Doc Savage

In the military, they're always taking the piss...

BAAZ

I was taught that there were 6: proper preparation prevents pi55-poor performance.

I'd expect BA to pay for at least a suit and a couple of shirts etc; you may need to go shopping again after a couple of days if your bag hasn't turned up. I went skiing for a few days about 10 years ago and BA delivered my bag 48 hours after I arrived; I bought a ski suit and clothes for two days (cheapest one in an admittedly expensive ski resort) and they refunded the full cost which was about £500. I was a GCH at the time - not sure if that made a difference.

Revenge

You guys recommend HBO for short trips but how do you pack a suit in hand luggage without crumpling or creasing it? No matter what I try it always comes out of suitcase looking terrible.

corporate-wage-slave

Dear oh dear. I don't use a hard shell and there are two things to learn here.

- Military trick: hang suit in hotel bathroom, taking care that the lines are respected, have hot shower with bathroom door closed. Leave bathroom rapidly, closing door behind you. One hour later the bathroom will still be a bit humid, but the suit will look better than dry cleaned. The Royal Navy variant, or some I'm told, is to have a bath, don't pour the bath water out, leave the water and the suit in overnight. So much for the Senior Service.

- Roll your suit, never fold! Spend a minute or two getting the creases in position before rolling, so that (e.g.) the arms come over at the seam, then roll into a fat sausage. Youtube videos exist for this.

Ditto for the tie.

oliver2002

A good suit with a decent cloth will recover instantly in the shower steam or overnight in the wardrobe on a hangar.

LTN Phobia

And in the worst case (e.g. you're in a hurry), just steam it with the hotel iron (assuming that they provide you with a steam iron, that is).

There is a variation on what C-W-S posted as well, which is actually even more effective.

Fill the bath with the hottest water you can get. Hang up with jacket or whatever it is while you are filling the bath and while you wait for the bath to cool down. Keep the bathroom door closed. Have a bath. Job done.

silonic

Ha - I guess I opened myself up with the 5Ps and no change of clothing!

I've lost count but reckon I've done around 50+ flights this year intra Europe and this is only my 4th or 5th time where I've checked in luggage. I usually have my reliable wheelie with me. The difference this week is I needed 2 suits and a jacket for different events so just felt a suitcase was best. Unfortunately my hand luggage always consists of a bag full of technical equipment so really no room for any extra clothing. The only exception is when I travel to the US and then I check in luggage but also take my wheelie and tech bag, but then I don't need to worry about public transport either.

Anyway, I'm currently sat in the GF awaiting my flight home. 2 hours ago I got confirmation of where my bag is.....it's in Amsterdam!

Monday morning I contacted BA and the status was they were still tracing my bag. I was told I needed to wait at least 24 hours before they knew where it was. So off I went to purchase a suit, 2 shirts, underwear, pair of shoes, pair of shorts and a t-shirt

By Monday evening the website still said they were 'tracing' my bag and had no update. On Tuesday morning the website hadn't changed its status, so a quick call to BA again and they said they had an update and my luggage would now be on the BA429 that morning. By Tuesday PM, I hadn't received any communication so I checked the website and the status still said 'tracing' my bag. So I called BA again and they apologised letting me know my bag "missed the flight" - presume it was larking about at the airport and didn't make conformance in time .......

They said they could put it on a flight today but I told them just to send it to my home address as I'm going home today. Went to bed last night relieved in the knowledge my bag had been found.

Worked up this morning and had the following:
At 2.40am today I got an sms telling me my bag would be on the BA428 today at 09.05 from LHR to AMS....
At 6.43am today I got an sms telling me my bag would be on the BA429 today at 10.45 from AMS to LHR
At 09.16am today I got an sms telling me my bag would be on the BA434 today at 14.10 from LHR to AMS

At this point I thought to myself - well my luggage only needs one more qualifying flight and it might be able to get bronze status soon....

I also decided I needed more clothes as I only bought 2 days worth on Monday and now needed some clothes for work today...and I also realised I needed to buy a bag to take all these clothes back home.....

