HIDDY

Yes I've always seen it as a weak link when flying especially if you have been stuck down the back and take an age getting to the carousel. Some airports even allow the general public access to the baggage reclaim areas.

However, it should be the airport owners who staff it rather than the airlines.

NeverFirst

Because they say so

http://www.britishairways.com/travel...v/public/en_gb

The air carrier is liable for destruction, loss or damage to baggage up to 1,131 SDRs (approximately �1,000 or EUR1,230). In the case of checked baggage, it is liable even if not at fault, unless the baggage was defective. In the case of unchecked baggage, the carrier is liable only if at fault.

LTN Phobia

Queues would be a problem. I have been to an airport with such baggage reconciliation and it substantially slows down the process of exiting the baggage hall. Also, some people lose the baggage claim tag - like I did (oops), and that ended up in quite a lot of hassle. The only time ever that I couldn't find the tag happened to be at such an airport (it was later found in my purse anyway).

CCTV monitoring may cover their liability, as long as they can retrieve the footage?

Littlegirl

I can just imagine the fuss there would be on here if you all had to wait to leave the baggage hall, while some low paid sirly BAA staff member, checked you bag tags against your ticket!!!!!!!! Just imagine it for a second or two!!

itsmeitisss

This will depend on conditions of carriage. I very much doubt that they are legally liable. If they were, there would be an easy scam of picking up your luggage and then saying you hadn't and claiming untold amounts of compensation. Other countries do have some bags checked against the stub but it's random, and unless you want another long queue after the immigration queue there is no way of checking every bag has found its correct home.

Where BA has clearly failed in this instance is to tell the OP what has happened in a timely manner 12 days in ridiculous, and this the OP definitely should complain about, and if he/she is getting nowhere in present situation, then I would advice letter by recorded delivery to someone further up the chain.

As Hiddy says it's also time to contact the insurers and make a claim for theft. I think as a goodwill gesture, BA should definitely at a minimum cover the excess.

itsmeitisss

between which points though? It very much depends on what you define as delivery. BA clearly see delivery as when it reaches the carousel.

BlackBerryAddict

But all the queue problems are just a matter of money - spend/invest and there would be no queues.
Clearly that would be too expensive - but since the airline/airport make that decision, they should bear the risk of bags going astray as part of this system. To an airline the risk of 0.xx% of bags missing is a calculable risk. For an individual passenger the chance of a bag going missing is very small, but when it happens the impact can be large.
And if it turns out there is too much fraud, surely they can put something in place to minimise that.

jlstvnsn

Thanks everyone for the responses - but the complaint isn't that I want BA to be liable for the stolen bag, the complaint is that the whole process, which took 12 days was flawed. Even now BA are saying, we can't say what happened nor can we say why you were given incorrect information (during the first week I was constantly told my bag was "stuck" at DFW airport and to call back for an update) nor why you were never told we showed your bag delivered. All we can say is that we aren't liable and suggest you contact the police. BA didn't contact the police, it was me who needed to start the process, it was me contacting all the lost luggage numbers, etc. BA just stood back and seemed to dust off their hands. It was my customer experience that's the issue - not so much the contents of my luggage, regardless of their personal value to me.

Anyway, after reading a few more responses and other posts - I think for me, it would be good to write the letter with regards to my experience and how the whole situation was handled. I know at the end of the day nothing will come of it, but at least a customer experience will be captured in some system somewhere.

Thanks again everyone for the responses and advice.

jlstvnsn

No you are correct in your understanding, I was told to wait and I did - of course when I contact the police they wanted to know why I waited so long and did I understand that due to the lapse in time, chances are nothing can be done.

jlstvnsn

Apparently the CCTV in LHR T5 is absolutely rubbish - too high to give any clear views. They are going to see if something was captured in the customs hall as my luggage was BRIGHT orange

jlstvnsn

From my understanding, based on my conversation with BA, they will not consider any sort of claim. They did offer a gesture *ahem* of �95 worth of Avios, I politely told them they were unnecessary and unwanted.

pacer142

And that decision is probably the correct one - so long as they take responsibility in the cases where it goes wrong.

Neil

Often1

This discussion combined two issues:

1. BA poor CS in taking so long to tell OP that bag had been delivered

2. Luggage ID checks

As to #1 - BA's responsibility it to deliver the bag to the carousel. BA says its systems report that it did so. BA delivered poor CS by providing untimely & wrong information. That warrants a 2-sentence complaint to BA just so that BA knows that it has a problem. It does not warrant compensation per se.

As to #2, those have nothing to do with BA, but rather with the airport operator. That raises labor costs, landing fees and thus, air fares. It also creates delays in getting people to their goal of getting out of the airport with their bags. Not going to happen other than in very high-crime areas.

Land-of-Miles

I agree I think it is worth complaining on the specific issue of being misled by BA. Even bringing the insurance angle into play most insurers would pay an amount for delayed baggage and then an amount for loss. Had BA given accurate information when the missing bag was queried the OP could have preceded directly to the loss claim, as it was he would have sought to mitigate his losses by only buying essential items which may not be of any use in the long term.

If this meant that there is a cost gap between the interim replacement items bought and the proper replacement items ultimately bought then BA should cover the unnecessary cost of the former and I would issue a legal claim for this in the OP's position.

To use an example BA lost my snowboards for 6 weeks last year. I rented replacement boards and then claimed against my insurance for those costs. If in fact my bag had not been mislaid by BA but was in fact stolen, my insurer might reasonably expect me not to hire a replacement board but to proceed straight to purchase as the cost of both a rental and a purchase would be above the cost of purchasing a replacement. If I subsequently found that my bags had in fact been stolen from the belt and that BA had the information in their system to identify this when I queried my missing bags but for whatever reason misled me that my bags were missing at the BA end, then I have a perfectly reasonable claim against BA for the additional costs I have incurred because of their negligence in giving me completely incorrect information about the status of my bag.

As I see it this would be a Tort issue and beyond the scope of the T&C's of carriage or the Montreal convention, but I am sure someone with better legal knowledge than I would have a more informed view.

Tobias-UK

In this example the airline has, it appears, delivered the bags to the carousel ergo the airline's obligations under the Conditions of Carriage and the Montreal Convention have been met.

Clearly the airline has been slow in dealing with the report of the 'missing' bags but other than that they have no liability.