British Airways lost baggages. Well... twice!!!

anishluv

Hi there,

My parents had taken a flight from Kolkata(India) to Manchester on 8th of June, 2007 connecting at LHR. Well, when reaching mancheter after the long trip. they realised that their baggages were missing. Dancing up and down the Manchester Airport contacting BA staffs for nearly 2 hours, we finally managed to report about the lost baggage to BA. The baggages arrived next day and were delivered to our home, after around 18 hours. Everybody suggested me to contact BA for compensation including my high parking charge that I had to bear at ManAir. Well I couldn't possible request my claim partly because of the last evening's stressed experience with BA and partly due to the reason that i couldn't do a long hold on the phone, waiting for their representative to answer.

Now, it happened that after 2 months on 7th August,2007 when my parents went back to Kolkata, they were not astonished to find that BA has done it again. They reported the baggage lost at Kolkata's airport.(Perhaps they have the common lost luggage counter for all the airlines). Our home town is actually Ranchi, a town around 400 kms. from Kolkata, with Kolkata being the nearest International airport. After 3 days, my parents were informed the arrival of the baggages, but they couldn't be sent to ranchi because they had to undergo custom's examination. So somebody had to come down to kolkata, get the baggages examined and then only collect them. Next day when a friend of my dad reached kolkata airport with the authority letter and the baggage keys, it was found that one of the baggages have been torn and obvious stuffs missing... huff puff!:T

So this is the trauma my parents had to go through. I am not blaming british airways completely. It was also due to the Indian airports and customs officials. But if BA had been alright in the first place only everything would have been good.

So this is my case... Please suggest on how do we proceed ahead with the claiming from ba. The ba site doesn't recognise the booking reference anymore. I'll check what my parents have with them as a proof of lost luggage.

ohh, by the way the best part, after all this I am still daring to fly to mumbai from manchester on ba today evening and returning on 27th. Wish me luck guys... :think:

Voyager2002

Explore the BA website and find contact details for Customer Relations. Send a letter by recorded delivery: be polite, but ask for repayment for the high parking charge at Manchester, and also to replace the items that were stolen/damaged on arrival in Kolkata; also for the full cost of the additional journey to collect them.

As for your forthcoming journey, try not to bring any checked luggage.

basucks

British Airways is one of the worst organizations I have ever dealt with. First they lost my bag on a direct flight from Berlin to Heathrow. After three weeks they found it in Berlin, sent it to Heathrow and lost it again!!! That is now four weeks ago. After having seen the chaos at Heathrow I assume my bag is gone for good. The lost luggage service is an absolute joke the people are not even based at the airport and have no influence in tracing the bags. What are they good for? They are just there to calm you down. I have to say that this didn't work for me. I just got angrier and angrier after spending hours in their useless hotline. One person at the lost luggage service agreed that it is a joke and that they can't do anything about missing bags. Another person told me that although there is this massive chaos at Heathrow, BA is not increasing the staff to solve it. They are actually taking staff off. I wonder what is worse for BA paying some more people to solve the luggage problem or having thousands of unsatisfied customers. I will never fly with BA again. That is for sure.:mad:

movilogo

BA = Baggage Afterwards

peterbaker

Yes it is an absolute disgrace. It is clear that the airlines and airports and handling organisations responsible collectively do not care two hoots.

I came through Stansted recently and noticed several what looked like shopping trolleys stacked full of red "RUSH" - labelled bags which are the ones which have at least been identified as misdirected and for rushing off to catch up with their owners (how carefully such bags have actually been identified / labelled / directed I couldn't possibly say but they weren't going anywhere fast when I saw them cluttering up the place)

When you first go to the baggage reclaim belt at any airport you will usually notice a number of bags already going round and round which no-one picks up. They are generally lost bags or rush bags or a mixture of both. Some might be rush bags that have arrived from other destinations and which are supposed to be promptly picked up by staff who should be expecting them.
Days were once when someone like me would only notice one or two (bags not trolley's full!).

We all know better now don't we?


PS These "lost" and "rushed" bags laying all over the place are surely a significant security hazard, not just because any Tom !!!!!! or Harry could brazenly pick one up and walk off with it, either.

They are a hazard because some of them appear in the strangest places at airports and out on the ramp and no-one really wants to deal with them or even takes much notice anymore. Once upon a time a bag in the wrong place was promptly dealt with as an unusual item. Not now. That means that the same bag might be seen around the airport for days and could get shunted from one corner to another by one person and then another. I therefore wonder how many times those bags sitting around for days have been scanned to make sure that they do have not been tampered with by the addition of something nasty? And what of "rush" bags that arrive from other airports where perhaps the "scanning" and "security" is less than ideal?

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR BAGGAGE unattended is not just a warning to us that our bags might frighten others, it is also because bags can be used as mules. Yet we know heaps of bags in UK airports are / have been unattended / unaccompanied for numerous flights and numerous days.

Do you like the idea of flying on a plane with last week/last month's unaccompanied "rush baggage" in the hold where the assorted security screening might have been rushed too? I don't.

rubia1409_2

basucks wrote: »

British Airways is one of the worst organizations I have ever dealt with. First they lost my bag on a direct flight from Berlin to Heathrow. After three weeks they found it in Berlin, sent it to Heathrow and lost it again!!! That is now four weeks ago. After having seen the chaos at Heathrow I assume my bag is gone for good. The lost luggage service is an absolute joke the people are not even based at the airport and have no influence in tracing the bags. What are they good for? They are just there to calm you down. I have to say that this didn't work for me. I just got angrier and angrier after spending hours in their useless hotline. One person at the lost luggage service agreed that it is a joke and that they can't do anything about missing bags. Another person told me that although there is this massive chaos at Heathrow, BA is not increasing the staff to solve it. They are actually taking staff off. I wonder what is worse for BA paying some more people to solve the luggage problem or having thousands of unsatisfied customers. I will never fly with BA again. That is for sure.:mad:

Please write and let Willy Walsh know your're feelings. He thinks he's doing such an excellent job of running the airline whan he's clearly not. I'd like to see him really forced to earn his vast salary and deal with people like you whose bags have been lost

lizardbouy

BA lost my baggage too. I don't want to double post but check out my story here on MSE. I think its awful they way BA treat this issue.