Am I Being Unreasonable to think that British Airways treated us in an absolutely unacceptable way?

[Lololala82]

This is the letter of complaint that I wrote to BA. I am still awaiting a response. Has anyone else had a terrible experience with British Airways losing their luggage and having to deal with City Bags?

Dear British Airways,

On Friday 19th August I travelled from Nice to London Heathrow with my husband and our 15 month old son on Flight BA 0347. I was 8 months pregnant.

At Nice airport we were told that our pram would be put in the hold and returned to us at the gate when we landed; orange ‘Priority’ labels were attached to all of our items of luggage, I presume because we were flying Club Europe.

When we landed at Heathrow we found that our pram was not waiting for us at the gate meaning that I had to carry Finn through the airport which was extremely uncomfortable as my son is heavy and I was heavily pregnant.

After waiting for over an hour at baggage reclaim (still holding my son), we were told that our three checked bags, our pram and our car seat had not made the flight. We were assured by BA that all of our luggage would arrive the next day at the latest. We arranged for them to be delivered to my mother-in-law’s flat in SW10 where we were staying that weekend.

Saturday 20th August 2016
Our bags were not delivered as promised.

Sunday 21st August 2016
We received several text messages that morning to say that our bags would be delivered but they were not. This was not only highly inconvenient as we did not have the pram but also a risk to my son’s health as his prescription eczema cream (which is more than 100ml so could not be taken as hand luggage) was in the check in luggage. I telephoned British Airways to ask them to change the delivery address to our house in N4. You confirmed that our bags were (a) in the UK, (b) were with your courier City Bags and (c) that the change to the delivery address had been registered.

After we arrived home, we found out that City Bags had attempted to deliver the bags to my mother-in-law’s house. Our message to deliver the bags to our house had obviously not been relayed by British Airways as promised. I telephoned both British Airways and City Bags who informed me that some of our bags had arrived in the UK but they were not sure which ones and that they had now been sent back to the City Bags depot.

Monday 22nd August 2016
One of our bags – sadly not the one containing my son’s medicated cream – was delivered, and also our son’s pram which was badly damaged. The rubber on the handle of the pram had been slashed open and one of the wheels is now completely wonky. The pram cost over £600 and is now unusable meaning we will have to buy a new one before my second child arrives later this month. In addition, our son had been struggling to sleep without his eczema medication.

That evening we received more text messages from City Bags. The first one at 19.51 said that our bags would be delivered between 23.42 and 01.42. We telephoned City Bags to say that we had a baby and did not want to be woken at such an antisocial hour, and to ask if they could deliver them the next day. At 22.07 we received another message to say that we would be delivered our bags “today between 14.22 and 16.22” – which at that point was in the past!

Tuesday 23rd August 2016
On Tuesday evening the remaining two bags were delivered. When the courier arrived he also had a Mamas & Papas pushchair that did not belong to us but had a label with our name on it. When I told him that it wasn’t ours, the courier said that “you may as well take it anyway though”. We obviously refused.

This whole ordeal was hugely stressful and upsetting for my family, and I spent much of the four days we were separated from our luggage in tears. I am due to give birth to my second child in a week and a half; the pram we were intending to put our new baby in has been completely ruined. It is British Airways’ responsibility to ensure that its customers get their luggage when they land, or at least in a timely fashion. City Bags is utterly incompetent and incapable.

In summary, I would like a response to the following questions:

• On your website you claim ‘We take great pride in carrying your bags safely and speedily to your final destination but if something goes wrong we’ll pull out all the stops to fix it as quickly as possible.’ How is this compatible with our experience of excessive delays and constant mistakes which ultimately put my 15 month old son’s health at risk?
• My £600+ pram was damaged and is now unusable a fortnight before my second child is due as a direct result of my experience flying with BA. What compensation are you going to offer me to meet the extra and unexpected cost of replacing it?
• Will you be raising my concerns about customer service with City Bags? Do you think that it is acceptable to organise a delivery to a family with a young child between the hours of 23.42 and 01.42 on a Monday night?
• I am particularly perturbed that their courier was encouraging me to partake in the theft of someone else’s property. Do you think that this service is in keeping with British Airways’ ethos and customer service policies?

Given the extreme nature of our experience and particularly because of the City Bags courier’s suggestion that I steal someone else’s luggage, I will be reporting my concerns to a number of independent consumer advocacy organisations. I have copied this letter to You and Yours, A Spokesman Said and the Guardian’s consumer team.

Mrs xxxx xxxx

Cream - always have a spare at home, just in case.

Pram - buy a cheap replacement pushchair. Or claim on travel insurance. Having seen how baggage handlers chuck things around, I wouldn't take an expensive pram on a plane.

You do sound a bit OTT saying you cried for four days - but you are very pg, so you may be excused ;-) I'd take it out of your letter, though. Stick to the facts.

I agree about making it factual (although you've already sent it, right?).

However, I also agree that you have reason to complain.

