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About LinkBacksYeah featured on the front of Digg.com which is pretty impressive. Good luck with the bag though, I think we've all been a victim of losing stuff expensive and/or valueable to us at some point so I know something of what it feels like.
Yeah featured on the front of Digg.com which is pretty impressive
i used to work for BA - in the engineering side not CS or baggage- they always had a pretty mean attitude streak from the cabin crew - pretty much militant staff in some areas
Air France are also great fun, I flew to Japan and my bag did not make it, I had to make do with buying new items whislt out there - bag finally turned up on the day I was leaving although it was wrapped in a plastic bag and soaking wet - gone moudly too
French baggage handlers has left it out on the tarmac in a pile of other bags for 2 weeks in the rain - not impressed!
I like how the Digg solution to avoiding something like this is putting it in carry on and not checking it in. Clearly well travelled peoples.
Sometimes, this is actually an option - though not, I hasten to add, if you're flying to/from the US or UK.Originally Posted by Tarffie
Last year I flew from Germany (Frankfurt) - I live in Düsseldorf - to Johannesburg, South Africa. I was allowed to bring tons of stuff on board (as much as I could carry, in fact) - just as long as it could fit in a locker, everything was okay. Flight went well, I got my hold baggage back - eventually, after a 2-hour wait (this WAS Johannesburg) - but I had a couple of changes of clothes on my person anyway, just in case. Not to mention my camera and anything else I deemed of value. Sometimes you just can't trust baggage handlers (the airport made a lot of money selling "security packing" for paranoid travellers' bags, for the return journey - to protect against baggage handlers getting to them).
Not every country has stupid restrictions on hand baggage, though. Just the US and UK, it seems - because neither country realises the importance of keeping your nose out of the business of other countries. Anyone else intelligent enough to keep their noses out of Iraq (and anywhere else) still enjoys the basic freedoms you used to have - such as luggage lockers in railway stations, for example. Or rubbish bins in public places. Need I go on?
The US and UK do not make up the majority of destinations for world travellers. There are plenty of people out there who have no need or desire to travel to either country (and therefore, do not have to face any of your silly restrictions).
I've only had my bags lost once- that was pretty painful, and on the way out to a trade-show too...
reams of product literature, demo software cd's, shirts, ties, spare suit and all my casual clothes.
Luckily I was wearing a suit, staying in a decent hotel in Amsterdam, where the very nice concierge sent out of jeans and business shirts for me. At least I still had my laptop and I was wearing a suit for meetings!
Bags arrived after 6 days, the day before we flew back - after sitting on the tarmac at Heathrow the whole time.
Guess the carrier - that's right - BA!
My bags weren't lost, just delayed flying into Nice for another show, they arrived 6 hours later, but other people on the same flight, with the same connecting flight from NZ lost their bags for the whole week. It's a pretty major trade-show, but given we were booked code-share from NZ via Qantas - our bags were apparently less of a priority so were dropped from the flight.
Touch wood, I've flown 40-50 times this year without losing a single bag, but then I've left about 10 books in hotel rooms, 2x suit trousers, about 2-3 ties, 2 shirts at hotel laundry services, 2x 60gb usb hard drives, 10x 2gb usb thumb drives, a rental car at the wrong airport (not my fault - I was told that I had to fly to bergen from oslo rather than going back to london) and fell asleep in a client's offices because I was too tired to drive to a hotel around the corner!
Hey Nick, unfortunately just right the bag off unless you were 'sentimentally attached' to the large blue sports bag of yours! I was 'sentimentally attached' to a green suitcase which I got about two weeks later in good condition. A BA van parked outside and dropped it off with my brother. When I got back from work I was pleased but my brother gave me a disapproving look. There was no lock on the bag and I found the contents of the bag rummaged through with a BA note saying the bag was checked for security purposes! Hang on a minute - at no point was I given any information that this would happen to luggage stored in the rear, sure with the hand luggage ok because your present and you take off the lock and put it back on. They even left the original lock broken in one of the side pockets of the suitcase - they opened my belongings, broke my lock (damaged my goods) and didn't bother to give a replacement. The locks aren't cheap as they used to be! Thankfully nothing was missing but it was just a pile of mess, now if i had anything valuable stolen or 'missing' then I don't know what I would do - there was no forewarning. BA in must be terrible to their staff and it shows, your bag is probably been 'picked' by BA bag handlers in 'compensation' for BA's lack of respect for them because if two out of three bags were picked up at Heathrow then someone's pilfered it at Heathrow. Whats worrying is that there's no record of your bags! I suggest in future that when you check in make sure they have logged it onto the system and try and get some assurance out of them.
