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Original poster

BA missing luggage - All Santa presents gone ..absolutely gutted!

230 replies

iwillinmyarse · 22/12/2021 00:12

Just that, took a flight on Saturday 18th from Heathrow to Dublin, checked in 4 bags, with clothes, toiletries etc but mostly all the Santa presents only to be told by the pilot on landing that no bags had been loaded on the flight and to go online to BA.com and chase them up. No way to contact BA directly as won’t answer the phone, no email address and no sign of the luggage. 3 days to Christmas and not a single present to put in the kids stockings, am absolutely gutted. Logged the baggage as advises by the pilot but to no avail. Does anyone know of any way to get in touch with BA and actually try to track down missing baggage?🙏

OP posts:
Backofthenet20 · 22/12/2021 06:19

Checked out the BA Twitter feed & there are others from the same flight. Could be worthwhile reaching out this way if you can get set up

ememem84 · 22/12/2021 06:28

Ba lost my bags once. Twats.

It took 3 days for them to get to us. The bags. I kept on at BA pretty much every couple of hours for an update. It was a nightmare.

If you have travel insurance give them a call and see what they can do. If you’ve got receipts for the presents do a claim. (It’s not going to get presents back quicker but you won’t be out of pocket).

Ba also refunded us for everything we spent in those few days to replace things - toiletries clothes etc.

I don’t trust ba with my luggage

tara66 · 22/12/2021 06:35

It was in the papers, 2 days ago, that luggage from 200 flights at Heathrow did not get to owners because of short staff caused by Covid at Heathrow.

TheMilkyWeigh · 22/12/2021 06:55

Happened to us Christmas 2019 (also Dublin but not BA). Finally got our bags on Boxing Day. Hope you have better luck!

MrsLarry · 22/12/2021 06:56

@iwillinmyarse

None for the whole flight! No explanation , pilot said he only found out when we were landing, but I find it hard to believe that he didn’t notice the plane (full of passengers) wasn’t a bit lighter than it should have been on take off! Am not on Twitter (no idea how to use it) but sister has tried but no reaction as yet from BA. At my wits end.
Hahaha.. Do you really think he would've noticed the plane being lighter 😂😂😂😂
saleorbouy · 22/12/2021 07:02

Go to the airport and find the BA desk and the baggage handling agent and make a nuisance of yourself until you get some answers.
You should have baggage receipt barcode stickers, usually attached by check in staff to your Passport cover at check-in, or a receipt printed by self check-in. This will allow them to be traced.

isthismylifenow · 22/12/2021 07:04

I don't understand why the flight took off with no luggage....

Or was it carrying the luggage from the previous flights? If so this is going to have a massive knock on effect.

I am so sorry OP. This is really ridiculous.

Sparkl · 22/12/2021 07:04

Came on to say the same thing about Amazon, no customs charges, I’ve used it for most of my presents this year - would rather not but circumstances dictated it. Anyway it’s very fast.
Also I think a masked trip to some shops to replace Santa presents is a reasonable thing to do despite Covid risk to parents OP, given you just took an international flight.
If you’re going to have to travel from your remote location to pick up your bags then you can also travel to a shopping centre.

So, replace gifts, kick up a fuss with BA to ensure they pay for them...

Howmanyflippingstone · 22/12/2021 07:10

How awful op, fucking BA 😡

I suppose the problem is that if you wait any longer than today and the bags don't turn up then it'll be nigh on impossible to get anything half decent.

Have you got a Smyths nearby? They are normally good for refunds if you have a receipt, could you get to one and pick up a few bits just in case, and then return for a refund if the luggage turns up in time?

And yes, twitter and Joe Duffy, though as a pp said, it's shit that you have to wash your dirty laundry in public to get listened to.

Howmanyflippingstone · 22/12/2021 07:11

Also, sorry this has put a damper on your first trip home in ages 😥

Ohmych · 22/12/2021 07:20

I hope you get them before Christmas this is absolutely shocking they could just not put any bags on a whole flight.

TrufflesAndToast · 22/12/2021 07:20

@MrsLarry yes he would have Confused Not sure why that’s quite such an unbelievable concept!

Offmyfence · 22/12/2021 07:27

@MrsLarry what a horrible and really unnecessary thing to put laughing emojis!

I too would've expected the pilot to notice something was amiss, they must have checks with baggage handlers to confirm loading is complete, weight checks, etc.

OP, I've also nothing else too add, but just keep at BA. I hope you get them prior to Christmas and all turns out to be a great time.

