Two Large Bags - No Passenger

[ExSimGuy]

Some 30 years ago, long before Lockerbie, I was departing on a BCAL (remember them?) flight to Italy when we were delayed due to a pax having a "panic attack" and refusing to board. The bags were all offloaded and put on the ground beside the aircraft so that pax could ident their own and ensure that nothing was flown "without pax".

Another occasion, just after Lockerbie, I was with my kids on a Pan-Am (is it me? - another airline that is no more!) returning from Athens and our bags got left behind during a transit at Frankfurt (due to confusion that was partly my own fault). Bags arrived at various times over the next couple of days. I was told by PanAm that they put these "rush" bags through a depressurisation and bags get a random number of cycles of time and depressurisations.

I have been on a flight (BIA - also "aviation history"!!) from LGW to one of the Channel Isles when the "early" flight was delayed until almost the departure time of the later flight, and my bag was on the following aircraft, and a Gulf Air (still around!!!) when a flight was cancelled, pax split between two other routes, and the bags took a different route to me.

In the first 2 cases, the failure of pax to fly was, or could have been, premeditated - hence the offload. In the BIA and GF cases, there was no way that I could have known this would happen. IMHO, that is how it should be. Spork could have intentionally missed his connection,and (again IMHO) I think CO were irresponsible if they allowed his bags to travel without him.

(and I think the 40 quid "fine" for not collecting them from the carousel is well OTT)

Good luck with the claim mate!