British Airways lost baggage auction

We flew with British Airways from Brussels to London Heathrow on 7/16/07 and they lost all 4 of our bags (89 bags were not loaded onto the flight). We received 3 of them after a day and the remaining one went missing.

For 3 weeks we were repeatedly (and falsely) told by BA agents on the phone that they had located our bag and how it would be sent (or had already been sent) to our home in California. The WorldTracer system continued to say “tracing continues” so eventually one of us flew to LHR and BRU to search for the bags.

We found our missing bag after 28 days !! It was lying in tagless bag storage area at BRU, with no signs of it having been opened . Long story — see http://balosesmybag.blogspot.com for our saga.
We took some pictures of the tagless bags (some with ID info) that were lying around at Heathrow’s T4 and plan to upload them to our blog on the next few days as well. Just trying to help some ppl whose bags have been missing and not getting a word from BA on their whereabouts!

British Airways Honeymoon from Hell – I feel so strongly regarding the inexcusable treatment from BA that we have had to endure I have no other option that to explain the sequence of events, I will try to keep this brief:

On Monday 6th Aug we flew out on our Honeymoon via BA Club Class at Gatwick destined for the romantic Amalfi coast in Italy.

We both checked our luggage into the Airport and enjoyed the fast check in procedure only to discover that when we arrived on a direct flight to Naples my Wife’s suitcase did not get sent
with her. Two days into our honeymoon with numerous phone calls and time allocated to BA and we were both still none the wiser. BA then assured us they had now located her suitcase and it was to be flown out on the next available flight. Excellent we thought it’s not been lost and we can now get on and enjoy our honeymoon; oh how wrong we were!

After assuring us they had now found my wife’s suitcase and flew it to Naples we were then sickened to discover that they had actually sent us somebody else’s suitcase with my wife’s nametag! As you can imagine my wife by now was at breaking point, extremely upset, without important medication, nothing to wear and BA still were still far from interested. Every day that passed BA did not have any additional information regarding our lost case.

With a glimmer of hope they then proceeded to inform us it had be found, re scanned and provided us with a new flight number and flight time. We then hired a taxi and travelled on a 5 hour round trip back to Naples Airport to collect our case only to discover we had been lied to once again by BA and our suitcase was still not found! After more phone calls they could not explain themselves as to why they provided us with the wrong information, more expense and more wasted time. BA was then insistent that Naples Airport had the suitcase and not them. As we were travelling back to the area before moving to our final destination we thought we would search the Airport; which I might add was 10 rooms filled floor to ceiling with lost luggage - yes you guessed it we had been lied to once again, more wasted time and expense on false information provided by BA.

Unfortunately this has left us with memories of wanting to forget our honeymoon rather than remembering it. We are both absolutely disgusted and appalled with the treatment from British Airways as a considerable amount of time and money has been spent on our honeymoon trying to re locate our suitcase and buy clothes in order to make do, (not what we was expecting to contend with) we have now returned from our honeymoon 10 days after we departed and still with my wife’s bag is missing and BA are still none the wiser as to what they have done with it.
The whole experience has been extremely distressful and upsetting for us both, we now have to contend with filling in all the necessary paperwork and contacting insurance companies in order to recoup some of the loss, we will never use British Airways again nor would not recommend them to anyone else either.

Quotes from various British Airways staff
‘It’s not usual for us to loose luggage’
‘Tags on suitcases can be switched quite easily’
‘Your suitcase may have not boarded the plane as weight restrictions can have an impact on pollution and environmental conditions’

Thankyou BA for a Terrible honeymoon!

