Out of Luck in Scotland?
 

With my wife out of town, I cashed in some Avios yesterday AM for a quick 3-day golf holiday to Scotland. Flying CDG-LHG-ABZ (with 75min connection at LHR T5), I arrived only to find that my single checked bag containing my clubs, shoes, clothes, etc. didn't make it. I waited for the last LHR flight to arrive with the hope my clubs would be on that one, but no luck.

While I was supposed to drive down to St. Andrews last night, play there at 7AM and then have a tee-time at Carnoustie at 15h this afternoon, I'm wondering what to do. I ended up booking a room at the ABZ Marriott Airport hotel and am about to head back to the airport to see if the BA counter has any news (the online tracking systems shows my bag still hasn't been located). Needless to say, going from a high level of excitement about the golf to just passing time waiting for my bag to show up isn't fun.

Any suggestions on what to do/how to approach BA? I suppose I could rent clubs at Carnoustie and buy an outfit/shoes in order to play (all I have with me are my travel clothes and briefcase)...my 175 pound tee-time this afternoon is non-refundable (though perhaps if I call and explain/provide documentation they'll make an exception).

I have no status with BA, but am Sapphire through AA (AA Plat).

I've certainly bought new clothes after a baggage delay and had BA pay up without question. Personally I think that club hire is a reasonable expense given that yours are currently in BA's possession but I'm not sure if everyone else would agree with me.
Go play some golf! It'll beat sitting around Dyce all weekend waiting for a bag.

Yes, go and get kitted out in plus fours and a dayglo top from one if the expensive shops near the old course clubhouse, send the bill to BA.

Do you have travel insurance? As long as it covers a decent amount for lost luggage then it's better (less hassle) to use them rather than go through BA directly. The insurers will claim back whatever they can from BA.

Thanks for the comments. I don't have explicit travel insurance, but did pay for the ticket with Chase Sapphire which does offer mishandled baggage insurance.

I'm back at the airport now, but learned the bag still hasn't been tracked down anywhere (was last scanned during check-in at CDG). The next flight in from LHR is landing now, so I suppose I'll stick around and see if the bag was on it. If not, I'm going with the suggestion to drive down to Carnoustie and just rent some clubs.

Question: what's reasonable in terms of getting some clothes? I don't want a fight with BA when it comes to reimbursements, but I'm imagining it will cost about 200 pounds for shoes, slacks, shirt and socks, plus another 40 pounds or so for the club rentals.

I'd think that risks straying into 'unreasonable' territory.

I assume you could trim that number significantly by buying some stuff in Marks & Spencer in Aberdeen (obviously not golf shoes) but buying the whole getup from the club shop and expecting BA to pay out may get messy...

I've never had to claim directly from BA, but a total of £240 (backed up with receipts) seems more than reasonable to me. If you can speak to someone at BA, see if they agree that it's a reasonable amount.

When your bag is found BA will deliver to your hotel or if it's too late by that point then they can leave it at the airport for you, or if you're really unlucky and it's not found until you leave then they'll have to forward it to your next destination.

you can come to Aberdeen v st johnstone with us if you want mate :D

seriously there is an American golf store just along the A96, follow it to haudigan, go up north Anderson drive, first left Crombie road then first left into car park. A taxi to there would be less than a tenner.

Hey everyone, just want to thank you each for your insights. In the end, my bag never showed up in Aberdeen (and still hasn't...). After returning to the airport Sat AM and seeing there was still no sign of the bag, I was tempted to just have them rebook me back to Paris. In the end, I'm glad I stayed and got a few rounds in at Carnoustie (Championship course) and St. Andrews (Jubilee course). Not quite as good as the itinerary I had planned, but certainly better than nothing.