Very interesting read.
The scary thing is that there has been legislation in placed brought about by the Lockerby crash that should mean that none of your bags should have traveled to the UK.
The AAA states that no bag can travel unaccompanied and it the responsibility of the CAA "appointed person" to insure that the bag count is correct.
I was an "appointed person" for 2 years at Liverpool, the system in use was what we called "bingo cards" basically each bag tag has 3 stickers, the first goes on to your boarding pass, the second on a checking sheet and the third is left on and the bag sent through to the loaders. The loaders the take the last sticker and attach that to there own card.
100 bags in, 100 stickers in CS 100 on the loaders, everyone happy. However if there is a discrepancy, actually only if the bags are over the airline don’t care up to 10 bags under, the two sets of cards can be compared to find the problem. If the cards are ok or we cant see the problem its on to the bag ID. All the bags come off, and every passenger points out their bag till the extra one is found or all bags or accounted for.
The Liverpool system is the most basic one permitted, and I would have thought that BA would have the computerized system installed, with barcodes and stuff. Much more efficient and safer
The fact that the handling agent in Taipei aloud the first to depart with your phantom bags they have no record of is a serious worry, and im sure the CAA, or the FAA or the local air authority would love to hear about this.
As for your lost language don’t lose hope just yet, every lost bag, that isn't nicked by some light fingered scaly, in Europe makes its way to a mass sorting station in Italy where it is logged and entered in to here computers.
Nice of Nick to characterise Richard Goodfellow as a good fellow...
...but, given that Goodfellow promised on a stack of bibles that he would help...
...and he has obviously not helped...
...maybe we need to think about cross-referencing him under 'toe rag', 'liar' and 'useless'
.
.
I kept 6 trusted serving men, they taught me all I knew.
There names were what and where and why and how and when and who.
(I also had the HEXUS forums on speed dial just in case)
No, no no, Mr Bania, Richard is a very nice chap.
So nice that he has called me twice today to update me on what was happening.
To be honest, the guy's a gem.
Last edited by Nick; 20-06-2007 at 06:09 PM.
Where is our update then sir?
In his case.Where is our update then sir?
You owe it to yourself to click here really.
Thats fair enough Nick, but its fairly easy to be the nice guy and try and do something about a problem once every couple of years when something gets escalated to you. This whole scenario has been highlighted simply because they have lost the bags of someone (ie: you) who is in a position to publicise it heavily in an immediate medium (ie : the internet).
My brother flew home for christmas once, several years ago, bringing presents as is his wont. He arrived on Christmas Eve, his bags appeared on Christmas day, delivered by a courier who shot off as soon as he had handed the bags over. The bags were opened and his gifts to us and several expensive aftershaves were missing. Now, i don't know the airline involved, but i do know it took months for my brother to get any compensation at all.
The lack of service from BA is completely abominable, the fact that noone was able to take your call for several hours is completely unacceptable.
I do sincerely hope that Mr B.Richard is genuinely a nice guy, and is helping you out simply because he is in a position to do so, and not just to curb the bad press that BA is receiving over this incident. If he recovers your bag (and possibly others) in an unusual situation (ie, it fell off the plane during take off, it was mistaken for a bomb, it was captured by a diminutive race known as *the borrowers* who used it as a giant theme park) then fair enough and alls well, possibly even some good press about BA and how they handled this. On the other hand, if the bag is never recovered, or if the bag has been stolen by a BA emploiyee or even simply lost, then this is pretty much unacceptable and strong measures have to be put in place by BA.
Any package sent by a reputable courier can be traced by a simple code system, and even if a parcel is stolen, they can trace where it was last scanned, surely BA should have similar measures in place.
We're only here for the Banter - The Luvvies - Chewin' The Fat
Violence and Lubrication is the solution to fixing everything, if it still doesn't work, you need more lubrication.
Sorry, there's a typo in my reply... I meant, "Mr.B, Richard", as in I was calling Bania Mr B.... Richard is just Richard.
And yes, the article is now updated with the latest news... news which, for those following the story, is much as they'd might expect...
Nick,
having spent 12 years in Hong Kong and done a fair bit of travelling whilst there, I can tell you from what I have seen the baggage staff are actually efficient. It really is one of the busiest airports around, and they have 5 flights a night which leave for Heathrow. I'd give an estimated time of 2 days for your baggage to arrive from Hong Kong to your doorstep (assuming a courier is sent to deliver your baggage).
Keep us updated on the story
ul nick seems to be a real f up by BA who tbh are pretty known for messing people about so all i can say is GL lol.
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