Came home from a long haul yesterday afternoon. We had to wait 50 mins for bags to arrive due to some problem with getting the lugguage hold doors open.

When our bags did arrive (one of the first as they were tagged priority) they were both quite wet on the top side. It hadn't been raining when we landed, but after being in T5 bag collection for a while it may have since we arrived. It had also been raining heavy at our departure point.

As the bags just looked wet, and because of the time we'd been waiting, we just headed out to the HEX. While travelling the bags started to dry and you could see rings of dirt forming. It looked as iff the bags had been placed top down into puddles or something had leaked onto them.

Getting home I opened the cases and found that water, or something else, had leaked in. I had a white shirt that had a wet muddy brown patch on it. This was under where the two zips joined. Having put this in the wash, most of the stain came out, but there is one part still visible. I'll put it in the wash again with more stain remover, but I'm not hopeful.

I've taken photos of the cases and shirt, but should I have gone to baggage services at the time? I had thought about it, but at that point in time they just looked like wet bags. I had a brief look at the lugguage claim form on BA.com and it seems I have 7 days to put a claim in, but I'm not sure what I'd put it in for if - loss of shirt? Having to clean my bags? (I am letting them dry out overnight).