BA are a huge bunch of tossers.

[TheSlowRush]

Just been away for my siblings 50th birthday (they live abroad).

BA have lost my suitcase. I spent 4 days away, borrowing clothes from my sibling. The entire planes luggage got left in London, this was last Thurs.

This was not good for either of us as we are not the same size, and I had a lovely outfit for the party. Also had to keep washing the outfit I arrived in so I had something to wear. Had no make up, toiletries, medication, jewellery.m, clothes, underwear. This has caused me anxiety the entire trip and worrying about where all my things are, and spent a lot of time trying to get updates from BA which everyone I was with has got tired of.

I am now home and my suitcase is not. BA are doing fuck all other than directing me to their lost baggage tracker which has been updated twice, once when I reported it missing on Thursday and once today when my siblings address expired as the address for it to be couriered to.

AIBU to think this is not good enough, that’s my (and the whole planes) personal items and they should be doing their utmost to locate it, not just fobbing us on the the tracker?

Any Advice please?

I just feel like I packed a suitcase of my favourite things and am sent it into the ether.

It’s just the last thing I needed right now on top of everything else and no, I wasn’t insured, I guess I didn’t think about it as was going to stay with family and this has never happened to me before.

I was coming on to say the same thing. I know it's not helpful to OP, but if it helps someone else, it could save a holiday.

I hope you get it back OP. What a shitshow.

@TheSlowRush - do you have travel insurance with your bank? Some bank accounts have travel insurance attached.

For everyone reading this thread, please always get travel insurance and make sure you answer all questions fully and honestly according to the T&C.
Any of us could have a medical emergency or accident any time. It is worth every penny.

Regardless of staying with family, you should have insurance for the future. What if you'd needed to pay medical bills or you'd been mugged?

There was a feature about lost luggage on the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 (12 - 2), last Friday I think. I didn't listen to it but maybe some one on there had advice re lost luggage. I did hear them saying the percentage of lost luggage is very high though!

You were VERY lucky to get that much back....
I had my bag delayed by 9 days when I went to New Zealand a few years ago. I made the connection at LHR; it didn't.
I got £50 for essentials, and then Air New Zealand (who had operated my last regional flight) took pity on me, when I kept calling the tiny regional airport, and gave me some 1st class PJs, amenities kits, and an NS$200 travelex card thing. (I think I only got those because they felt sad for me, they got to know me, and we built up a rapport!)

I now avoid BA through LHR wherever possible. They are a nightmare combination.

Probably give the bag some rough handling so it bursts open.

Then kindly put most of the stuff back in and close it !

Airlines are pretty clear that putting valuables in checked baggage is a big no no.

Of course if people were paid decent wages they wouldn't probably nick stuff.

The tracker system is awful - mine got lost, the tracker took ages to update and 5 days later it appeared by courier on my doorstep. The tracker had said nothing about it being found let alone dispatched…fortunately I was at home! I now put an air tag in my case, make sure I’ve got my contact details on the outside and inside of the case, don’t pack jewellery or essentials in my case and have photos of any new/nice items of clothing for if I need them for insurance reasons.

In 2017 DH and I were at the boarding gate on our way to Gibraltar when the computer system crashed and all BA planes were grounded. Many hours later, after being deboarded and fruitlessly searching for our bags in baggage reclaim, we traipsed back home without them. Two days later, we resumed our journey and having been assured that our bags would be on our new flight, I am pleased to report that they were. In this instance, and the airport was absolute chaos, BA did well. Luckily we lived only 6 tube stops from Heathrow.

I use air tags too.
Did cause me a mild panic though when I landed in LA and according to the tracking my bag was still in Las vegas....
It was then I realised it took a moment for the air tags to reconnect and it popped back up. I was impressed though, I was then able to follow it all the way from the plane to the carousel.

Hope you get it back OP.

Luggage isn't handled by them usually, the airports do it. Whilst they should be trying to reunite you with your case, it may not be them who even has it. If it's a whole plane situation it's definitely an airport technical problem.

Only advice is not to travel BA ever again. Even if it means a longer journey than is ideal to visit your siblings next time.

