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

[iwillinmyarse]

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 - sounds awful and I do feel for you .And I also recognise you not wanting to visit crowded shops !

Selfishly I'd like to see a seperate thread ,channeling a Little House on The Prairie vibe ,with crafty creative people coming up with ideas as to how you can save the day with home made gifts .Singing together as you crochet round the fire .

Also ,I'm sparing a thought for the staff trying to sort the baggage .Poor buggers .The people at the top need to make clear statements ,and didn't they see this coming ?

evilharpy 0824

Bags are linked to the address and details you booked the tickets with. The airline checkin tag has you surname and a bar code that at linked to the sticker stub that the checkin staff usually attach to your passport or boarding card.
Sure it's no harm to have a Name and phone number, email on the bag, I'd guard against having your address as this is a risk to your home security will you are away. It's in full view of many during your travels, you might arrive back to a burgled home.

@notimagain

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.

@notimagain OP did say “he” when talking about the pilot in one of her posts, not fair to suggest that poster was misogynisically assuming the pilot was a man!

British Airways are a national embarrassment.

Always the first to cancel flights, always randomly moving or re-allocating flight times.

I avoid them as much as possible.

This is just another nail in the coffin.

I get that we need a "National carrier" (do we?) but BA are a poor shadow of what they once were.

BA really hasn’t covered itself in glory during the last 18 months. We had flights cancelled by BA as the first lockdown came in with no refund given, just a voucher to use against future bookings.

If you can get to Dublin airport try the staff there

Tell the children that Santa has let you know that he's going to drop most of their presents off at your home after you get back as otherwise you might not be able to get them home. Explain you can only take a certain amount of luggage on a plane and he doesn't want presents to have to stay there.
Make it an exciting thing that you're going to have 2 Christmas days.
Then give them 1-2 presents and a letter from Santa confirming this.

We started doing this when the children were small and they really loved having two special days.

@HaveringWavering

“OP did say “he” when talking about the pilot in one of her posts, not fair to suggest that poster was misogynisically assuming the pilot was a man!‘“

Fair enough, though I was trying to provide a generic answer /description of how the system is supposed to works on flights in general and what information is and is not given to crews.

@saleorbouy

evilharpy 0824

Bags are linked to the address and details you booked the tickets with. The airline checkin tag has you surname and a bar code that at linked to the sticker stub that the checkin staff usually attach to your passport or boarding card.
Sure it's no harm to have a Name and phone number, email on the bag, I'd guard against having your address as this is a risk to your home security will you are away. It's in full view of many during your travels, you might arrive back to a burgled home.

Ah I never even thought of the check in tag!

Call Joe Duffy

Good advice

I'm sorry OP, I hope you get it sorted

From the pilot and cabin crew's perspective, even if they did know, can you imagine the riots on board if it had been announced before take off! A whole plane load of disgruntled passengers to deal with. I'm not surprised they didn't tell you. I'm not saying it's right - just that it was probably considered a safety issue (for the staff).

I hope your Christmas is delivered by BA on time OP.

[quote notimagain]@HaveringWavering

“OP did say “he” when talking about the pilot in one of her posts, not fair to suggest that poster was misogynisically assuming the pilot was a man!‘“

Fair enough, though I was trying to provide a generic answer /description of how the system is supposed to works on flights in general and what information is and is not given to crews.[/quote]
Yeah, if you hadn’t pointedly put “or she” in italics each time you said it I might believe that!

@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.

Well quite, if the pilots really didn't know it would have been the most incredibly dangerous flight because the weight would have been completely out, which would affect their speed calculations and the like. In that respect, I hope the pilots WERE told in advance and were just telling a white lie about finding out after landing.

@TheAbbotOfUnreason

BA really hasn’t covered itself in glory during the last 18 months. We had flights cancelled by BA as the first lockdown came in with no refund given, just a voucher to use against future bookings.

You are legally entitled to a refund under EU Regulation 261 that was incorporated into U.K. law post-Brexit. You can still claim it, unless you have used the voucher. Look at the consumer section of the CAA website for more info.

