Help please! Missing bags in Miami. Joining cruise tomorrow am...
 

All in the title!

We arrived yesterday after travelling GLA-LHR-MIA. Our original routing was changed on Sunday night due to the cancellation of Monday's BA1477. Our connection at LHR became very tight due to a short delay in the BA1491, and we made it to T3 and on
​​​​to the BA209 the skin of our teeth. Sadly, our bags were not so fortunate.

It's now 24hrs since we checked in to our hotel, and the bags are still not here. Tracker says they were on this afternoon's LHR-MIA, arriving about 1430 local time. It's now 2230, and we're supposed to be joining a cruise ship at noon tomorrow 😕

MrZ is a GCH, but the UK Gold line is closed. The number given to us for the baggage people at MIA is unobtainable. Any ideas on anyone who could help us? We're really worried now! Stopped at a CVS for some essentials last night and picked up a change of clothes for MrZ (I had brought spares in my carry on), but as of tomorrow, we're recycling our travel clothes...

Suggest ringing the Gold line in another country (pick one where you are in working ours). Contact Us should help on the web page while logged in with MrZ's account.

I would buy essentials for the cruise, but keeping it reasonable - perhaps 2 changes of clothes and toiletries. Nothing you wouldn't buy if it was your own money. If the bag is lost under the Montreal convention the maximum liability is approximately £1000. If you have travel insurance, that may provide some cover too.

Buy what you need, don't let it ruin your trip. BA will cover a surprising amount covered in the past: £250 of clothes and toiletries as well as £180 of taxis to and from the airport, eventually, to collect my bags.

I would just buy some clothes, keep WorldTracer updated (probably of limited value if you are at sea) and file now with your travel insurance.

If it's a long cruise, then 2 changes of clothes would not be enough. And some cruises require formal dress for dinner. Plus swimwear etc. If the cruise leaves at noon - I doubt there would be time to get what was needed.

Also, even if the OP manages to get through to the Gold line, I doubt there would be much they can do. From what's been said on here before, they can only see the same information as the passenger from World Tracer.

It must be a horrible situation to be in!

I feel your pain - my bags missed a connection in Madrid on the way to Ecuador, and the next day we were heading out at dawn on a tiny plane then boat then trek to a jungle lodge departing well before the next daily flight would arrive. In our case there was no chance of a resolution and I was just lucky that the dawn flight couldn't land at the destination airport due to weather so had to abort and return to Quito, telling us we'd try again in the afternoon, so I had time to go shopping! No real lessons learned to be of any help to you but you have my sympathies.

Will you be calling into any major ports in the next couple of days? Perhaps the gold line could arrange to have your bags delivered to the port for you to collect?

Other than that I have heard stories on here of people who have had to buy replacement ski gear in similar circumstances and have managed to get that reimbursed even though of course that was very expensive, so cruise wear should surely be the same principle.

The only time I recall seeing BA push back on a claim for delayed luggage was someone who really was taking the Michael (tried to buy an expensive brand label bag to replace a less expensive bag which had been damaged). So long as you buy from mainstream retail outlets and keep costs below the Montréal maxima for all baggage claims (approx £1200 per person) then you should fine. But obviously contact your insurers if there is a risk that they will need to be involved.

Did you speak to the BA baggage rep at the airport?

Exactly the same thing happened to us last Christmas and we were boarding a Princess cruise the following day. When we told the rep we were on a cruise he noted down our entire cruise itinerary so the would be able to send the bags on to catch up with the ship. We were told to buy whatever we reasonably needed and keep the receipts which we did. We spent about $900 between the two of us when we did a mad shopping dash in Macys the following morning before boarding the ship.

The BA rep also told us to inform Guest Relations as soon as we board the ship as they are very experienced at dealing with this issue which we did. The cruise line (Princess) were fantastic. They took copies of all of our docs relating to our flight bookings and lost baggage claim and assured us that they would be calling BA @ MIA airport 3 times a day to follow up and get our luggage. The cruise line gave us a whole range of complimentary toiletries and unlimited same day laundry service (no charge) for the limited clothes which we had.

We received our luggage 2 days later after the BA staff@ MIA airport forwarded it on an AA flight to Grand Cayman where our ship was due that particular day. The Princess port agent collected the luggage from the airport and delivered it to the ship. We were relieved and amazed that they did what they promised.

After returning home I submitted a claim online to BA and in less than a week I had a call from BA informing me that our claim had been approved and the funds were in my bank a few days later.

Hope this may help you in this stressful situation.

