Missing In Action
Okay so you've arrived and your Tumi/Zero Halliburton/Samsonite/LVMH etc hasn't, what do you do?
When you realise that your bag may not have arrived, advise the British Airways Customer Service desk, (usually situated in the baggage reclaim area) of this fact. A lost baggage report needs to be made up, detailing the make, model and colour of the baggage. You must have the baggage tag receipt, given to you when the bag was checked in in for the flight.
Then, a British Airways reference number will be given and a contact telephone number. BA will immediately commence to trace the bag(s) and when found they will attempt to contact you passenger by telephone.
If you have access to the internet, you can check on your bag search progress yourself. Simply goto the
World Tracer website
http://www.worldtracer.aero/filedsp/ba.htm and entering the baggage tracing reference number you were given.
The following terms may appear in reference to your bags.
"ITEM LOCATED. AIRLINE IS CONFIRMING."
This indicates that your item has been located but may not have arrived at the airport from which it was reported missing. Some possibilities include: - only some of the items have arrived, e.g. 1 of 2 pieces - an item which is a possible match has been located at another airport - another airport has updated the system to say they have located the luggage. In these instances, we advise that you re-check the status of the luggage in a couple of hours time.
"RECEIVED AT AIRPORT".
This indicates that the missing item(s) have been received at the airport from which they were reported missing. Please note that in some circumstances the item(s) may be in other local airports, e.g. items reported missing at London Heathrow arrive at London Gatwick. British Airways will now arrange delivery of the luggage using a local courier as soon as the luggage has passed through customs.
"DELIVERY PROCESS INITIATED".
This indicates that the item(s) have been processed for delivery by courier.
"RECEIVED AT AIRPORT/DELIVERY PROCESS INITIATED".
This indicates that the item(s) have been received at the airport from which they were reported missing and they have been processed for delivery by courier.
"PENDING. PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER"
This indicates that there is currently no further news and that the item(s) are still being tracked. Please do check back later as our systems are constantly updated. If the baggage is delayed and later delivered to your passenger but arrives damaged or with items missing, you have 21 days from date of delivery to make a written report to British Airways. If the bag is not recovered within 5 days, you should submit a written claim to the Baggage Claims Department indicating the contents of the bag along with the value of each item. In all cases, a bag is not considered lost until a minimum of 3 weeks has elapsed.