Well quite, if the pilots really didn't know it would have been the most incredibly dangerous flight because the weight would have been completely out, which would affect their speed calculations and the like. In that respect, I hope the pilots WERE told in advance and were just telling a white lie about finding out after landing.

Bangs head on walI “ I’ll say again slowly” .

The pilots (of whatever gender) can and do need to know the accurate weight of the aircraft prior to departure….they actually get given two important figures a figure called zero fuel weight (ZFW) and the take off weight (TOW) plus also c of g position for trim purposes.

That’s all that is needed…no mention of weight in holds (several tonnes or zero,) whatever as a separate detail because it’s one of the figures that contributes to the ZFW/TOW.

HTH.

Ba lost my bags once. Twats.

LOL. All airlines lose bags on occasion - it's inevitable with the sheer number of bags going through the system! We've all seen the sad lonely case going round and round the luggage carousel, unclaimed.

OP I hope you get your cases back soon! I do think it's "positive" that the whole lot for the flight are missing as it's surely easier to find a large number of cases than just one.

I know it doesn't help the OP, but the specialist press is full of pictures of total luggage chaos at Heathrow this week:

www.airlive.net/alert-chaos-at-heathrow-as-passengers-are-sent-home-without-luggage-and-crew-tested-positive/

@notimagain

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.

😂 No need for the she in italics love; I said he because the majority of BA pilots are in fact male. In fact approximately 94% of all their pilots are male. Just like I would refer to you as she as the majority of MNetters are female.

If you want to get snarky with someone (and if you actually have this much time on your hands to even get this bothered by someone saying she 🙄) then get snarky directly with BA in regards to their diversity profile.

@TheKeatingFive

Call Joe Duffy

Good advice

I'm sorry OP, I hope you get it sorted

Missing bags. Unfeeling airline. Santa presents unaccounted for.

What is Liveline for if not this??

Oh my god, I'm having heart palpitations on your behalf OP
Really hope you get sorted. Disgraceful behaviour by BA.

BA have lost my luggage before too. They usually try to get the missing luggage on the next flight so might be sitting at the airport. The number they give you to call and the online system you can check are exactly the same thing - the person on the call will just reiterate what you can see for yourself.

I personally found out who the luggage handlers were and called and caller their desk at the airport. I even went to the airport and they allowed me to check the storage area. Being able to first identity where your luggage is key though. It was a lot of effort and often just letting it flow through the system is easiest.

BA are the worst with luggage, I'll never fly with them again. I hope you have better luck than I did.

If you need buy new toiletries etc be sure to keep all receipts and claim it back from BA.

I had the same thing happen OP about 12 years ago.
Only I was going to Australia for Christmas for the first time in 35 years. I had most of mum’s presents and my nephews football shirts, socks etc from here.

BA left all the British flight from Manchester to Frankfurt to Singapore to Australia in Frankfurt. We didn’t know until we went to collect it in Sydney on Christmas Eve.
I also had only the clothes I was standing in plus two extra tops in hand luggage. DD too.
I asked and registered in the airport and because I was polite ( not like the bloke in next queue ranting, shouting and swearing ) I was given $250 and told to contact them if it hadn’t arrived in ten days.
It was left outside my mum’s house on the veranda after midnight 12 days later intact thank goodness. I received another $250 when I went to Sydney for the return flight.

It was compensation for replacement and upset due to Christmas gifts not being able to have them. Luckily I had one of mums and sisters presents in my hand luggage as breakable. At least I could see mum open one of her presents on Christmas Day.

I would put in a claim. I now put a luggage strap on my luggage which I have sewn badges of places I have been to make it more identifiable. Someone tried to take my case on another trip as we had the same case and the ribbon had come off mine on route. Keep your receipts to help your claim.

I hope you have a lovely 🎄 Christmas 🎄.

HaveringWavering

I know we are legally entitled to a refund. At the time, you could only apply online for refunds for cancelled flights and the whole system steered you into having to accept a voucher. Tried numerous times to get a proper refund but BA just stonewall - you can’t speak to anyone on the phone.

I see that someone else in the same position took BA to the small claims court and won last month for the same issue.

Oh op, I really hope it gets sorted for you x