[Shaddow]

Hi All,

Approximatelly 1 year ago I travelled with my partner via Heathrow to Europe with British Airways.
Our holiday was for 30 days, of which BA managed to lose our baggage and did not get it to us until 21 days after arrival.
Now, because we travelled over the x-mas break to visit family, all our personal items + gifts were in the baggage.
10 days before departure back to Australia, we got our bags ( beginning of January).

After several complaints falling on deaf ears, we spoke to BA directly at Heathrow and they appologised and said we should put in a compensation claim that would be paid for the inconvenience caused. Essentially we had to buy new clothing for the period of 20 days without luggage and essentials. At that point, we did not even know if the bags were going to be seen again.
After saving up for about two years and preparing to go oversees for just as long, and spending about $6000 on tickets and $1000's on other items for travel, all was ruined.

It is now almost a year since it occurred and BA are still playing the email ping-pong and asking for details of this and details of that, even though a detailed summary was sent with a breakdown of expenses and currency conversions.
Mind you, we were very modest with the expenses list, considering we had no luggage for over 20 daysof a 30day holiday.

Does anyone have any suggestions?? I thought of passing it to the media, but was not sure how or whether it is too minor for them.

[mochachocolate]

You may be interested in reading this article, a similar experience: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...013414,00.html

By the way, didn't you have travel insurance?

[valkay8]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience and wish I could offer any useful suggestions. I thought I could take advantage of a 6 hour layover in Heathrow to get help with a complaint but not one customer service agent could tell me who is the VP for customer service or customer relations. i don't think airlines realize how inconvenient it is when they lose a bag. In my case, my bag was stolen at Heathrow on a flight to Madrid, and I lost all of my Christmas gifts that I had spent hours and hours carefully selecting for my in-laws and nieces. I only see my husband for a few weeks every 2 or 3 months and had to waste precious time together shopping for essentials. My mother-in-law accidentally shrunk my only pants, and shopping for pants in Spain for another above a size 6 or 8 is a nightmare. I had to attend the formal Christmas Eve dinner in tight jeans because my perfect outfit was stolen! Three months later my claim still hasn't been resolved to my satisfaction, and my customer service contact takes up to two weeks or more to respond to any inquiry. They asked for the same information multiple times, and when I sent it through certified mail they claimed they never received it even though I had documentation showing exactly what day and time it was delivered to their PO box. BA has a ridiculous policy that it won't pay for jewelry, so I didn't get reimbursed for a children's jewelry making kit. It's absurd! They should say they won't replace anything over $300 or $400, but there's no reason not to pay for jewelry that was worth less that my ski pants and gortex jacket that were stolen. (another point, I had to cancel my ski plans due to the stollen bag). It's maddening that BA tells me I should have insured my items when they have their own insurance. Plus, every time I buy a flight with them I pay money towards lost bag claims. The one time I need to collect I can't recuperate the cost of my stolen items, let alone get compensation for the pain and hassle caused. I think BA has great service if you fly first class, but I wonder if they don't go out of their way to make the claim process for regular economy customers as tedious as possible in order to ware us down until we give up.