I don't even know how this happens [Mauled luggage]
 

I was initially thinking about posting the following complaints about my recent Club World experience flying LHR-LAX which included the following issues:

1. Placing my hand luggage in the side storage bin, only to discover the previous occupant had deposited their orange juice in it, ruining my bag
2. Going to the toilet to discover someone had actually pissed on the floor
3. A child who was allowed to put their privacy screen up and down for most of the way across the Atlantic - when I stepped in to get him to stop the parent looked at me like I was a monster
4. That child and another throwing drink and playing hide and seek, thinking my window seat was acceptable hiding place
5. Same children depleting Club kitchen of all the sandwiches, crisps and ice cream - some of which was thrown (in case I am accused of being anti-child, there were children of approximately 4 and 6 in the cabin who were behaved impeccably)

But all of the above pales in comparison to

1. My bag not arriving with me - okay it happens.
2. Was told that it was on the next flight and I would have by 10pm
3. Stayed up until 11pm, by which point I had been up 30 hours. Called courier company - was rudely told I would not have until the next morning.
4. Received by bag - it looks like a bomb had gone off in it or it had been mauled by a bear. You decide
5. Got on the gold line to told "go online and fill out the compensation form. It should take 4-6 weeks."

Needless to say, with all my personal items that I need on a daily basis completely and utterly destroyed - that just wasn't acceptable

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...stroyedbag.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...royedshoes.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...stroyedtop.jpg

wow, thats poor!

mention it to cusatomer services in T5, my colleague did in passing ans was instantly compensated!

The photo of the bag is indeed impressive. I didn't know they had bears at LAX. Has the gold line seen those photos?

Good grief, what on earth happened to that. I can only assume that it got caught up in something mechanical.

As for the rest, the only thing BA really has any control over is the first one with an oversight in cabin cleaning (absolutely nothing new there). Other passengers and ill-behaved brats are a rather unfortunate hazard that's kind of hard to get away from on a public airline service.

I think I would take some photos of some slightly higher value items.

WTH happened to that bag!? I've seen a few busted bags in my days, but nothing close to that.

I would expect BA to pay for anything you need to replace due to that disaster. And do so quickly.

Unacceptable.

1. Placing my hand luggage in the side storage bin, only to discover the previous occupant had deposited their orange juice in it, ruining my bag

I hope you pointed it out to the cabin crew, got a report and claim for a replacement + inconvenience caused by lack of supervision after cabin cleaning.

2. Going to the toilet to discover someone had actually pissed on the floor

It happens. But, again, point it out to the cabin crew and it should be cleaned. That's one of the yucky parts of their job. If pointed out, and an hour later it is still filthy wet, that is unacceptable.

3. A child who was allowed to put their privacy screen up and down for most of the way across the Atlantic - when I stepped in to get him to stop the parent looked at me like I was a monster

You shouldn't have had to step in. Cabin crew should have noticed and had a quiet word. If they didn't, then you should have had a word with CC. That is what they are there for. Only if they then still refused to do anything, that is unacceptable.

4. That child and another throwing drink and playing hide and seek, thinking my window seat was acceptable hiding place

See above.

5. Same children depleting Club kitchen of all the sandwiches, crisps and ice cream - some of which was thrown (in case I am accused of being anti-child, there were children of approximately 4 and 6 in the cabin who were behaved impeccably)

Some adults do this too! But in case of food being thrown, that is unacceptable. But again, CC should have noticed and acted. If they did not, and the issue was raised with them, then that is unacceptable.


So, on the first points, I would say a fail by CC not to notice and act.

Or totally unacceptable if you raised the matters with them and they then failed to act.

On another airline, with drunk passengers, I had to threaten the crew with the Air Navigation order before they paid attention. But as I pointed out, dealing with drunks is their job, not mine. Ensuring passengers safety is 1st, ensuring their comfort is 2nd. But both are key components of their job.

As for the luggage!

Well, what baggage handler/airline or any combination of them could deliver something so obviously mauled without a personal apology and offer to get something done right away.

Even a small letter saying: oops.

That is also unacceptable..

I have had the worst behaved kids on lax-lhr flights in the past, playing with the divider even playing a ipad game out loud in the middle of the night in the parents/nanny lap.

Sorry about your bag looks like it has been caught due to the loose straps.

