Lost luggage – your experiences

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    Jenny Southan
    Participant

    Dear readers,

    I am researching a feature on lost luggage for Business Traveller and would be interested in hearing your experiences.

    When was the last time an airline misplaced you bag?

    Where were you, what happened, when did you get it back (if at all) and what compensation was available?

    In all your years of travelling, how often has an airline lost your suitcase?

    What have been your best/worst experiences with how this was dealt with?

    Many thanks,

    Jenny


    DavidSmith2
    Participant

    Jenny,

    I have flown something like 2500 flights in the last 25 years – most point to point but a few hundred with connections (mainly via Vienna).

    I think there have only been around 6 times where my baggage was misplaced and, on all occasions, it was eventually returned to me.

    Lost luggage has occurred at LHR and LGW, Vienna, Ljubljana, Sofia and Tirana,

    The most recent was a BA flight from LGW to Tirana in 2015 when I checked in (Club Europe) the night before for a morning flight. All 4 bags were not loaded the next morning. They arrived 2 days later on the next available BA flight. The BA office in Albania was very helpful and arranged for a taxi to deliver the bags to my house.

    I don’t have any really bad experiences to report. I have never applied for compensation although I was provided (by Austrian Airlines) with an ex gratia payment of 200 EUR on one occasion as I had to but a new set of clothes for a business meeting. That was many years ago though.


    SimonS1
    Participant

    I last lost my bag about 2 years ago travelling from Dubai to Muscat on Oman Air. The first leg of 4 countries in 5 days. Buying clothes in Muscat at 10pm is never easy, however I managed to find some underwear plus cheap and nasty shirts which I used once, laundered and gave to a charity shop.

    The Oman Air people at Muscat were useless (when you could get hold of them). In the end I was told the bag had been traced to Kuwait and in frustration one of the reps said they had sent several messages to the station manager in Kuwait who did not respond.

    The Oman Air people in London were more helpful – after 3 weeks they gave me a letter saying the bag was lost and I claimed on my travel insurance who paid up within 24 hours. The bag was never returned.

    Other than that there have only been 2 occasions when bags have gone missing – once on BA from Amsterdam and once on BMI going to Jeddah. In both cases they were delivered within a couple of days.


    icenspice
    Participant

    More than several times, Jenny, as I almost always fly with a connection.

    Fortunately, it has usually happened on a homebound flight. Having my bag delivered within 24 hours has never been a problem. I have never claimed compensation but absolutely refuse to go out to the airport to pick it up myself.

    Lost forever…never, although it would save me doing a wash!

    Point-to-point flights…never.


    MrMichael
    Participant

    Twice for me.

    Once was a BA flight to Barbados from LGW. Never saw the luggage again and insurance paid up promptly. BA were OK about it, not particularly helpful or unhelpful.

    The time before that was an internal Oz flight on Ansett from Brisbane to Sydney. It was a mid morning flight and a number of bags were apparently put on a Melbourne flight in error, however my bag was delivered to my Hotel in Sydney around 8pm the same evening. They also paid me some $ but I don’t recall how many. They were excellent with it and genuinely upset at the error.

    More of a problem for me is damaged luggage, I have had that more often than lost luggage. I found SAS & BA were excellent when I had an issue, BMI and Air Europe appallingly complacent. Strangely (or maybe not) damaged luggage in 75% of cases (excuse the pun) originated at the old Oslo Fornebu.

    Most of my travel nowadays is hand baggage only, so lost luggage (and yes I have!) is my own darn fault.

    Edited to add: the issues at Fornebu were pilfering from checked luggage, although I never had an issue from what was then known as Thiefrow.


    MrDarwin
    Participant

    Bags have gone missing 5 or so times I think., but always returned (eventually!).

    Best – saw on the US Air website that they had been delivered 2 hours later to the airport which was nearby to where I was staying so I just went back and picked it up.

    Worst – AF/KLM/AA adventure of delays and missed connections saw me travel from EDI to CDG to AMS to LHR to BOS in one day. My bag went missing between AMS and LHR, however it was returned 6 days later when left in the snow outside a house I was staying at some time between 2am and 6am. I was compensated through insurance for new clothes and sundries. Over the 6 days I was only able to speak to a real person once, and only because they mistakenly called me about another passenger’s lost bag.