I had troubles with buggy not being on jetway at arrival when I was told it DEFINITELY would be, was ill so couldn't walk a lot and travelling with an 8 month old. Carrying him and hand luggage (full of bottles, nappies, clothes, other essentials to keep him quiet on flight and in case of luggage being lost!) to the carousel nearly had me needing medical assistance. I'd been driven to the plane at the other end (very major, very large airport) but was arriving in a tiny airport and assured buggy would be at the plane so turned down the assistance (wheelchair) before we arrived.

I was told later that whatever they say at departure, there's actually no way they can guarantee buggies will be by the plane when you get off. Which would be totally fine if so many check-in staff didn't guarantee they would be!!

And I can't remember if it was BA or Air France. Not masses of difference these days on shorter flights anyway.

Your letter is far too emotional and some of the issues were within your control. You should have got the cream replaced especially as you say he wasn't sleeping because of his skin. Why on earth didn't your dh carry your son? Personally I would never have changed the delivery address. Of course that was going to complicate matters. As for the late delivery, this is not uncommon in these situations. I once left a suitcase at Gatwick (was very jet lagged). The courier delivered at midnight.
Why don't you delete all the emotional stuff and stick to what you want BA to do for you and what lessons you think they need to learn from your experience?

You lost me at

and I spent much of the four days we were separated from our luggage in tears.

Sorry that you are getting a hard time, but you are being overdramatic.

Most of this is why you have travel insurance. You could have sorted an extra prescription for your son's cream (and you only have one pot of something that is so essential? Maybe it would be better to decant a trip's worth next time and leave the whole pot at home?)

The high-horse stuff about 'partaking to steal other people's possessions' is going to have them rolling their eyes and binning your letter.
As PP said, keep it factual and point out the actual losses that you've had...
"We had to get an emergency prescription and cab there - £50, repairs to buggy not covered by travel insurance £100, toiletries to cover us until ours were returned etc etc"
They'll give you about half the cash you ask for, and will bung in some Avios. The rest you should be able to get back from your insurance, and then move on and put it down to bad luck

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy

I'm sympathetic to you OP because it sounds like a stress-fest, but I lost all sympathy by the end of the letter. It's entirely reasonable to expect them to take care of your stuff, and rectify problems quickly.

The cream was totally your responsibility - the quantities of medication rule has been in place for years, you could have decanted it into something else.
The holding the baby was your family unit's decision - and you were only waiting for an hour
The pram should be insured (or you should have taken a cheap thing - prams in hold always a risk)

Tone it right down, don't call them names. Make it half the length, do it in bullet points. Focus on stuff they can fix.

Is there something you're not telling us here OP?
I worked for a major airline for 20 years, and it is extremely unusual on a non stop flight with no connections for 3 bags, one car seat and a pram to all go missing at the same time. Something is off here. It often happens that one item goes missing, or if passengers are connecting then all of their bags can go astray but this is an odd situation.

Were your bags offloaded for some reason? What time did you arrive to bag drop?

You have had terrible service. However I am not sure I would have spent most of the four days I was separated from my luggage crying over it. I would take that out it makes you sound bonkers.
Have you claimed on your travel insurance for the delayed and damaged luggage?

A piece of luuugar and a pushchair got damaged at Heathrow when we were returning from a trip away a ew months ago. I think their baggage handlers were the problem for us as pushchairs from multiple locations were damaged.

I travelled with SAS who reimbursed us for the broken suitcase and pushchair. They were the ones to deal with the complaint as they are who we paid to travel with.

Luggage!

We used to travel with cheap pushchairs when our dd was little and watching how baggage handlers just throw them around.

As others have said, definitely - if it hasn't already gone - tone it down a lot and keep it factual.

I had to also contact BA's customer services (while pregnant!) team recently to get a refund on a planned holiday to Barbados when we found out I was pregnant. I kept to the facts, provided evidence (Dr's letter) and received back all of my money (£1100) - when they'd initially only offered me £80 taxes.

If it's already been sent, then what's done is done, but in subsequent communications with them I'd say dear god, rein in the emoting and stick to the issues at hand. I'd also suggest not aggressively asking "What compensation are you going to offer me to meet the extra and unexpected cost of replacing it?" - I totally understand you want something from them, but the wording isn't the right way to go about it, I don't think. You've been pretty confrontational (I do get it, I understand) but that in itself probably isn't going to make Mr or Mrs Customer Service Rep who opens the letter immediately want to jump for BA's chequebook unfortunately.

Who takes a £600 pram on a plane?? You're emails are so dramatic sounding and far too lengthy. Tone it down a bit and you might get some compensation for the damaged pram

Your

This is why I have a £70 buggy for traveling.

OP I used to work in a holiday complaints dept. Other posters have given really good advice, take all the nonsense out, just state the facts.

As an aside I do sometimes wonder how people who spend days in tears over something like lost luggage deal with serious life events.

