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AIBU?

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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:
Alfixn · 22/12/2021 08:06

OP, that is awful. I can't believe an airline would do this to passengers knowingly and on Christmas week!!

Where in Ireland are you? If you're anywhere near me I'm happy to try and help you sort Santa presents - you can Pm me if you like

gogohm · 22/12/2021 08:07

This happened to dd, no bags got loaded, they arrived 2 days later and were couriered to her. Chase ba if its already 48 hours

Twentypast · 22/12/2021 08:13

@IHateCoronavirus

Bloody he’ll op I can’t believe they knew this was happening but didn’t warn their passengers, what if it was life saving medicine in that case?
You should never ever pack medication in checked bags.
Porridgeislife · 22/12/2021 08:18

I hope you get your bag soon OP.

We had a houseguest fly to Germany from T5 on Sunday afternoon to beat the border lockdown. They sat on the apron for 2.5 hours waiting for their luggage to be loaded on the plane - it was eventually and fortunately he arrived with bag.

Whilst the pilot might have not realised the missing 1500kg from the load sheet, I’d be very surprised if no one mentioned in the final handover that no bags were loaded!

fourminutestosavetheworld · 22/12/2021 08:19

Some awful stories on Twitter. Lots of people having to take onward, connecting flights in the knowledge that they were doing so without luggage, vital items lost etc. I hope your baggage turns up before Christmas op.

C8H10N4O2 · 22/12/2021 08:20

I don't think that's a great option as it's not that places don't deliver to Ireland, it's that post-Brexit, custom charges may apply; these have to be paid in the post office before delivery so you won't have time most likely

Amazon is not the exclusive preserve of Little Britain.

Astonishingly its also available within the EU with prices in Euros and no cross border taxes within the EU.

LAlady · 22/12/2021 08:21

This happened to us on a flight back from the US with BA. We got back Wednesday morning and the bags were couriered to us on the Friday afternoon.
Hopefully you'll get them back soon.

AlbusSeverusMalfoy · 22/12/2021 08:24

Post your flight details here. I'm sure every one here with twitter would tweet the crap out of BA on your behalf to get answers.

evilharpy · 22/12/2021 08:24

This is a lesson to me, I'm really really lax about putting address details on baggage. If mine got lost god knows where it would end up.

Maybe this is one of the few times that the scummy journos stealing stories from Mumsnet posts will work out to the OP's advantage.

Really hope you get your stuff back asap - my mum knows St Anthony personally I think so I'll ask her to put a word in for you Grin

TyrannosaurusRegina · 22/12/2021 08:25

@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.
What nonsense, the pilots need to know the weight of the flight to calculate fuel loads etc. He knew.
nanahey · 22/12/2021 08:25

You can use Twitter via your phone / iPad browser (safari/chrome) etc. You don’t need to download an app.

C8H10N4O2 · 22/12/2021 08:27

OP one of my DC came into Heathrow on Sunday night and it was utter chaos due to staff shortages. Its the longest wait I can ever remember just to get the plane parked and baggage reclaimed from a European flight.

Three different posters on this thread citing entire planes flying without luggage in recent days would suggest that someone is making a decision to fly without luggage loading. If they are going to do that there should at least be a clear statement of "apologies, staff issues, luggage will be arriving on day X, track your luggage " .

Poor customer service by airlines won't help them recover post pandemic.

annlee3817 · 22/12/2021 08:27

Can you message them on Facebook if you haven't got Twitter? This happened to us years ago with United airlines, in the US it was easier to get hold of someone and our luggage finally arrived to where we were staying on Christmas Eve. On the way back however they lost it again and we had to Google every random number we could find to complain, and then hit Twitter, FB etc

MrsLarry · 22/12/2021 08:28

"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."

Absolutely this!

superram · 22/12/2021 08:30

Tbf ive always found them to be brilliant at getting luggage to you once lost. Fingers crossed.

SofiaMichElf · 22/12/2021 08:31

It happens occasionally at the best of times, let alone Covid times.

Hopefully they sort it quickly, OP!

I once had my luggage not make it from my first leg flight to the second leg flight on a trip from UK to Malaysia. I was only there for 5 days of meetings and my luggage arrived (by taxi to my hotel) on the 4th day. I did lots of meetings in some interesting outfits I'd managed to buy locally Hmm. The airline paid compensation covering everything I'd bought to wear, toiletries, taxis to the shops, etc. and (I think) £250 for the inconvenience plus some discounts on future flights.

It's probably a non-starter trying to claim on insurance when this is a baggage delay, not a loss. Many (most?) policies don't cover delayed baggage, only loss/damage.

JacquelineCarlyle · 22/12/2021 08:36

That's rotten Op & I hope your bags turn up soon. There is still time to buy things (& keep receipts so you can claim the money back) but you'll all still have a brilliant Christmas just for the fact you're home & together with family after this horrible couple of years. It'll be special regardless of your bags (& I'll pray to St Anthony in the meantime!)

SofiaMichElf · 22/12/2021 08:36

@MrsLarry

"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."

Absolutely this!

Yep. 200 passengers x 15kg baggage each would add 3 tonnes to the weight of a loaded plane that might already be 70+ tonnes without the bags.

I'd be amazed if that makes the slightest bit of difference.

HaveringWavering · 22/12/2021 08:37

They will have deliberately not told the passengers until landing because they did not want to risk unruly behaviour developing as a group of people got progressively more angry about the situation, in circumstances where they and the crew could do absolutely nothing about it. That would have been quite a big safety risk for the cabin crew.

Twentypast · 22/12/2021 08:37

@TyrannosaurusRegina British Airways pilots don't calculate weight and balance or fuel. The Dispatchers do that.

TheHoptimist · 22/12/2021 08:38

We flew to nyc with an empty plane. No luggage at all. They told us 30 minutes before landing.

HaveringWavering · 22/12/2021 08:41

Yep. 200 passengers x 15kg baggage each would add 3 tonnes to the weight of a loaded plane that might already be 70+ tonnes without the bags.

I'd be amazed if that makes the slightest bit of difference.

It does make a difference as regards fuel consumption, and the final weight of an aircraft absolutely has to be checked and recorded on every flight because it’s dangerous if they go overweight. However, as a pp said upthread, knowing the overall weight of the aircraft would not necessarily tell the pilots that there was no luggage on board. I do think they had been told though, and just asked not to mention it until landing (see my post above).

HaveringWavering · 22/12/2021 08:42

[quote Twentypast]@TyrannosaurusRegina British Airways pilots don't calculate weight and balance or fuel. The Dispatchers do that.[/quote]
Then give the record of the calculation to the pilots, surely?

notimagain · 22/12/2021 08:43

What nonsense, the pilots need to know the weight of the flight to calculate fuel loads etc. He knew.

He or she can know the aircraft weight without knowing if the holds are empty..See upthread for a brief description of how it works or I’ll do a TL;DR again … actually, oh well…

Early on in boarding the captain, he or she, will have been told an estimated weight by one of the ground staff and before take-off given a final accurate weight and aircraft trim based on what is actually loaded is sent by datalink to the aircraft….but it’s weight(s)/trim only….not detailed distribution.

Under the system used at BA and many other airlines there is no requirement for he or she to check what portion of that weight is in the holds.

listsandbudgets · 22/12/2021 08:45

They are not always great at updating status.

DDs went missing and were still shown as being looked for when a man in a tiny van turned up and delivered it. Apparently ot had been located in Frankfurt ( we'd not been any where near Frankfurt having changed in Paris and flown to Rome)