Stolen baggage claim denied - BA Gold
 

Had a bag stolen from the LHR T5 carousel two weeks ago: by the time I cleared passport control, it had been taken. BA lost baggage confirmed that the suitcase made it to the carousel, then disappeared from tracking, so I filed a report. Airport police recovered it in T5 four days later, broken into and a £700 jacket missing. I filed a compensation claim with BA: denied and no reason given, only "I'm afraid we can't reimburse the cost." Am pursuing of course but no replies yet from BA.

What am I missing here, Flyertalk community? (Pause for cynical replies to stream in.) I give a steady amount of transatlantic business class travel to BA (1900 tier points thus far this year), and I get a quick brushoff. I'm determined now to shift as many flights as I can to UA. Thanks, needed to vent.

From what it seems, BA completed its obligations when it delivered the bag to the carousel. It isn't responsible for the bag beyond that or for its theft

This would seem to be something that travel insurance may cover

I don't suppose UA would be any more generous in the same situation

Not good but not sure what BAs liability to you is here. They didn't loose your bag it was stolen from the carousel

Your status doesn't make any difference and your threats to boycott BA won't worry them one iota. Sorry but that's the reality of it.

Contact your travel insurance with the police report. If they want to claim from BA that's down to them.

Claim on your travel insurance. It will likely be a much quicker process. If they delivered it to the carousel BA will dig their heels in.

That's a depressing story. I'm also amazed at the sheer nerve of people to pick up someone else's case when any moment the owner could come along! Shocking.

I'm personally not sure what BA's responsibility is here, as opposed to HAL's? I'm sure someone on here can help though.

Have you contacted your travel insurance provider to claim the value of the stolen goods?

I think that it did 'loose' it by releasing it to the carousel

I'm not sure how BA are responsible here, they have delivered the bag to the carousel.

Neither do I see why your gold BA status matters, a stolen bag is a stolen bag irrespective of the status of the owner.



I have always thought that there was a security issue around baggage reclaim. There are never any check made that the person leaving the baggage hall is the owner of the bags they are carrying. One solution to this would be having to show a bag tag receipt for every bag carried out of the hall. Obviously this would mean more queues at airports and problems with the inevitable lost receipts.

I think stolen bags are covered by insurance.

edit.

Rats!!! Everyone added the same update as me but beat me to the submit button

Possibly tell the Police they might be able to trace who picked the bag up at luggage claim. Otherwise it has nothing to do with BA they completed their duties.

I seem to recall there was a court case re an organised gang doing this sort of thing at LGW (can't find the report online so was maybe 15ish years ago ?).

They would buy cheap SH tickets into LGW, travelling smartly dressed, and would hang around in the arrivals haul spotting likely candidates (LV logo, Priority tags etc.).

They would then grab a couple of cases and stroll out.

If challenged, they would politely smile and say "I'm terribly sorry, I must have confused it with my own case !" and give it back to the rightful owner.

I seem to remember from the newspaper reports that they even checked the stolen luggage back in for their return leg :eek:

A couple of observations I would draw from this:

1. Use cheap luggage and refuse Priority tags (we know they're useless anyway !!)

2. A sharp suit and a winning manner will get you out of all sorts of sticky situations :)

You didn't read the OP then?

and some airports are worse than others. Edinburgh for example (with the exception of international flights) the baggage area is fully open, someone can walk in to the terminal, lift bags and walk back out again
I would not see how any airline could be held responsible for that

Agree that this is not a matter for BA but one for the police and Heathrow.

The police really should be inspecting the CCTV (which should certainly exist) of the theft and trying to identify the culprits and ultimately bring charges. However the likelihood of recovering anything from them is negligible.

As others have said travel insurance - if you have it - is your best recourse here.

Some airports (I'm thinking of LGA off the top of my head) won't let you leave the baggage reclaim area until you've produced the baggage receipt that matches the bag you are carrying.

BA and/or HAL might have failed in their duty of care towards the passenger by not having a similar system in place to prevent thefts. When you think about it, delivering bags to a public location which the owner may not have access to at the time of delivery (through no fault of their own), does leave one rather prone to theft.

A large amount of the blame here lies with the UK Border Force, who unreasonably compromise the security of passengers' baggage by delaying passengers at immigration controls. The UK Border Agency needs to have stricter standards whereby passengers are not normally prevented from reaching the baggage reclaim carousel before their baggage does.

I would raise a complaint with UK Border Force, just to make a point, although it's unlikely to get anywhere.

LGA definitely did let me leave without showing any receipt anywhere. (It was quite a smooth landing too with perfect wintery evening views of Manhattan.) :)