Kind Regards,

Mr.G. Payne

I saved for 6 years in order to be able to travel to Europe (together with my teenage daughter) and burry my husband’s ashes in his home country.
Prior to this trip we bought, as anyone would have done, brand new cloths and stuff, for a 4 weeks trip.
We decided that, one our way back to Canada , to stop and spend a couple of days in London, so my daughter could visit few sites.
But, the luggage we had checked-in did not arrive at Heathrow(I wonder how, bcause we didn’t have to change planes, or whatsoever, it was just a through flight)
This happened on July29, 2007 and today is August 20th, 2007.
I have been calling BA on a daily basis, both their London and NY offices, but I haven’t got any single sign from them. Their “state-of-the-art” tracking system doesn’t even recognize my file number (I filed the missing bag at Heathrow, after waiting for 3 hours my bag to show-up on the carrousel).
I’m desperate, because my dauhter will start the new school year within a couple of weeks and after this trip I’m practically broke, which means buying her new cloths, at this point, is out of question.And, secondly, even if I could, why should I pay for BA irresponsible way of handling people’s belongings?
I have also filed a claim for compensation, but, the same results: nobody gave a damn on it.
People, please give me some advice. What should I do?

We Will Never Fly British Airways Again
July 31st, 2007 by britishairwaysproblems

www.heathrowhorror.wordpress.com

We have heard that hundreds, if not thousands of British Airways passengers have either lost their luggage and/or have been treated badly by British Airways personnel in regard to lost or mis-directed luggage. Our family has not recovered all of our luggage from British Airways after an extended European trip.

Over a month later, as of AUGUST 10, 2007 – We are still missing luggage – and no apologies from anyone at British Airways.

If you have a horror story about British Airways, please post it at www.heathrowhorror.wordpress.com so that others might be warned.

THE FACTS OF OUR CASE

SUMMARY OF LOST & DELAYED LUGGAGE - BRITISH AIRWAYSYVR – YEG – LTH – CDG – JUNE 15, 2007

Peter A: – Business ClassAC –YVR 240 – YEG AC YEG 898 – LHT – BA COG 314Baggage #0014 AC 530792 0014 AC 630793

Jillian & Julia A: – Business ClassAC 898 YEG to LHT, BA CDG 314Baggage – 0014 AC 6491230014 AC 6490830014 AC 649087

Filed baggage claim in CDG after 45 minutes under #CDG BA24845

British Airways advised that luggage would appear at Heathrow Terminal in one hour. We waited 2.5 hours, with no luck. If Heathrow cannot handle luggage now, how much worse will it get when they open Terminal 5?

Numerous emails, faxes & faxes & phone calls to Paris CDG & London B.A. on Saturday – Sunday the 17th. No one answered for 25 hours – then no one knew where our bags were and computer couldn’t show.

Small bag at Julie AC 649083 arrived unannounced at the hotel on the 26th.

Hotel Le Viqnon staff, Fabieene Capelli, Carla Murad, Helene Ribault, Amend & Nadia made dozens of phone calls each to British Airways. Over 95% went unanswered.

At the 44th hour, Peter A finally receives two bags unannounced at the hotel.For the next week service baggage shows 4 pieces still missing even though only two missing.

Hotel staff talked to a number of BRITISH AIRWAY people such as J. Francois, Patrick, Nadin, Semanar, Dano, Nora, Damar & Sabrina.Patrick, Nora & Sabrina from British Airways were friendly, but they don’t know where the luggage is.

Some British Airways personnel were totally disinterested or insulting: Damar of British Airways said the computer showed 4 pieces missing one week later. When we informed him that we had only 2 pieces missing said, “so what’s the problem?”

Jillian A’s one suitcase showed up at the hotel unannounced on June 25th or a.m. June 25th – later that day computer still shows 4 bags still missing.

June 26th or June 27th someone at British Airways informs us that one lost bag has been identified and located in Paris.

On June 28th Nora advised Fabienne this information was incorrect and they don’t know where the bag is.

June 29th at 6:15 p.m. bag still missing and BA knows nothing - when you can get a hold of them!!

Over 100 hours of valuable hotel staff and family time spent trying to communicate with anyone.

I strongly recommend you to stay away from British Airways as far as you can.

They delayed my baggage 4 days at departure flight. And I had to spend 4 days of my vacation without my clothes.