Unacceptable.

Man alive.

Get on twitter/facebook and post those photos and tag BA. Pathetic.

Looks like the bag was snagged in the gap between two conveyer belts judging by the damage to the it and its contents.

Note the black on the pink sandals.

It looks like your bag got dragged beneath the baggage cart. Happened to me a while back.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...y-luggage.html

Did a courier deliver it or did they just fire it out of a cannon in your general direction?

My daughter's bag suffered a similar fate between leaving LHR and arriving in NRT, we were on CX who after some debate offered a replacement suitcase to replace the ruined one (such luck at having two compartments, fortune was onside there as clothes were on the undamaged side) and the offer of money of the value of replacement suitcase (which i picked up from HND on departure) if CX can do that I don't see why any other airline can't

Wow! American werewolf in London had a go at your bag! I'd be super-pissed.

On the upside, you have nice feet (if those are yours). ;)

It looks like bears do indeed roam through airports

I got pictures of everything - the valuable stuff was mostly expensive clothes, most of which did not get mangled as badly but did have some kind of black grease on them and I can't wash it off. The annoying thing was most of them were brand new and acquired on a shopping trip in Barcelona, which I had been looking forward to all year since they have so many unique shops there.

And all the stuff I get whenever I am in London - like stuff from Boots, not valuable but stuff you can't get here!


The courier delivered it in a big piece of plastic - I didn't realize the extent of the damage until I unwrapped it.

Chere TrompeleMonde,

It's called the law of maximum annoyance: when something starts to go awry, it normally continues in style.

I am fairly sure that had you not had the unfortunate orange juice incident, you would have been only half as annoyed at the spoilt brats. Same for the bombed luggage: At the end of a perfectly stress free flight, you would probably have laughed about it, replaced the stuff and filed a max compo request -with pics of higher value items if possible- with BA.

Very sorry it has happened to you. If that can make you feel better, my few requests compo for lost or damaged luggage have been settled in a week on average, despite the general warning that it could take 4 to 6 weeks.

Keep us posted.

CW cabin crews are the top of the crop for me.... when it comes to inconsistency. I have also endured night flights where children have been playing loudly, all reading lights and overhead lights on, and nothing done by cabin crew or parents until provoked by a chorus of "ssshhh" from other passengers. Meanwhile, my wife just did LHR-YYV in the middle of the day, and the person next to her gets told off by CC like a small child, for having the window shade open - "because some passengers want to sleep". Yet on the return flight ( a night flight) she talked half the night to the next passenger and was served enough G&T that she only had an hour's sleep , and was still hosed when I picked her up a LHR at 7am (yes I am jealous). Go figure !

Awesome bag picture, OP - I think we'd love to hear how this happened !

I don't even know how this happens
 

That is truly awful - especially the bags, I mean for God's sake...it looks like your sandals have been burned!

I would get into Twitter pronto and copy in BA. Do it tomorrow morning when Twitter traffic is highest and they'll be paying attention.

Looks like it may have been handled by staff at the Anastasia Beach Hotel.

Moths on a plane. Coming to a movie theatre near you :eek:

i'm guessing that #2 was likely caused by the culprits of #3,4, & 5

something that kills me about your bag being delivered like that is why didn't someone contact you and proactively tell you that something had happened to your bag? what, nobody noticed? this really sucks and i know how you feel about getting something special while on travels and then getting it ruined. BCN does have a lot of nice little shops. maybe your compensation should be a free flight back to go and get replacements.

I vote bomb but wow, indeed, that is a shocking result. I would join others in suggesting that you take photos of more valuable items and then send the photos alongside an estimate of the value of both the bag and its contents to customer service. And like others I think it is remarkably poor customer service not to have contacted you pro-actively to warn you and apologise in advance about the state of your bag and pro-actively suggest ways to get compensation.

As for the floor "littering" in the toilet, I am amazed by how often it happens. I genuinely don't understand how people are 1) so messy as to do it and 2) so disgusting as not to clean after themselves. I am of the opinion that some people should be sent back to potty training just the way those who can't drive properly lose their license!

Please do keep us updated about BA's answer when they see those photos - they should really investigate if they have any sense.

Agree with this. It is inconceivable that nobody noticed the bag was in a state of some disrepair. Someone should have gotten hold of the OP and explained what had happened. Accidents do happen but I would expect a call and an explanation (and then compensation). Just delivering it mangled up like that is very poor indeed.