Yes, definitely a cheap buggy next time, I had the same pushchair as you OP but bought a cheap one for holiday.

Let's be fair to the OP. She's very pregnant, I was certainly far more emotional when pregnant.

Could your partner take over the complaint procedure if it is making you upset?

£600 pram, Pregnant, prescription cream, crying, 4 days... How much are you expecting from BA? Sorry but no sympathies. BA is usually pretty good.

I think you've been really lucky previously to a) have never had your pram damaged and b) have always had your pram returned back to you at the gate.
I've never taken a decent pram on a plane because the airline generally doesnt accept responsibility and the thought of claiming on travel insurance is a pain.

Also so many airports don't facilitate the return of your pram to the gate now. In Australia you cant even take it to the gate, it has to be checked in with luggage!

If you travel regularly and need to have a pram at each end the mountain buggy nano is handy as you can take it as hand luggage, I bought one when I had to fly long haul with 3dc on my own.

So I hope you get a good response and I would keep arguing for it if I were you, but in context, if you've travelled a lot with your baby and pram with no prior luggage issues you have been very lucky!

Not really related, but may give you a laugh. Some years ago my parents flew to USA and borrowed my suitcase. When they got back they apologised because my case had gone AWOL on return flight. Obviously I was more concerned about their lost clothes etc and told them not to worry about the case. They kept in touch with airport to see if case was located, but to no avail. A few days later my Mum was telling a friend about the incident and recalled 'there were no purple cases on the conveyor belt, and in the end just one lonely blue case that had obviously been left by somebody else' Cue me saying ' but the case I lent you WAS blue' to which my Mum replied ' oh yes , so it was, that would explain it then'. After a call to airport explaining their embarrassing tale my blue casewas finally repatriated with me.

Typical BA. We flew on a tour to China a few years ago. Just as we were coming into land at Beijing airport, the pilot informed us that NO luggage had made the plane. Not one piece. This was because BA thought we would rather arrive on time than with our luggage! We spent about 3 hours at the airport queuing up to register the loss. Some 8 bags for our large tour party arrived the next day. The rest 100+ arrived on the morning we were due to fly on to Xian for the next leg of the trip, 4 days later. We wrote a similar note to BA when we got back and got a standard 'your business is important to us' reply. No offer of compensation. Fortunately our travel insurance company paid for temporary replacement clothes etc.

It seems to be an increasing problem with busy airline schedules. I think airlines are very aware that they HAVE to pay compensation (in Europe) if your flight is late. But not if they fail to load your baggage.

I totally agree that the airline and courier treated you terribly. You should definitely complain. So frustrating to have your pram buggered when you're about to have another baby.

With regards to lost medication. If you speak to your gp reception they probably would have sent a new prescription to your pharmacy quickly. So need to see a gp.

I'm sorry you're so stressed, OP. Yes, it's crap your luggage didn't make it onto the plane with you, and it's far worse dealing with that stuff with a small child, but I would tone down the letter, and stick to the precise problems with BA /the couriers, who really sound like the problem.

Taking an expensive pushchair (unless in one of those protective travel cases) on a flight was a rookie error - one I made myself. Heathrow baggage handlers trashed my new Bugaboo Bee so that it was unusuable throughout a two-week holiday in a hot climate with a ten-month-old baby, but that was my own fault. I bought an Argos cheapie for travelling in future.

And I think you need to take a certain amount of responsibility for not replacing the cream, changing the address, and refusing the initial delivery slot - which are distractions from your actual complaint.

Lots of it has been said-but I am amazed that you were able to travel so close to your due date...

Jesus. Obviously her husband was carrying the hand luggage. Have some of you people never flown before? What a stupid point to focus on.

Hope you get it sorted, OP.

The only 'extreme' thing happening here is your overreaction to the situation. In four days some cream could have been sourced for your son rather than weeping and wailing over some delayed luggage.

The letter as it currently stands is a jumbled mess and the person reading it will think: 'oh god not another one of those letters and 'she's on the hunt for some compen for her "emotional distress" and scamming the coat of a new pram for asome torn bar tape and a wonky wheel'.

Instead find out the cost of a repair to your pram. There are places who specialise in pram repair and if you send them the pictures you've put on here in an email, to them they'll be able to give you an idea on price. in North London there's Buggy Pitstop who are based in Wembley.

Then write a calm neutral letter to BA explaining what happened. They won't care who held your baby or that you didn't get cream for your son in 4 days. But they should care that your luggage got delayed and that when it did arrive was delivered damaged.

In the letter state in straightforward factual terms what happened and state how much the repair to the buggy will be and asking for that sum to be paid, plus any genuine out of pocket expenses you've incurred, offer to send receipts.

Oh and threatening them with the Guardian consumer column and the Robinsons (Winifred & Ann) before giving them a chance to resolve the issues themselves is OTT and likely to be counterproductive as Watchdog/You and Yours aren't going to be that interested at the very early stage of the dispute.

Focus on what can actually be res