Worse happened at the return flight. That time, they lost my baggage. I have been calling BA for 2 weeks, but they did not gave me any concrete information.

The most annoying part is that they do not even apologize for losing my private belongings. They don’t respond my e-mails.

BA didn’t damage me just financially. They already lost my memories with the baggage.

Again, strictly DO NOT TRAVEL WITH BRITISH AIRWAYS. just run away when you hear the name BA.

British Airways stole my luggage!!!!!!!!!! It has been 7 weeks, every time I called, I got cutoff, or have to wait for 30 minutes to talk to someone there, and all they can do is “I will send a message”. What the hell is British Airways doing with passenger’s belonging????????????????????? Is there is lawyer group that can put us together and sue British Airway?

Dear All,

I am suffering the same treatment, after two month of “delay” it seems that my luggage has finally been located in Italy (I am holding my breath until it shows) but has not shown yet. Meanwhile all my emails and letters to BA were unacknowledged and not a word or apology. I am sure the shareholders are very happy of this low quality of service, but I would not hold the shares too long. I heard since that the luggage ends up at auctions which I find particularly shocking knowing that these are not just “ordinary goods” but souvenirs and personnal items.

If a lawyer is thinking of a class action, I would be happy to join, the worse being the complete and utterly comtempt shown by BA as a corporate entity to its customers and its duty of care.

End of the line: BA, never again!

British Airways lost my bagages on March 14th 2007. Now it is August 29th. They refuse to make financial compensation. They said that we don’t take in consideration the lost of computer and electronic devices. My computer was on a computer bag, with my apartment’s keys, some softwares, pictures and many important professional informations stocked into my computer.
It seems that the bag was lost just after the check-in at the Vancouver Airport in Canada.
Is it possible to sue BA for this lost?

Just to let you all know, British Airways is now recomending people not check baggage on flights to Europe. Its true! The USA Today wrote an article a few weeks back discussing the travesty that has become British Airways baggage handling.
As a glimmer of hope to you all, my luggage was lost on one of their flights and I did actually recieve it back four months later.
The mistreatment and lack of empathy this airline showed me and apparently all of you is no joke. It is my hope someone contacts the major news outlets and lets them know what has happened in this “lost” summer for British Airways. I will never fly them again.

Four of us travelled from Ibiza via Barcelona to London Gatwick on 30th June. Were re-directed due to a bomb scare and should have flown to London Heathrow with Iberia but we were put on the BA flight as it was the last one to London that evening. Five peices of luggage were checked in and to date 3rd Sept only one piece has appeared and this was two weeks after we arrived home.
BA have completely lost the plot with regards to baggage. No one who works there has any idea what is going on, we have phoned daily, sent emails, used the online tracking system (which says the same thing “Traciing Continues”). How can we all get some help to get our belongings back? BA have effectively stolen from everyone who has lost their luggage.

I travelled to Barcelona in April and BA lost our luggage on the outward journey, after 5 days in Barcelona with no belongings we were told by BA that our luggage had been sent back to LHR. Arriving back at LHR we were then informed that our luggage had never been there! After waiting the 45 days for luggage to be declared officially lost by BA a filed a claim with my insurance company who then passed it into hands of loss adjustor as the amount was high - has anybody ever had to add up the value amount of two adults suitcase contents!!! After finally having loss adjustors approval 24 August I have today been informed by loss adjustors that my claim in void as I did not report this as lost to the police within 4 days of losing luggage, how on earth was I supposed to do that when I have to give BA 45 days to officially declare the luggage as lost and not missing in transit. I like others have spent numerous hours on the phone to BA from the beginning of this horrendous saga and will never ever fly BA again they have a total disregard for their passengers and to think that our belongings have been rifled thru and then auctioned off for a few pounds in an auction house is beyond belief.

My girlfriend returned to Denmark after a ten day visiit with me in New York on July 2nd, 2007. It is now September 10th, and she has yet to receive her luggage.

