Baggage belt failure BA

HamishsDaddy

Hi,

on 18th June we were delayed en route from Heathrow to Pisa by approximately 5 hours.
BA have stated that the problem was due to Baggage belt failure and as such we are not due compensation. 

I believe that as the pilot made the decision to leave after 5 hours they could have made the decision earlier and despite the bags not being on the flight due to the baggage belt failure our delay would have been minimised.
am I being realistic in my expectations?

JPears

Belt failure is not an EC IMHO. It is an everyday aspect of running an airline.

Usual BA BS these days.

Either go to CEDR or straight to MCOL small claims.

eskbanker

Doesn't this depend on exactly where the failed baggage belt was?  Perhaps different rules apply in a single-airline terminal like LHR T5 (if that's where this was) but in general I'd have thought that the first stages of the hold baggage journey would be over shared infrastructure owned by the airport operator, and only handed over to direct airline control later in the process once sorted into flight-specific groupings?

bagand96

eskbanker said:

Doesn't this depend on exactly where the failed baggage belt was?  Perhaps different rules apply in a single-airline terminal like LHR T5 (if that's where this was) but in general I'd have thought that the first stages of the hold baggage journey would be over shared infrastructure owned by the airport operator, and only handed over to direct airline control later in the process once sorted into flight-specific groupings?

I'd agree.  If it was the belt loader at the aircraft than that's ground handling equipment that is under control of the airport airline.  If it's a big failure of the terminal baggage systems then that may well be outside the control of the airline.

Although BA have exclusive use of T5 at Heathrow, they are still tennants of Heathrow Airport Ltd.  I expect that the terminal baggage handling systems are owned and operated by Heathrow Airport.

eskbanker

bagand96 said:
If it was the belt loader at the aircraft than that's ground handling equipment that is under control of the airport.

My understanding is that this would be considered to be under the control of the airline rather than the airport, perhaps a typo? 

bagand96

eskbanker said:

bagand96 said:
If it was the belt loader at the aircraft than that's ground handling equipment that is under control of the airport.

My understanding is that this would be considered to be under the control of the airline rather than the airport, perhaps a typo? 

Indeed a typo, well spotted, and corrected.

HamishsDaddy

Thanks for the feedback- BA have managed not only to delay the flight, completely lose my bag, return my wife’s after we returned and are now stating that my bag was returned- which it has not and are stalling on paying any out of pocket expenses for new clothes and replacing my lost bag as well as disruption to our holiday!
Not letting this one go!