[canucklad]

Ok, maybe system is wrong , change system for process !

[KarlMarx]

Ian from HKG

Re seeing a pattern – you might wish to read this link, it is short

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Clustering_illusion

Canucklad

What process does BA use and how is it different to the other airlines?

At the risk of being repetitive, BA have total control of how they deal with the aftermath of misplaced bags, but I am not clear on how the airline can influence the misplacement in the first place.

If BA does use a different system to the other airlines, then you may have a case, but I do not know if this is true, I thought airports/terminals were pretty generic in this respect.

[canucklad]

Hi KM, I’m in agreement with you that BA are dependent on how sophisticated individual airports baggage handling systems are, and that there has to be a high degree of trust/expectation of SLA’s between BA & in the case of Ian, Aeroports de Paris, and specifically who actually handles BA bags at CDG?

If BA pays someone else to carry out the process of expediting baggage to their ultimate destination. then as soon as BA pays to outsource the baggage handling, by proxy they own the process, not CDG !

Back to the point about randomness and probability, i like Gary Players take on it…… The more I practice the luckier I become : )

[AnthonyDunn]

In an earlier life, when things were a lot more manual, I saw just how easily bags could and would go adrift when interlining. All it took was a disinterested “couldn’t give a toss” baggage loader to put the bag on the wrong belt. However, with the baggage tag recognition technology employed by modern automated baggage systems, I am more than a little bemused at Ian’s recent experiences. I would add that with interlining bags, it takes two to tango: there is a sending and a receiving carrier and it is far from clear where the blame lies albeit that the receiving carrier is normally the one left to cop the blame and sort out the mess.

Ian’s recent experiences have been well outwith the normal/standard distribution of such occurrences. Having (touch wood) only once had BA fail to deliver a bag in some 35 years – and the delivery was only delayed because of yet another Gibraltar/Spain frontier spat – I am hoping that I am not due another instance with my forthcoming itinerary to Ulaanbaatar etc.

[IanFromHKG]

Karl, I take your point about the clustering illusion. I also take (although I don’t pretend to understand) the points about probability distributions. However, all these approaches presume that the occurrence of lost or delayed baggage is purely random. Perhaps an alternative theorem is that BA are just worse then other airlines at short-haul baggage handling? I am not saying that is necessarily the case, but it is certainly a viable hypothesis, particularly when one bears in mind that, as Anthony points out, the ability to track a bag through the system certainly exists. When I called CX as the originating carrier to enquire, they were able to call back within an hour and confirm that the bag was in fact on the flight with the memsahib. On each occasion – with one exception which I will come to in a moment – BA have, when questioned as to the bag’s whereabouts on each of these four occasions, professed that they have no idea where it is. Remember that although on two of the flights the bags were transferred from CX, on the other two BA was the only carrier involved – a situation directly analogous to the Memsahib’s initial flight with CX. If Cathay can confirm that quickly that a bag was in fact loaded and travelled on a particular flight, why can’t BA do the same?

Which brings me on to the exception I mentioned above. BA texted the Memsahib this morning to say that the bag was being delivered. They went on to say (and this is where it all breaks down) on CX261 on 19 May. Which is… er… the flight she took to CDG two days ago, before the bag should have gone on to the BA flight. So it has taken them all this time to confirm what we already knew, which is that CX did their job in delivering the bag to Paris. Other than this, BA still seem to be utterly clueless as to the bag’s whereabouts.

And so I return to my earlier point. It is just possible that – although we are undoubtedly being very unlucky – BA are operating a sub-standard system (or process!) for handling bags on short-haul. They are certainly – at least in my own opinion – operating a sub-standard system/process for dealing with passengers whose bags they have lost

[KarlMarx]

Ian from HKG

One thing is for sure, BA seem to throwing fuel onto the fire, by the after event management.

I do understand your frustration and would feel the same way if I was on the receiving end.