She took a connecting flight from JFK to London, and then all flights were cancelled to Copenhagen. The next flight was 5 hours later, and when she got to Copenhagen, no bag.

To add salt to the wound, she got a call last night from a represenative from a (the) company that handles baggage claims for BA (http://www.worldtracer.aero/filedsp/ba.htm) informing her that her bag has been located and will shipped to her on the 10th of Spetember between 10 and 6. Well, she gets another call today: No bag. o be cruel, she was also informed that since she received (paltry) compenstaion from BA, if the bag does indeed turn up, she WILL NOT BE GETTING IT BACK.

Perhaps I am ignorant of such things, but is that how this works?

On BA website:

Baggage delays

In case of baggage delay, the air carrier is liable for damage unless it took all reasonable measures to avoid the damage or it was impossible to take such measures. The liability for baggage delay is limited to 1,000 SDRs (approximately £820 or EUR1,230).

Destruction, loss or damage to baggage

The air carrier is liable for destruction, loss or damage to baggage up to 1,000 SDRs (approximately £820 or EUR 1,230). In the case of checked baggage, it is liable even if not at fault, unless the baggage was defective. In the case of unchecked baggage, the carrier is liable only if at fault.

So, if the bag is found, is she supposed to give the compensation money back to get it? I understand if your insurance company doesn’t want to pay out anything if a bag shows up a few months later… But no one ASKS for their luggage to be lost, and compensation money, while helpful, is never enough and never covers the contents of your bag.

What is she supposed to do? What are any of us supposed to do? Something has to be done collectively.

I have just returned to Australia from a round the world trip flying Qantas, British Airways, Cubana and American Airlines and can confidently say that British Airways are the worst airline ever. We flew with them from Frankfurt to London and from Manchester to Newark via Heathrow and yes they lost our luggage TWICE! Once on the flight from Frankfurt, this bag was reunited with us the following day however not in time for the wedding we had flown to London to attend and the second time our bag was lost somewhere between Manchester and Newark presumably Heathrow and this bag has not been returned to us yet. After the first instance I called up BA and asked if we could change our Newark via Heathrow flight to a direct flight into JFK as while in England I was reading all the BA horror stories in the press and figured we would have a better chance of our luggage arriving if we avoided Heathrow and was advised that yes we could do this at a cost of $700. Sadly we chose not to spend the $700 and I am now wading through insurance claim forms and having to prove the existange of my bags contents in the hope I can get some compensation. It is a pretty sad state of affairs when Cubana is a preffered airline to BA but the fact is they are abysmal and I will not fly with them again. I would dearly love to have my luggage back and am still holding out hope that one day it will turn up!

New Prime Time Consumer Series- The Complainers
Have you been a victim of delayed/lost luggage?
How helpful were the airline?
Did you get satisfactory compensation?
Have items from your luggage subsequently appeared on eBay?
Are you a travel agent who has had to deal with angry customers of lost luggage?
Are you a baggage handler who feels unfairly victimised?
If any of the above apply to you I’d like to talk to you in the strictest confidence.

Please contact me at max.dinunno@northonetv.com

Somewhat unbelievably (alright - completely unbelievably) my lost bag was found after TWO months.

I traveled Edinburgh-Nice early in July to stay with my parents for a week. (I live in the States, and was in Scotland before going to see my parents.) My bag was lost on the way to Nice.

About one week ago - two months after they lost my bag - I got a phone call from my mom saying that the bag showed up on their doorstep (as it should have: BA was left with instructions to deliver the bag to their house in France because that’s where I had been staying).

My mom said she’d ship over some of my stuff and my dad said “Nope. Give the bag to BA - it’s their responsibility to get it back to him.” I almost jumped through the phone - “Dad, if they can’t get my bag from Point A to Point B on their own airplanes, why on earth do you think they could get it to me in the States - where they don’t even fly!?” He agreed with my logic.

