Lost Baggage - what are the chances of recovery?

[Nachtling]

My baggage was lost during my flight through Brussels-Heathrow-Sydney-Christchurch (the LHR-Sydney flight had a stopover in Bangkok). I flew with BA, althought the last leg was a chartered flight on Qantas. It has now been five days and I'm wondering if I should keep waiting for it to appear, or just ditch all hope and begin buying new clothes?
I know that LHR is pretty much a disaster right now in terms of lost baggage, so the delay in finding it probably comes from there. Still, any advice on the subject would be appreciated.

[PAXboy]

It's not neccessarily the LHR change that will have been the problem. (and I as ready to criticise my local field as anyone!)

Your journey had two changes of aircraft (LHR + SYD) and the stop in BKK, the maths are simple!!

After five days? If it's tag was torn off (accidentally or on purpose) then it's a goner. I wouldn't wait any longer. Make sure that you have the correct forms from the carrier/agency with whom you booked the ticket and the reference numbers they gave you when you first reported the bag missing.

[Newforest]

Last Sunday, my son and family flew, BA, from PHX-LHR-STR. Result, two bags missing out of a total of four. One lost bag arrived at the hotel 36 hours later and the other 48 hours later. Two bags were damaged, wheels missing. There were about 14 passengers at STR looking for lost luggage. You may recall last January, CNN showing the corridor at LHR with hundreds of missing bags awaiting reunification with their owners. What is happening ay LHR/BA???

[HZ123]

It could be one sitting amongst thousands stuck at LHR at this time. Your chances of repatriation are not good. There are no excuses it is merely that T4 and the rest of LHR is a dump operating 40% more flights than it is capable of doing properly and the opening of T5 will do little to solve these problems. The Uk has no transport plans and this is the culmination of decades of inadequate investment. Please accept my apologies.

[apaddyinuk]

Come on guys, dont be so pessimistic!

As some one who used to be very skilled in the art of tracing luggage thanks to a previous employers status as host of the World Tracer system which is used by BA/QF I can safely say that although 5 days is a long time to be without your bags, it is still early days.

If the coded label has come off then indeed there will be a significant delay. However if you have your own name tags on the outside of the case then worry not. I always recommend that you place two tags with your name and address on the outside (one on the handle and perhaps a sticker on the top too) and a card inside the case.

If it is a situation that you do not have a label on the outside then I suggest you get onto the phone ASAP to whichever agent ( I am assuming Qantas in Christchurch) and provide them with a list of what exactly was in your bag...do not make up stories about a Carravagio painting and the keys for your Ferrari...because if they do not find a bag (even if it is yours) with these items you will not get it back!!! Provide as much detail as you remember right down to whether a shirt had a distinguishable stain or something!!!! Every persons suitcase is bound to have something personally unique.

Yes LHR is a mess of an airport especially when it comes to lost luggage, the airport is just so bloody dated that it cannot cope and BA's (yes the airline I work for I dread to say) focus on being fit for 5 instead of being fit for what we currently have is not doing anything to help. However the World Tracer system, although fantastic is only as good as the people who are using it and inputting the details at the location where the bag is! If it is sitting in a massive warehouse somewhere waiting to be processed then it is not until that bag has been physically picked up and details inputted into the computer that anything will be known. So therefore if it is sitting in a pile at LHR then it could be a few more days before any trace comes through! I have seen it myself many times! Also keep in mind that with the current chaos in the UK following the Glasgow terrorist attack it could take even longer!

So dont be too worried just yet! Just be patient and accept that it will not be with you in the immediate few days and make sure you are aware of your rights as a consumer on this one.

Good luck and keep me posted!

P.S...If you were silly enough to leave your digital camera in the case....a brilliant thing to do is to describe to the agent the photos that are on it

[ISO100]

I have heard today of specific cases where the worlds favourite has lost passengers bags this weekend in all the chaos. Their comments to passengers in club and first “ we don’t know where your bags are so just don’t bother calling back”.

Information from good sources (ie tour operators at the luxury end who have had clients travelling to LHR to South Africa this weekend.)

[PAXboy]

Many thanks to apaddyinuk as that gives a good perspective on the size of the problem and the speed with which the problem is usually dealt with.

[Out Of Trim]

Nachtling

A couple of points worth noting. What amount of connection time did you have between flights at LHR? If less than 90 mins; it could well be still at LHR.

