alexindallas

Hi all -
I'm at a complete loss on what could be going on and how to solve this mystery. My friend and her husband are in Cape Town for their honeymoon. They left Friday, Sept. 16th on AA 78 from DFW to LHR, and then were supposed to be on LHR to CPT on British Airways 59. Two legs, all a part of Oneworld Alliance and in First/Business the entire way through. The flight (AA78 DFW - LHR) had an emergency and diverted to JFK. American Airlines rebooked them on Qatar JFK - DIA, Qatar DIA - JNB, South African Airlines JNB - CPT, with a 24 layover in JNB. To not miss any of their honeymoon, they decided to book their own JNB - CPT on FlySafair when they arrived in Johannesburg. The kicker is that their checked baggage was not pulled from the diverted flight and instead traveled to LHR, where it likely still is. The AA bag tracking numbers show an LHR arrival. Their bags are currently (Sept 21st) still missing. After hours on the phone with British Airways and American Airlines, BA is refusing to provide any information regarding the location of the bags and stated that it was South African Airlines' responsibility to track down the baggage, as that is the last airline the passengers were supposed to fly. AA has been helpful, stating that the bags were handed over in LHR on Sept 17th to BA, and then the three checked bags traveled on 2 separate flights from LHR to CPT on a British Airways operated flight, and arrived on Sept 20th. This was all confirmed by an AA employee at JFK. Fast forward to this afternoon (Cape Town time), and there are no bags for them at the Cape Town Airport.

What I am trying to understand is who is responsible? They never were intending to fly South African Airlines, and TECHNICALLY the bags never got pulled from their original flight, so shouldn't American Airlines or British Airways take responsibility? I have always assumed (and I may be wrong) that your bags are supposed to make it to your final destination, regardless of how the passengers got there. I am just trying to help here and get their honeymoon back on track - they would go shopping, but they are leaving for a safari on the 23rd, so time is of the essence.Please help!!!!

wrp96

Per IATA rules, the last carrier on the itinerary actually flown is responsible for delayed baggage. So BA is correct that South African Airlines is the one they should be dealing with in all of this.

alexindallas

I just updated the post to reflect a change. American booked them on South African Airways, with them spending an additional 24 hours in Johannesburg. When they landed in Johannesburg, FlySafair had an early flight availability so they booked and paid for that flight instead. So, who is responsible? Did taking this flight screw things up?

Antarius

I wouldn't mention the separate flight as it isn't really relevant and might confuse things.

The ticket was to CPT with SAA responsible for the bags. The bags should be delivered to CPT by SAA. I would just focus on this.

enviroian

Uh oh.

I wouldn't book another flight outside of what was booked knowing I had bags on it!

alexindallas

There were no bags on any of their new flights - their bags went to LHR, which was the original itinerary, and there was no passenger space on the LHR flight, so American rebooked them on Qatar JFK to DIA, Qatar DIA to JNB and then SAA JNB to CPT. The bags weren't pulled when they were rebooked.

THANK YOU!

miket

Always go to the airport and sort it out directly with staff if possible. Unfortunately all the phone calls in the world won’t necessarily get the bags back. If AA says they are in CPT i’d get out there and see. Also AirTags are your friend, put them in every bag.

dodgeflyer

I think what they should be worried about is their return flight. When missing their originally booked flight to CPT from JNB that should in theory void the return ticket. The ticket may be messed up already but normally that’s what happens (if they didn’t change ticket before booking).

chessman

Assuming this was a roundtrip, they should check with AA to make sure that missing the JNB-CPT flight didn't cancel the return.

zdcatc12

How did the bags even get to LHR? I thought that internationally bags have to have the passengers on the same plane to fly. I know AA took them off of the flight, but I thought that internationally there were no exceptions.

seawolf

No issues if passenger were involuntarily not onboard. Had checked bags MEL-SYD-SFO a number of years back on UA. UA had aircraft flying MEL-SYD-LAX while another aircraft SYD-SFO. Our bags never got off at SYD to transfer to other UA aircraft flying SYD-SFO. Bags flew SYD-LAX cleared customs and sent to SFO.

JClasstraveller

This is critical.

In some senses, the luggage is secondary if they’ve lost their return ticket.

dblumenhoff

Not sure about this. Last flight actually flown was Qatar. SAA can legitimately claim they are not responsible for bags since pax didn't actually fly.
Definitely problem caused by skipping last leg. General advice is only no show a flight if you have your bags in hand.

JClasstraveller

I should also add that since your friends failed to show at JNB for the CPT flight, it may be assumed by the airline that they are in JNB and are trying to get baggage there.

sarpotd

How? I thought the passengers had to take possession of the bags at first port of entry to clear customs. Are you saying your bags cleared customs without you needing to take possession?