    Funniest – flew from MEL to ADL on a 40 degree summer Sunday evening wearing shorts and a t shirt. Arrived in ADL sans baggage. An early start which I couldn’t delay meant having to go to work the next day in the same shorts and t shirt….. Thankfully everyone saw the funny side of it… I still use the amenity bag provided by QF today actually and that was over 10 years ago.


    JohnHarper
    Participant

    Only five times over thirty years.

    Once with Lufthansa on a tight connection at MUC, it turned up six hours later on the next flight.

    The other four times were on a MAD connection with Iberia, the only times I have used Iberia were those four occasions. Once it turned up two days later badly damaged with things missing and on the other three occasions it never turned up at all. Dealing with them was a nightmare on each occasion and I will never fly with them again.

    MrMichael – 02/06/2016 11:51 BST Ah, Ansett – there was an airline that understood service. I used to rate them the best in the world bar none.


    AllOverTheGaff
    Participant

    How interesting you should ask.

    I am currently in South America, with no case. Air France didn’t load if from CDG to LHR because they are Air France. I arrived at LHR T4 with an announcement over the tannoy to speak to the ground handlers who I now know as “Cobalt Ground Services”.

    From this point forward I would like to assure you that I am being 100% honest, in reading this very poor comedy sketch routine, you’d think I am embellishing or making up – I am not.

    I spoke to a charming lady named Emma who could not have been more helpful with the information she provided, she tried her best to get the bag on a TAM flight to Sao Paulo then to Asuncion, she gave me the flight numbers and said I should check at each leg of my journey. I was given a reference number and phone number for Cobalt as well as an AF website to go to.

    1) Cobalt never answer their phone
    2) Air France website only tells me what I already know about which route my bag is taking.

    I am told from my next port of call that the bag has now made it to London and that it will be loaded to Sao Paulo.

    My flight arrives 1 hour before the bag will arrive into Asuncion, so I go speak to TAM who tell me that yes, my bag is on board their plane and it will be here on the flight landing in around 40 minutes, but that I must wait until all passengers are off and have collected their baggage. I do so, and then am shown to a suitcase which is not mines. The lady showing me this bag insists it has my name on it, even though I’ve told her my name isn’t what is on the bag.

    I call Cobalt to again speak to their answering machine. I then go shopping for some tops, underwear, toiletries.

    I call Cobalt a further 3 times leaving messages on each occasion, and am sent an SMS from AF to tell me my bag has arrived into Asuncion on the flight I had waited for, clearly I know this is not the case. (pun intended) (you’re welcome)

    Cobalt called me this morning and left ME a v-mail (was in the shower) to explain that my bag has been “lost” between Terminal 4 and Terminal 3 at Heathrow and can I tell them what is in the case. I call back immediately – and get their answering machine.

    Right now, I have no idea where my bag is, or when it will arrive for my 2 week stay in South America. I will update in between leaving messages for a business which might even rival the airlines for ineptness and disdain for their customers.

    Just as I was about to hit “send” on this forum post, AF SMS’d me again with the following:

    “baggage item 123456 is currently being transported to your arrival airport LHR. We will contact you soon about delivery”

    Baglessly yours.
    AOTG.


    goldaviator
    Participant

    Only once (touch wood!) LHR – EZE during bad ice age a number of years ago. We were told thought when we boarded that no luggage was going to be loaded and we had the option to offload ourselves and rebook.

    Got to EZE, ground staff appalling at the airport and backs arrived 2 days later to our hotel.

    Flight tickets booked with BA Amex Premium card…..insurance was incredible, £750 EACH for first six hours of delayed bags and then another £1000 each for extended luggage delay. Suited us fine to do some shopping in EZE but pity the poor buggers who were connecting on without their bags to Tierra del Fuego for trip to Antartica!


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    In the last 40 odd years I must have made well over 5,000 flights and have only had my baggage lost/delayed on 4 occasions so guess I’m pretty lucky.

    AMS – CPH – Billund in 1986 with SAS
    Samples taken for a product demonstration lost on the CPH-Billund sector. never found and made my journey pointless. very badly handled with no compensation paid at all.