[IanFromHKG]

BA are just starting some semblance of service recovery, having texted the memsahib to say that they have now found the bag and it is in Heathrow. Unfortunately she has shut up the house now and is en route to Kent, where she has just one more night in the UK before flying home. Since most of the contents were destined for the house, and she can’t get back there in the time available, we are having to have it delivered to the Offsprings’ school for safekeeping, which only causes further inconvenience because on our next trip she will have to go via the school and pick it up – which probably means hiring a bigger car since it would have been full anyway.

All very vexing. If BA spent as much money improving the system as they have to pay out in claims for delays I can’t help thinking we would be a lot happier. With the new clothes and suitcase the Memsahib has had to buy this trip, we as a family will have relieved the shareholders of somewhere in the region of a thousand quid in the last six months just for mislaid bags. Which reminds me, I need to claim another 1,200 euros from them for the Offsprings’ delayed flight home for Easter… 😉

[canucklad]

Very vexing indeed, and on a personal note I’m just glad that my prophecy of Thiefrow doom and gloom has not come to pass and at least they’ve managed at long last to hunt down the wayward bag.

Maybe a more efficient way of BA managing lost luggage is to use this system/ process…. Lol

http://www.nationalpolicedogfoundation.org/images/police_dogs/casey.jpg

[oasis1221]

Over the last 5 months , I had BA loose my luggage twice flying business class from the US to Istanbul.
Both times the bags get stranded at Heathrow even though they get to have the special tag for business class; PRIORITY.
Flying westbound to the US, the bags always arrive late after many economy class passengers retrieve their luggage and walk out.
At LAX and JFK, after an average wait for 20 minutes at the passport control, one still has to wait for additional 20-30 minutes and another 10-15 minutes before custom clearance.

[oldchinahand]

Do contributors consider that there is any correlation between the class travelled and the likelihood of a lost bag.
Clearly there is correlation between the airline traveled and the likelihood of a bag going astray but in 40 years and several hundred flights with Cathay in 1st or Business they have never misplaced a bag but in thirty or so flights in Economy my bags have been misplaced twice. Three short trips with Alitalia in Economy and bag lost 3 times!

[SimonS1]

Well 80% of the time I travel economy, probably 30 flights a year, but the only times by bags have gone missing were on a CE flight from AMS to LGW and on a BMI flight from LHR to JED. The latter was a pain as they were only flying the route 3x a week and I had to go to the airport to collect it.

Overall though I would say I was lucky, I am generally surprised more bags don’t go missing bearing in mind the volumes through major hubs and the poor condition of many bags.

[IanFromHKG]

The latest development on this is that BA are refusing the Memsahib’s claims (a) for expenses incurred after the bag was “returned” on 20 May even though (as explained in my post above and as explained to BA at the time) she had already left the house, was providing the school address as a place where the bag could be left until we were next in the UK, and still had to buy stuff because she was en route without access to the bag, and (b) for the new suitcase she had to buy (i) because she needed something to hold the stuff she had to purchase while without her luggage and (ii) would have had to purchase in any event because BA damaged the (hard-shell and therefore irreparable) bag anyway.

AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

EDITED TO ADD
BA got the date wrong anyway, as the bag was actually delivered late on 21 May

[canucklad]

Evening Ian and sorry to hear about your ongoing fight with BA.

I’m going to suggest a slightly different take on oldchinahand’s conjecture about premium v economy a couple of posts ago. I wonder if BA would be behaving in such an obstinate manner if your status was with them, rather than a carrier that BA possibly eyes with jealousy rather than its Oneworld partner airline.

Have you thought of escalating your issues with BA to the top of the Oneworld tree, at the same time,cc’ing your letter to Willie Walsh !

[IanFromHKG]

Well, after much persistence, BA have finally caved, marking two victories in one weekend (details of the other one at http://www.businesstraveller.com/discussion/topic/Where-can-I-find-historical-ATC-data-for-Heathrow)

If only BA put as much effort into service recovery (or even, dare I say it, into avoiding screw-ups in the first place) as they do into trying to dodge compensation claims.

To Fly. To Screw Up. To Screw Over The Customers.

While I am glad we have emerged victorious, it all leaves a very nasty taste in the mouth, frankly…

[canucklad]

Happy that you got there eventually Ian. Just a shame that BA chose to make the journey a turbulent one.

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