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