A quick call to BA and fortuitously I spoke to the same agent I spoke to yesterday. He was convinced that the sms were errors...and he expected my case to still be in Amsterdam.

2 hours ago I got the call from Schiphol and hope to pick it up on my return....

Thanks for the advice - especially on rolling suits. My suits always look like I've been rolling around in it whenever I travel in them!

LondonElite

My tailor works for Prince Charles. I'm not intending to name drop. His suggestion:

Turn jacket inside out. Fold sides in so you have three layers. Roll the rest into a loose sausage. Put in a stiff plastic bag. It's what I do every week.

silonic

Just to complete the circle:

Unfortunately my return flight was delayed over 3 hours meaning I didn't arrive into Schiphol until after 1am. However the customer relations team (excuse me if not the correct name) in the GF lounge were great and phoned the baggage handlers in Schiphol to guarantee they would be still there on my arrival. They were - and so was my bag. Although on further inspection on the tags now on my bag, my baggage had indeed flown to London on the Tuesday and back again same day to Amsterdam.

I submitted my claim online on Monday morning and this morning I've already received an email confirming that all my expenses would be covered. Personally I think this is a superb turnaround in time. Whilst part of the email was standardised, they also personalised it in the first and last paragraph but noting the meetings I was attending and wishing me a successful trip to Dublin, which is my next flight on BA.

I'm not sure what helped in either the quick turnaround or the full compensation but this is what I did:

On Sunday night I bought some toiletries from 2 outlets
On Monday morning I bought 2 days worth of clothes from M&S including a suit, 2 shirts, pair of shorts, underwear and a t-shirt
When I found out on Tuesday I wouldn't be getting my case by the time I left on Weds evening, I went back to M&S on Wednesday morning and bought a pair of trousers and 2 more shirts. I also went to House of Fraser to purchase a wheelie for hand luggage.

I used the online form to explain my rationale for the purchases and the reason for my travel. I'm not sure if it mattered, but I always stayed calm and courteous with the call centre when looking for updates on my bag. I'm assuming being a GCH probably didn't hurt my cause as again this was mentioned in the email they sent me.

Good luck to those in the same predicament. Whilst frustrating, it does show BA can make amends and resolve the issues quickly. I'll be sending in a thank you to them for sorting this out in the speed that they have. I've learnt my lesson and will always attempt to take my suits in hand luggage with me.

Here's hoping I don't lose my luggage when I fly to the US this weekend!

Lioneye

Please pon't ply Pritish Pairways

expatboy

Glad this got resolved satisfactorily silonic! Sounds like the best outcome from a bad situation.

TheMajor

For any overnight, I always check a bag, can't be bothered with the scrum for overhead locker space and like to be last on the plane.

Also my metro sexual side, means I have too many toiletries for HBO

mjuler

I use this trick regularly, never let me down on my travels. I did have an issue once at a hotel that will remain nameless in the Raleigh-Durham area. I'd arrived early afternoon on the direct AA flight from LHR and needed my suit for an evening event that day. A colleague who I'd not yet met was also at the hotel and I'd arranged to meet him in reception for a quick hello so I left the suit in the bathroom with the shower on as hot as it would go for what I expected to be 5 minutes. About an hour later I finally returned to the hotel room to find most of the bathroom ceiling paint blistered, some of it on the floor, and whilst my suit looked crease free it was rather wet! Fortunately I'd just learnt that the evening event was to casual and by the following morning the suit was fine for the office.

hcuk94

My answer would be to not wear a suit!

When I travel for work, I take just the jeans I'm wearing (+1 extra pair if I'm going for more than 3 days), a shirt for during the day each day, and a couple of polos/tshirts to wear in the evenings.

Maybe not possible if you're in something like banking, but jeans and a shirt are generally acceptable business wear these days, and jeans have the added bonus of being reasonable both with a smart shirt during the day or with a tshirt in the evening. I'd certainly never bother with suit jackets, far too much hassle when travelling - but that's just me.

Doc Savage

Ah, but that way he wouldn't have gotten a new free suit and several new shirts!