LizzieSiddal · 22/12/2021 07:31

they weee all obviously told by BA not to say anything to passengers which is utterly disgusting.

I don’t blame them for not telling people on the plane as the poor crew would most likely have had some people kicking off, which is not a good situation for crew or passengers.

I hope you get your luggage back soon OP.

notimagain · 22/12/2021 07:32

@Pearldrops04

DH’s a pilot, I’ve just told him and he said the pilot’s for all flights without any hold luggage would’ve known before take off as they have to sign the manifest...they weee all obviously told by BA not to say anything to passengers which is utterly disgusting.

Shame on BA, I hope people do some serious complaining.

The captain may have known, he/she may not, either version of events is credible TBH but I think most captains would be more than slightly annoyed if they had not have been given the full story before departure…

Without making this a TLDR the “manifest” you refer to, aka “Loadsheet” is prepared by licensed ground staff at BA, they are the only ones who are required to look in detail at what was in the each hold when preparing the paperwork. The pilots generally only have time to perform the legally required quick check of the gross figures for the aircraft as a whole to ensure all is legal.

As a general point given aircraft weights vary massively, day to day, due to fuel loading as well as passengers and baggage/freight there’s no way you could sit there, flying along, and tell there was no baggage on.

Main thing is I do hope the OP is reunited with all their baggage ASAP.

BarbaraofSeville · 22/12/2021 07:32

Misleading the pilot about the weight of the plane has to be a bit of a safety no no surely?

UniversalAunt · 22/12/2021 07:33

If all else fails, stuff bank fresh cash into an envelope.

Weirdly, children love waving bank notes around at Christmas.
It’s quite new to them.

BarbaraofSeville · 22/12/2021 07:35

Although some flights do have hardly any hold luggage so it might not be expected that there's loads of it. I've been on flights to places like the Isle of Man, where there's literally 3 suitcases that come out of the conveyor. As BA have a decent cabin allowance, maybe people tend not to take so much hold luggage?

RainyAfternoon · 22/12/2021 07:36

I hope you get reunited with your baggage OP. To be fair to BA, for everyone knocking them, they are dealing with huge numbers of staff off sick, but they also don't run the baggage management system. That is down to BAA. BA use services at Heathrow, but they don't run them themselves, so won't have had control over this.

notimagain · 22/12/2021 07:41

@LizzieSiddal

they weee all obviously told by BA not to say anything to passengers which is utterly disgusting.

I don’t blame them for not telling people on the plane as the poor crew would most likely have had some people kicking off, which is not a good situation for crew or passengers.

I hope you get your luggage back soon OP.

That might a line of thoughts on some flights.

Certainly on some occasions the crew might only find out after departure (via company communications links) that some bags were not on a flight.

The 64k question then is there any point in telling those passengers their bags are not on board until arrival if there is absolutely nothing anybody onboard can do to resolve the issue.

tickingthebox73 · 22/12/2021 07:42

The pilot won't have "noticed" as he will have had a load of cargo and probably the baggage from the day before.....

notimagain · 22/12/2021 07:45

@BarbaraofSeville

Misleading the pilot about the weight of the plane has to be a bit of a safety no no surely?
It is but there’s no need to believe the pilots were mislead about the weight.

See my pp..they’ll have been given the correct weight (actually initially a provisional weight and then later on a final accurate weight) , but it may not be immediately obvious, especially from the final figures, how much if any of that weight is due to items in the holds such as baggage or cargo.

Theluggage15 · 22/12/2021 07:50

My son was one of 60 people whose bags weren’t on the plane at the weekend. It was obviously a whole trolley that didn’t get loaded. It was put on another plane and delivered to our house the next day. I’m sure the same will happen with yours. It’s better when lots of bags go missing, easier to find.

Offmyfence · 22/12/2021 07:53

@Theluggage15

My son was one of 60 people whose bags weren’t on the plane at the weekend. It was obviously a whole trolley that didn’t get loaded. It was put on another plane and delivered to our house the next day. I’m sure the same will happen with yours. It’s better when lots of bags go missing, easier to find.
Oh I really hope this happens for OP!!
ImInStealthMode · 22/12/2021 08:01

@Lulu1919

I thought bags had to travel with the person who checked them in for security reasons ...ie if you check bags in then miss your flight they unload your bags ...I'm obviously way out of touch lol I hope this gets sorted for you ....what a nightmare !?!?!

You can't put a bag on a flight and then not travel on it yourself because of the obvious risk of someone putting explosives in a bag and then just not taking the flight, but lost or delayed bags being ferried to the right destination is fine.