As for the lost bag...well, it's still lost. BA called as I was teeing off on Saturday to say it had been found at CDG and they'd be FWing it to ABZ, however when I finished my round and called to check-in, I learned the bag had been "misplaced" again. It was then re-found at LHR Sunday afternoon and could be delivered to ABZ on Monday (today). As I was returning to CDG on Monday (and am at home now), I requested the bag just be returned to CDG instead. I then bought a change of clothes for the first time in 3 days (and will be sending BA the bill).

Apparently my bag was still sent to ABZ and arrived there this morning. I leave on my next trip on Wednesday AM, so we'll see if they actually come through with their promise to have it delivered tomorrow. I'm betting against it, but am still happy for the golf. Thanks again for the encouragement!

(last points...the Pinot Noir BA is currently offering in the LHR Galleries Lounge is excellent, and my total reimbursables for BA are about 300£ for the 3.5 days...will see what I end up getting back).

It's always best to obtain pre-authorization from the carrier for any expenses and to have your PNR noted or an email from the authorizer. This is especially true in the case of uncommon expenses, e.g. club rentals.

Beyond that, a rule of thumb is to ask yourself what you would spend, if anything, if the expense were not reimbursed. Might you spend GBP 100 instead of GBP 240 on an outfit? Why? Because the carrier may not reimburse you at all, may deem your expenses unreasonable and only partially reimburse. At that point, collecting what you believe to be your due may force you to either forget it and move on or sue. At that point, if you spend GBP 240 on clothing and can't get it reimbursed, you are out the money and, if you ever see it again, it will be a long ways away.

Other tips include: 1) obtain a receipt for everything, no matter how small; 2) document why you spent the money (here, if you did not have prepaid non-refundable reservations and suddenly decided to golf, would it be reasonable to ask BA to reimburse); 3) keep expenses reasonable (as in commercially reasonable, not what you personally do).

As a golfer, I have total sympathy for your situation. I'm leery of airlines getting my luggage to me (AA lost checked bags when I flew to New Orleans for my niece's graduation from Tulane and Southwest once managed not to deliver my clubs on a non-stop MCO-ORF flight for which I had arrived two hours early), so I generally pack a small bag, such as a Red Oxx Extra Small Aviator that is 34 linear inches, with several changes of clothes, a small bag of toiletries, a golf glove or two, any range finders or golf GPS device I'm carrying, and a change of shoes.

Although my second set of shoes is not a set of golf shoes, they're generally good walking shoes and can be used if my golf shoes don't get to me. My current favorite is a set of waterproof Rockports with grippy soles. With the current generation of Ecco, Adidas, Ashworth, and FootJoy shoes looking so much like street shoes, I've never been asked to change my shoes at any golf course, including at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland when I played there a couple of months ago.

This isn't ideal, and because passengers can't take golf clubs on planes, you still have to make arrangements to rent clubs and buy balls, but it tends to reduce the hassle, especially in having to make an unplanned shopping trip to buy clothes, shoes, and a piece of luggage to carry your newly purchased belongings. I have not used this company, http://www.golfgearhire.com/, but it has come highly recommended, and, especially for a short trip, might be useful. Not as good as having your own clubs, but at least you could play with the same set of golf clubs for the entire trip, instead of switching from Titleist to Callaway to Nike over the course of three days.

Golf and excitement? :confused:

What a nightmare.

Playing with rental clubs would be a real let down. I like my Mizuno MP-59s too much.

Sure there's excitement. You just have to get over the first 18 holes before it begins :D

Good luck with it all! Bit OT since it is AA arriving into LHR, but every time I have flown GCM-MIA-LHR-GLA, with AA on the mia-lhr leg and a good few hours connection at LHR, they have lost my bag from T3-T5. 100% of the time (once was due to a certain volcano, so i shall excuse that since BA had pro-actively tracked me and re-booked me on all connections to GLA that day due to delay after delay when re-routed through JFK). I must say the staff at GLA were always excellent at tracing it - there was/hopefully still is a chap there that really goes above the call of duty, he actually gives a toss (having F on the Tatl BP helps as well...). Bags were always in my possession the next day.