[Anonymous]

[ABell86]

Has BA resolved the problem of Delayed /Lost Baggage at Terminal 5 yet?

I have Flight into T5 and out of T3 to Lisbon.

Is it worth the risk or is it better to collect Baggage at T5 LHR and check it in at T3 ?

Many thanks for any reply

Bell

[Flagflier]

Apart from the initial teething problems during the opening of T5, I wasn’t aware of any major issues. I’m sure someone will be quick enough to correct me if I’m wrong.
I make the connection from T5 to T3 on a regular basis from Germany to the Far East and Australia and have never had any problems. Through check in all the way! Defeats the object of booking with a full network carrier if you collect at T5. As with any airline, the chances of your luggage not turning up at T5 is just as high if you check them all the way through, and if that does happen, both you and your luggage run the risk of missing your onward flight!

[Potakas]

There are no problems, everything works fine. Last 12 months I had over 25 connections via LHR T5, only once I had my luggage delayed for 1 hour.

[FrequentTraveller]

They can’t even get the baggage system at T5 to work for journeys which start at London T5, let alone connections.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/discussion/topic/T5-xmas-eve-baggage-belt-broken

[Flagflier]

FrequentTraveller, on occasions things do go wrong, at any airport. Lets be realistic.
There’s only one sure way to guarantee your bags arrive with you at you final destination with ANY airline, and that’s to take handluggage only.
ABell86, check your bags right the way through to LIS and put your feet up and forget about them.

Worry about them when there IS something to worry about!

[Binman62]

Have o agree with FrequentTtraveller. BA baggage handling at T5 is still woeful in my experince. Transit of 4 hours T5 to T3 and not one of our 4 bags made the connection. Worse was that noone bothered to say a word either in LHR or in SIN or in Perth. The first we knew was when after 80mins of waiting at the belt the bags stopped arriving.
More recently flight to Edinburgh and 1 of the 3 bags failed to be loaded despite checking in 90 mins before departure.
Poor baggage handling remians an issue for BA and for anyone in transit.

[Flagflier]

Binman62, one would have thought you’d have learned your lesson by now and gone with another “more reliable” carrier.

[MartynSinclair]

Unusually I am travelling with checked baggage to the USA next week, with an internal connection on BA/AA at DFW, from T5 Heathrow.

BA confirmed my bags and golf clubs will be checked through to my final destination. Where/how will my checked bags be cleared by customs and will there be a need to ID them at my port of entry in the States?

Nothing is made easy in the USA and when BA say that there is no need to worry, quite naturally, I worry!!

Any clues………?

[Surreyson]

You’ll need to pick them up off the belt in DFW, walk them thru customs and then drop them off at the transfer belt just past customs.

Incidentally, pretty sure that BA now has the best baggage performance of all EU carriers now….

[MartynSinclair]

Many thanks Surreyson – so with a tight connection of 1 hour 30 along with immigration, baggage delivery, transfer to another terminal and additional security lines, the chances of being able to dash through the system are probably 50/50.

Thank goodness I have a through ticket.

[Surreyson]

I think 1hr 30 is the min connex time at DFW from INT-DOM so you should be fine. Just make sure you get off the 747 sharpish!

[IanFromHKG]

Just to elaborate on what Surreyson said and answer your question more fully, Martyn – the bags will be tagged through to your final destination but you have to collect them at your first point of entry to the U.S., do the usual clearance, and then you just drop them off again (in DFW this is not at a check-in desk, you just leave them with a pile of other bags in a corridor – so no security risk there, then!) immediately thereafter and go to your onward gate. Not particularly painful apart from the appalling queues…

As you may have gathered, I have done the DFW transfer myself (earlier this year). Procedurally simple, as I said, but in practice – What a nightmare. Don’t want to scare you, Martyn, but I had a connection time of 2 hours 25 minutes and I made it – running – with only ten minutes to spare. I suspect I may have been unlucky with terminal changes (although since I was also BA-AA you may well face the same issue) and a busy time at the airport (my arrival time, incidentally, was 14:45 on BA193) since the queue to get out of the baggage hall and through customs was just that – a queue even to get out of the baggage hall. My advice is to be shameless about queue-barging on the basis of needing to make your onward connection (much as I hate other people doing that when I am in queues myself)

Good luck!

[MartynSinclair]

Many thanks HongKongIan. I am currently sat in the BA lounge at Heathrow, waiting for ………………….. yes BA 193. Following your mail, I have just asked for my connection to be moved to a later flight.

Thanks for calming my nerves – at least I now know what to expect. If I havent checked back in within 18 hours, please send a search party.

[IanFromHKG]

That’s probably a safer approach, Martyn! I hope you have a better experience than I did and perhaps get a chance to enjoy the lounge in DFW (not that it’s up to much, and you are only allowed one drink…)

Happy travelling!

Ian

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