Flying from VVI to GRU last Thursday, BoA 738 went tech, creating a 2.45 hour delay, leaving my friend and I with only 15 minutes to race from T2 to T3 in order to make BA 246 to LHR. Thanks to an efficient GRU agent and the kind people who let us cut to the front of the connections security queue, we made it by the skin of our teeth.

Unfortunately, this meant leaving our hold luggage behind as there would have been absolutely no time to pick it up. Flying on an Amex 2-4-1 voucher in First, the superb CSD (WW but working her first long haul on an 18 month secondment) advised us to go straight to the First luggage desk at LHR with our BoA luggage receipts.

Reassuringly, the baggage tracer at the desk said that he could see our two bags in the system at GRU and they'd make sure to put them on the next day's GRU-LHR flight.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen yesterday nor today. The BA website has all the details of our bags but states that they are still trying to trace them.

Before anyone shoots me down in flames, I always knew it was a bit of a gamble not to pick up the luggage. However, for us, the risk of losing the BA flight and having to stay another night in GRU outweighed the benefits of waiting around. As always, all our valuables were in our hand luggage, which also helped inform our decision.

I would be really grateful for any advice. Although BA have made all the right noises, my concern is:

- It's not really BA's fault as it was not a connecting flight (I'd assumed a layover of 3 hours 20 would be enough - but hey ho)
- Hoping that our bags are still sitting in a corner of GRU airport, who's job would it be to put them on the BA flight? Is there someone who would normally do this, or is it outside of the normal remit?
- Now that I've informed the tracing agent at LHR, made sure all our bags' details are online and called BA again yesterday, is there anything else I should be doing? I was wondering if You First may be able to speed things along
- Has anyone had experience of doing this? I'm hoping we haven't voided our insurance (both private and through the BAPP card) by leaving our luggage behind.

I have learnt my lesson and would now spend a night at the perfectly nice Pullman Hotel close to GRU rather than relying on a connection with BoA. Out of interest, if we'd missed the BA flight, I assume they wouldn't have been obliged to put us on a later flight. Also, would normal travel insurance cover us in such situations? One of the reasons we raced to get on the BA flight was that I assumed most travel policies only stretch to getting you home - most likely in economy - which would have been disappointing end to a fantastic holiday.