However, If it made it to SYD OK. Did you stop to try and collect it in SYD? I note you said that the last leg was a Charter Flight with Qantas; well, usually a checked bag cannot be transferred between a scheduled flight and a charter flight. So did BRU check your bag right through to SYD or incorrectly right through to Christchurch?

So it could be sitting unclaimed at SYD with BA or Qantas.

I take it you have filed a Missing Baggage report in Christchurch!

[apaddyinuk]

Just for the record, I came through LHR yesterday morning after landing from HKG and I must admit, it resembled a refugee camp. The place is chaos following the other evenings security scare and apparently there are plane loads of bags mounting up from the cancelled flights meaning that it may take even longer to trace your luggage. Just be patient and sure....spend spend spend...Im sure you are entitled to some "interim provision" payments! lol!

[PAXboy]

Heathrow hit by baggage backlog
A backlog of thousands of bags has built up at Heathrow Airport following the recent terror alerts.

Extra security checks were introduced after the suspected failed car bombings in London and Glasgow, and Terminal 4 was closed by a suspect package. Heavy rain which delayed some flights has also added to the luggage mountain.

The article continues ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6279838.stm

[Nachtling]

Thanks very much for all your input.

My bag did arrive eventually, CHC phoned me one morning out of the blue saying 'your baggage is here, we're delivering it to your house now'.

I actually had 3-4 hours between by arrival in Heathrow and my departure for Sydney (which was, additionally, an hour late). So unless it was mishandled, I can't imagine how it failed to get on the plane.

The issue of transferring the baggae in Sydney was raised at check-in, however after a minute the lady said there should be no problem :rolleyes:

I'm wondering if for my return flight, I should use a more conspicuous baggage (ie. bright pink or with polka dots) to make it easier to find... or perhaps choose to check out/check back in at every transfer? I have 3 hours of stopover everytime so should be enough to do this.

[HZ123]

Good news. Three to four hours often is not enough as all the transfer facilities are jammed with bags that have been here for days. I arrived this morning from TXL and could see a complete aircraft stand with about 40 wessex open trailers full of bags plus two artics. On Friday my bags did not out turn at TXL but by some fluke arrived on Saturday.

[Curious Pax]

Rather than go to the expense of new cases why not purchase a couple of those luminous coloured straps that go round the outside, and write your surname on it in marker pen. That should help if spotting it in a large pile is needed later - and if you're lucky sod's law will kick in and it'll never be lost again, making you wish you'd not bothered!

[Nachtling]

Cost is not an issue, a friend of mine has a bright pink suitcase (bordering on fuschia) that they're willing to sell over for a few bucks.

I'm more wondering about the check-out/check-in issue though. I think I will ask to retrieve my baggage at every transfer. At least that way, if I get to LHR and it's not there, I know for certain it's in Sydney (does this make any sense...?)

[Blind]

Nachtling
My suitcase is bright pink and it's been lost at LHR twice this YEAR for 3 days and now it's missing for 8 days presumed permanent. If you attempt to phone BA they have a recorded message which says phone back later due to extreme quantity of calls.

I'm beginning to thinks those butch handlers don't want to be seen with a pink bag.

This weekends Financial Times had an article that said LHR had 20,000!!!!! bags that were homeless.

Crazy stuff considering my bag got lost on the Glasgow burning car day so security was meant to be increased.

[PAXboy]

Rather than start a new thread, this seems like the place to report a trial that I have read about in a technical site that I follow.

RFID luggage-tracking lands at Heathrow

A pilot is due in September...
By Tim Ferguson ([email protected])
Published: Monday 9 July 2007
http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,39024665,39167783,00.htm
(http://management.silicon.com/itdirector/0,39024673,39156524,00.htm)

Heathrow Airport is to trial RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) technology to track luggage as it moves around the airport as it aims to reduce the amount of bags that get lost in the system.


Heathrow will become the largest airport in Europe to trial the tech for this purpose when the pilot begins in September. The British Airport Authority (BAA) will install the infrastructure on selected check-in desks around the airport.Bags will be fitted with RFID tags when they are checked in before being scanned as they enter the baggage system.


BAA will use the trial to see how the system compares to the current system of barcode scanning in terms of keeping track of bags.


A BAA spokeswoman said: "This trial will allow us to compare the success rate of RFID technology against our existing system. We will then examine that insight to understand the benefits it offers."