Hope somehow you get your case back.

Why would you travel without insurance?

Deliberately haven't used them for years, overpriced, crap and trading off a past reputation

Sorry, that's shit. They lost mine on a 10 day trip to the Seychelles it arrived a few days later and meanwhile I had a wonderful time spending my compo from the airline.

Feeling quite bleak as I read this thread while on hold to the BA customer services line trying to amend a booking in a way that is apparently supremely confusing to their customer services agents. Two of them have actually hung up on me after telling me what I needed doing (that I have done many times before!) is impossible and I called back and this time asked to speak to a supervisor, who is sorting my issue out.

I can't believe that BA have turned me into the "I need to speak to your manager" person that I swore I never would be.

There's no "letting her". She has the bag, she can shift some things over; they're not going to literally snatch it away from her and run off. But I suppose she panicked and felt under pressure.

More generally, I've never had this happen, but I didn't think passengers were able to refuse having the bag checked-in at the gate, since it's done on the idea that there won't be enough space in the lockers (which they ought to control for and limit when selling the tickets, at least for airlines where you have to pay for a small carry-on suitcase).

PS the mansplaining from the first two agents who hung up on me was prick-swingingly epic as well which hasn't helped my blood pressure.

Did you fly to/from Heathrow? I don't know if this will help your situation or not but following a trip at the beginning of this month, my Dad left his rucksack (carry-on baggage) in the transfer minibus that collected him from the arrivals terminal at Heathrow and dropped him back at the car park.

Getting zero joy by phone from customer services at the airport and obviously the lost baggage online portals hadn't yet been updated, the following day, my sister who lives 20 minutes from Heathrow, managed to speak to 'someone" after tweeting Heathrow. They sent her photos of two rucksacks that matched the description of my Dad's and thankfully one of them was his.

She then drove to a facility at Hatton Cross where the rucksack had been taken after being found by the minibus driver. She said it was literally a portakabin in the middle of nowhere.

A tip for guyot tips is get an Apple air tag and put it in the case. That way you know where is really is.

Former flight dispatcher here (the person in high vis that you see running round with a clipboard before a flight departs dealing with paperwork and luggage lists and talking to the captain etc. First of all I'm not entirely sure how an entire plane load of luggage could be left behind. Did somebody confirm this to you? This would cause major discrepancies with paperwork, weight and balance and fuelling. Was there only a handful of people on the flight?

Secondly, it's entirely irrelevant really but unless BA have gone self handling in the past 3 years, it's a third party handling agent who deal with the baggage and check in/boarding etc even if they're wearing BA uniform. Swissport and Menzies are 2 of the biggest companies. But as your contract is with BA, they're the ones responsible for locating your luggage.

Thirdly, as previous posters have said although unhelpful to anyone at this stage, you should pack medication, jewellery, money, spare toiletries and at least some underwear if not a light spare outfit in your hand luggage. Ideally if there are more than one of you travelling, split your luggage contents across bags in case one goes missing.

But unfortunately, all of this isn't really helpful to you now. I'm sorry this has happened. It's really rubbish. I'm not sure if there's any way to claim back now. I would assume you should be compensated for the lost items. I hope you get it all sorted out!

Yup, I was asked to check in my cabin bag and I politely declined as I carry medical supplies in it. No issues at all.

I fly fairly regularly for work. BA are not my favourite airline by any means but luggage going missing (and I've been there and know it's a pain in the bum) is probably the fault of the airport's ground handling.

I appreciate that doesn't help you in this case, but for 4 days away, why risk it? I suggest regardless of airline, for a short break, go carry on. You also don't have to hang round conveyors when you get off.

Good luck with getting your bag back OP.

I’ve declined a request to gate check my bag before. Not in an rude way or anything, I just said I needed to keep it as it contained the nappies and ready made formula for the baby. They were absolutely fine with it. Even if they stood firm on the bag I refuse to believe they wouldn’t have let me grab some stuff out of it first because it’s not like would wrestle it straight from your hands or want to see people go without essential medication or baby milk. It’s pretty standard to see people doing a gate-side rearrange.