The BA airport team in MIA is very well versed in how to fix these situations and will do whatever they can to get your bags to you, either rush to MIA via another route before you depart, or to a later port if required. It helps if they know you’re on a cruise (buying a cruise special fare really helps here but simply telling the airport team should also work). You’re not the first and won’t be the last - hopefully you won’t be without for too long.

I'd be inclined to contact your cruise line as well, and ask them if there's anything they can do to assist in addition to you badgering BA - the cruise lines often have good local and head office relationships with the major airlines. It can only help.

Edit: others responded with similar advice while I was typing. I can only agree.

Start now with screen shots and update them daily until your luggage shows and be reasonable with clothing purchases.

Hope you get your bags, make it safely to the ship, and have a wonderful cruise.

I just got off the Oceania Riviera in Miami today and had a great time.

My first cruise (may years ago), we lost our bags (well the airline did, actually) and did not get them until day 5 of a 7 day, but we still managed to have fun.

Bon Voyage!

I'd be tempted to go back to MIA to see if you can collect them....if they don't arrive before your ship sails, then as long as BA have the itinerary they will fwd them to the next port of call, and the port agents should get them to the ship for you.I used to work for BCal in lost luggage at LGW, and once (because I happened to have my passport with me at work) I was tasked with flying out to AGP with a wheelchair and delivering it directly to the disabled pax in his cabin onboard his cruise ship. His face when I knocked on his door, in full BCAL tartan was a picture ! Good luck !

The easiest way is the old-fashioned way. Hop in an Uber out to MIA and pick up the bag. BA may or may not reimburse the expense later on, but don't worry about that until you are back home.

While enroute, call the BA US line (open from 07:30 to 23:00) and ask them to message baggage services that you are enroute so that you don't cross paths with a messenger.

In 2 hours you will have your bags and won't have had to go shopping for all kinds of things which aren't what you really want.

Did I miss something? Is the missing bag in MIA?

The OP said the tracker showed the bag was to be put on yesterday's LHR-MIA flight, so in theory the bag is in MIA. However, their cruise should have departed about 4 hours ago, so doesn't do much good if the bag is in MIA now.

Oh that! My track record of things being done when reported on Worldtracer is woeful. It was probably worth the trip to the airport to check but I would not have been surprised if it wasn't there.

Reason number 4395 to never check a bag....as my father always said "A fool and his checked bag are soon parted"...yes, yes I know plenty of people who have never had a problem...and they will never either....until they do.

Generally speaking I agree with you. For my business trips I am 100% hand baggage only. For trips involving golf that's another story. I prefer to use my own clubs and there's no way around checked luggage in that instance. Sometimes it doesn't work out too well.

That happened to us. We flew Ba Miami then onwards to San Jose Costa Rica on Iberia and my husbands bag did not turn up. This was a 20 day cruise on a six star ship so we definitely needed lots of clothes. We tried buying basics ( at least you are in Miami) but sizes very limited as husband 6 foot 5 tall. He was so stressed but lo and behold the bags turned up at 11 pm prior to our midday departure phew was he relieved. Airlines are quite au fait with dealing with missing cruise pax lost baggage in Miami so am confident they will turn up. If getting through by phone is impossible I would just take a cab to the airport which is very close to Miami and park myself at the AA/BA desk until you got some answers. Hope not necessary but good luck and don’t let it ruin your holiday

Update... All's well that ends well :)
 

Thank you for all your advice, much of which I've only just seen!😂

Our bags were eventually delivered to the hotel at 3am on the day of our departure, just as MrZ was dialling the Gold Line as it opened in the UK. Having seen many similar threads before, we did head out on our pre-departure day and get the essentials. We were told by the BA baggage agent at MIA that we were limited to $50 each for the first 48hrs, so we were as frugal as possible, spending maybe $150 between us. All so stressful!

It's a family joke that I take quite a lot in my carry-on bag every trip. Guess who had shorts, swimsuit and alternative shoes?! Poor MrZ only had the jeans, shirt and shoes he left a sleety Glasgow in the day before 😆

We had a great, if short, trip around the Bahamas and are now enjoying the Flagship lounge at MIA before we head home.

Thanks again so much for your advice, much appreciated.

The $50 for 48 hours line is completely untrue. Very disappointing that ground staff are informing people of that. As CWS says, you can claim for reasonable expenses up to the c.$1,200 limit.

Agreed, I have suits, shoes and 2 days of outfits for the whole family from BA on separate occasions. I tend to put any word requests (usually kid related) through the Twitter team first. Never had any issue to get reimbursed

If you have chance to shop do so, even if its onboard, and hopefully your bag can be reunited with you at a stop.