I feel very fortunate, and I think I am the exception to BA’s baggage imcompetence.

[…] Good and bad news in the on going story of lost baggage from British Airways … We Will Never Fly British Airways Again. July 31st, 2007 by britishairwaysproblems … Continue…. […]

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British Airways are not interested in anyone’s lost baggage - they are quite happy for you to wait 45 days and then claim off your travel insurance - their Customer Relations Manager - Maxine Hayward doesn’t take calls!

Does anyone know if it would be possible for everyone with lost luggage to make a claim for the return of lost luggage via the Small Claims Court naming Willie Walsh personally?

Presumably it wouldn’t cost the individual but it might make British Airways and Willie Walsh do something

Does anyone one know if British Airways have to answer to Freedom of Information requests?

We witnessed the hooror of opening terminal 5 27th March and left with our connecting flight to Düsseldorf while our luggage was standing close to the plane - it wasn’t load because the lack of personnel. I cannot believe that blunder! Now our luggage is lost and I am afraid, that it will be lost…never BA again!!!!!

Another bad experience with BA. My husband and I travelled to New York (to spend 10 days) from Copenhagen on the 21st of March 2008, via London. My suitcase did not arrive. I made a complain report and so far, after 12 days and back home, no news of the bag. BA told us at the arrival that the bag never left Copenhagen. The day after we got a call from Copenhagen saying they had found my bag without a BA tag and what to do with it. I asked them to send it with BA to New York (now I realise I made a mistake, I should have asked them to send it back to my home) as we were in NY for 10 days and gave them the tag number. But the bag never came. But the BA report says that the item has been located and if so, why don’t they send it? I got a mail from them saying that it might have been sent from Copenhagen with KLM. I called KLM in Amsterdam but they have no news and said that maybe it is at JFK airport. I send a new mail to BA telling them that it was their obligation to contact KLM and trace the suitcase. But so far no news. I have been sending mails to all possible BA and KLM addresses and making calls and spending time and money, but nothing… It is difficult to contact them and I suppose that with thousands of bags missing, one more does not matter to them. I am really uppset as I had some of my favorite clothes in it. What I am afraid after reading these comments, is if they will auktion my things and I will loose them. It really makes me mad to think of this. I will now try to send the receipts of my purchases to BA hoping they will refund me, but I am not too confident after knowing how they function (better: un-function). After all this, I really hope to se my suitcase again (with its contents) before I become too fat to use my clothes, or before I die!!!

I took a flight of BA on the 27th March. What a disaster!!! I guess that BA had time to advertise the opening of T5 but not to ensure its smooth operation.

We left T5 with over 3.5 hours delay. Of course, you could say that we were lucky since others stayed there for more hours and several flights were cancelled. Well I don’t think is as simple as that and I ‘ll tell you why.

As a result of the delay I lost my connecting flight from Athens that was the last of the day to my final destination. The personnel of BA had left the airport and there was none there to guide us with regards to overnight accommodation or arrangements for alternative flights.

About the luggages now, more than two weeks latter and they are still missing. I have returned in the UK, and the luggages are in Italy, as they will be handling them from there. None has an answer as for whether my luggages will be travelling towards Greece or whether they will return in the UK.

I thought that OA was not to be trusted but now I am sure that none is worse than BA!!!

From article earlier this week:

Worried about losing your bags

Here are your options:

1. Send it ahead

A growing number of companies offer door-to-door luggage delivery services, starting from around £49 for deliveries to mainland Europe. They include: First Luggage (www.firstluggage.com), Personal Porter (www.personalporter.com), Luggage Forward (www.luggageforward.com), Direct Baggage (www.directbaggage.com) and Carry My Luggage (www.carrymyluggage.com)

2. Tracking device

Should your bag fail to arrive on the carousel, you will have a better chance of locating it with a tracking device such as the Trace Me luggage tracker (www.tracemeluggagetracker.com) and the I-Trak identification system (www.i-trak.com).

3. Take hand luggage only