Originally Posted by
bealine
The computer system tells the gate staff which bags have been "seen" and "authorised" for loading on to the flight. It does not tell them if a bag has made it in reality.
There are various reasons why bags fail to make the flight and, thanks to historical events, we are not allowed to ship them onwards until after you have arrived at your destination and reported your bag(s) as missing. Once they are reported, loading them as "Rush" on another flight and repatriating them is quick.Frustrating as it may be, reliability of passenger baggage loading is a whole lot better than it was when I first joined BA.
Appreciate your answer regarding what agents can see in the baggage system. But I'm not sure your statement I bolded is always correct, especially when you travel on from the flight your bags weren't on. On a recent flight to Mexico the agent told me very happily (almost proudly) that everything would be ok senor, my bag would be on the next flight to Mexico - two days later. The amount of hassle I had to go through to get my bag to the place I was headed for was enormous.