY 10001. Consequently, I had to purchase replacements, resulting in unexpected expenses.
I kindly request your immediate assistance in locating and delivering my baggage to me. Moreover, I would appreciate compensation for the expenses incurred due to its absence. I trust that your customer service department will prioritize this matter and provide a prompt resolution. I look forward to your response regarding the status of my baggage and the necessary steps being taken to remedy this situation.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I anticipate a swift resolution that reinstates my confidence in your airline's services.
Yours faithfully,
Maria Webster.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use the natural preposition Original: with Suggested revision: by Why it matters: Identified by is the natural collocation for a baggage tag number.
- 2. Avoid category overlap Original: clothes and personal belongings Suggested revision: clothes and other personal belongings Why it matters: Adding other clarifies that the clothes are one type of personal belonging.
- 3. Specify the purchases Original: replacements Suggested revision: essential replacement items Why it matters: The more specific phrase makes the nature of the unexpected purchases clearer.
- 4. Make compensation specific Original: expenses incurred due to its absence Suggested revision: necessary replacement purchases Why it matters: The revision connects the compensation request directly to the purchases described earlier.
- 5. Use a direct verb Original: provide a prompt resolution Suggested revision: resolve the matter promptly Why it matters: The direct verb makes the request more concise and natural.
- 6. Use an active construction Original: the necessary steps being taken Suggested revision: the steps you are taking Why it matters: The active construction clearly identifies the airline as responsible for the next steps.
- 7. Improve the collocation Original: reinstates Suggested revision: restores Why it matters: Restore confidence is the more natural collocation in this context.
- 8. Remove sign-off punctuation Original: Webster. Suggested revision: Webster Why it matters: A typed name in a letter sign-off does not need a full stop.
- 9. Sentence rewrite Original: I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with my recent flight on September 28, 2023 with your airline. Suggested revision: I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with my recent flight with your airline on September 28, 2023. Why it matters: Moving the airline phrase before the date removes the awkward attachment at the end.
- 10. Sentence rewrite Original: Regrettably, my checked baggage was lost, causing significant inconvenience. Suggested revision: Regrettably, my checked baggage did not arrive with me in New York. Why it matters: The revision replaces a generic restatement with a concrete description of what happened.
Suggested Rewrites
- with by
- clothes and personal belongings clothes and other personal belongings
- replacements essential replacement items
- expenses incurred due to its absence necessary replacement purchases
- provide a prompt resolution resolve the matter promptly
- the necessary steps being taken the steps you are taking
Why this response received Band 8.0
The complaint is precise, professionally toned, and fully developed, with concrete flight and baggage details, clear consequences, and explicit requests for delivery and compensation. Its main limitation is some repetition of baggage, inconvenience, and resolution, which slightly reduces stylistic economy. The highest-priority improvement is to vary or streamline repeated wording while preserving the letter's clear factual focus.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter fully covers the flight and baggage details, the practical impact, and both requested remedies in an appropriately formal tone.
Add the amount or examples of replacement purchases to make the compensation request even more actionable.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically from the complaint and factual account to its consequences, requested action, and formal closing.
Reduce slight repetition in the final two paragraphs so the request and closing each contribute distinct information.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a broad and precise formal vocabulary, including incurred, prioritize, remedy, and reinstates, with strong topic control.
Vary repeated nouns such as baggage and resolution through careful substitution or sentence restructuring.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex and simple structures are varied and accurately controlled, with clear punctuation and virtually no grammatical disruption.
Polish the date phrase with a comma after 2023 and retain the same high level of control in more concise sentences.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently took a flight with an airline, but your baggage was lost during the journey, causing significant inconvenience. Write a letter of complaint to the customer service department of the airline. In your letter:
- Describe the details of your flight and the lost baggage.
- Explain how the loss of your baggage has affected you.
- Request assistance in locating and delivering your baggage, as well as compensation for any necessary purchases made due to its absence.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.