    DXB – CDG – ZRH with EK and Swissair
    Tight connection in Paris and bags (5 of them) never made in to the connecting flight. The number I was given was a recorded message telling me I’d be notified as soon as my bags were found. Two days later I found a number for Swissair at Zurich and after a good moan was promised my bags would be with me that evening with the Crossair flight. Except due to bad weather the flight was diverted to Milan and for customs reasons they had to go back to Zurich!

    Two more days later and a much stronger moan and the manager said they would send them to Lugano with a chauffeur. Arrive they did, but not in a car as I thought but a big van which was FULL with cases. Of course mine were all at the back so after some digging they were all retrieved.

    JNB – ZRH – MXP Dec 2009 with Swiss
    Checked in all our bags – 9 in total I recall, one of which was a box of 12 bottles of Roses lime juice cordial packed into a wine carton. It was just before Christmas and I think the baggage handlers thought they would have a great Christmas party as it never showed up. Imagine their disappointment! Another case with clothes failed to arrive as well and Swiss compensated us with just over CHF 1,500 which was more than fair and more than I expected.

    CPT-JNB-ZRH-MXP June 2011
    All our cases failed to arrive, but to complicate matters my two eldest kids were going on to AMS from Lugano the next day. To Swiss’s credit 48 hours later our cases were delivered to us in Lugano and the two cases of the eldest were sent on to AMS and delivered to their respective homes in Rotterdam and Leiden. I was quite impressed by that.

    Swiss gave my eldest a business class wash bag with the essentials which they were very happy with.

    All in all, while inconvenient at the time, and apart from the SAS one, it all worked out fine and we still dine out on the baggage handlers opening the wine case to find only cordial. I’d have loved to see their faces.

    The only advice I’d give is to write down which baggage label belongs to which case and get a proper phone number which you dial from the lost desk to make sure it works. If it’s just an answer machine get some other numbers then and there as after it will be almost impossible.


    PeterCoultas
    Participant

    AOTG – lovely story but not maybe the best result for you! Likewise LuganoP’s experiences with disappointed handlers “enjoying ” the cordial

    Only 3 occasions, two with UA into the USA from europe the only really annoying one on a ski trip and the other into UK from Russia. No one disastrous and the cases eventually turned up and all covered pretty well by the airlines concerned with expenses for immediate needs.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    This is going to sound smarmy – but its absolutely true…

    The last time I had “misplaced” luggage was a year ago in Miami when my case didn’t turn up on the baggage belt. The BA rep said it was likely to still be in London.

    I flipped open my computer went to my bag traker web site and pointed out it was a sitting in the baggage hall with the rest of the bags… The look on the BA agents face was priceless.

    Before I had the traker, the previous time was many years ago in Sweden when I was attending a conference. The worst feeling wasn’t necessary not having my case / clothes but nobody really being able to say where the case actually was and when we I would get it back. Going to a black tie event in jeans and a T shirt was novel, especially I was making a toast…

    Bags will continue to get lost, but the as the retail tracking technology gets better, the frustrations should reduce…


    GivingupBA
    Participant

    JennySouthan,

    Last time an airline misplaced my bags: BA, Amsterdam-Heathrow, summer 2015. 3 bags went missing for several hours: they all eventually turned up.

    Best experience, 1978, Aer Lingus, Dublin-Birmingham, 1 bag missing, returned to me at home 2 days later.

    Worst experience, Icelandair, Heathrow-New York JFK, 1990s, 1 bag lost [never to be seen again], airline eventually – months later – paid standard per kilo compensation [which wasn’t much money].

    Another bag, Ariana Afghan Airlines, London-Delhi, 1970s, 1 bag missing, returned 3 days later. Didn’t offer compensation for delay, and I had to go to the airport to pick up the bag.


    1nfrequent
    Participant

    I don’t travel as much as many of the people on this Forum (one or two long haul flights per year) so there’s only ever been one time when my case went missing. It was back in 2004 and I was flying HNL-SFO-CDG-LHR on Air France. The flight left LAX a couple of hours late, with the result that I made a tight connection at CDG by the skin of my teeth. My suitcase didn’t make it though (which wasn’t a surprise). Spoke to the AF agent at LHR, gave them my home address and it was delivered later that night by a chap. All perfectly acceptable and totally understandable in the circumstances.

    1F

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