Yeah - that was the upsetting thing, just having it delivered like nothing was wrong. I am going to hazard a guess that it happened at Heathrow which is why it didn't make the original flight. They should have plenty of time to tell me.

I did get an email telling me it had been delayed - unlike the last time they lost my bag when I waited for an hour at the carousel before discovering it was missing and they had it on their list all along.

I will keep you up-to-date when I hear something. Thanks for commiserating - it has made me feel a little bit better!

Update on this - they got back to me on compensation very quickly - within 24 hours of submitting the claim.

Naturally they knocked money off the total claim - but offered only 50% because I don't have receipts. Since many of the items are not items you would typically keep receipts for such as clothes and shoes this is a little annoying. What they are offering won't cover the cost to replace.

Don't accept it in that case.

Push harder. Did you buy those things with a credit card? With Amex you can go into transaction details and get the transaction number. If you really felt like it you could get a receipt reprint from the store (assuming the cloths were not that old). At the very least you could wave the credit card statements at them.

Don't give up!!!
 

Hun don't give up still push if need be tweet the pics and bombard them through Facebook.

I think I'd probably stick with a level-headed, emotion-free, articulate, and concise reply letter/email. No one likes 'shouty' people.

I agree but if BA are being unreasonable to the OP then I think they have a right to raise the game through social media - too often large corporations try to fob customers off. Polite and accurate description of the problem will hopefully cause BA some embarassment or just send the photos and details to the Daily Mail - they love bashing BA :D

Given the state of the bag I think that's unacceptable. Clearly the bag and its contents have been totally destroyed; I don't think I've ever seen a bag as damaged as yours.

An aggravating factor was that the bag was just delivered to you with no explanation or warning that it was in that state. I would be pushing for the full figure in your case and a gesture of goodwill.

That's appalling- as previous posters have said, looks like either caught in the baggage belts at LHR, or possibly dragged under a vehicle. Modus operandi (when I was in lost baggage @ LGW)when this happened, we would try to get message to pax at gate if damage discovered before acft departure. If acft had departed message would be sent to destination with a view to telling pax about damage immediately on arrival...and with info as to when it would arrive. I find it utterly shocking that things have slipped this much.:td:

I certainly wouldn't accept 50%. Especially if I'd just paid for a plane ticket hotel and all the other costs of a trip to Barcelona that was intended to buy those things.

As regards replacement perhaps you could re-order on Boots website. I suppose the only extras would be shipping, tax and any duty as well as the cost of the items. Zara also has a good website although not all their items are on it but perhaps with additional cost of shipping tax and duty you might get replacements? Barcelona Zara is cheaper though so you may have to pay a higher price for the item itself as well.

Did you have travel insurance?

Thanks for the laugh.^

Don't accept their offer! Call your local newspaper they will love those pictures.

Years and years ago, I had Delta run over (and completely destroy) a number of school books and in-progress assignments, while I was headed out of town on a family vacation. I was *supposed* to be doing my homework while I was away...that was a fun one to explain to my teacher, and not the typical, "my dog ate it" story, lol.

Oh! And I if I remember correctly, they did pay to replace the books and the other small items I had in that bag. I thought it was great, not having to do homework while I was away...my parents and teachers were obviously not as thrilled.

Do you have the credit card statement that shows these purchases, or at least some of them? Maybe they will accept that.

I doubt the full "replacement cost" will be accepted by anyone (including the travel insurance) without some form of proof.

It's a bit hard to comment without knowing what sort of amount you claimed for. In theory, there are asurd liability limits (a tiny amount per kilo or per piece). Of course, no decent airline would stick to that but for the rest, whether they proposed to reimburse 50% of a £200 request or 50% of a £5000 request does make a difference when it comes to assessing whether they are being unfair or not.

One of my colleagues (the one I've failed to educate, the one who needs to take 3 pairs of shoes on an overnight to BRU) had a number of run ins on this, and has taken to doing a dated/timed photo of her bag, spread out on the bed, just before travel, by way of proof that she was indeed carrying an absurd amount of expensive shoes with her. Her theory is that "they" know we double our estimate, so they know to halve it. She sticks to her guns and says "here is my proof, may I see yours?"