BA Newbie

On a Portland to Heathrow T5 flight, my daughter's cabin bag was moved and placed in an overhead locker further along the aisle by BA crew. After landing, when she managed to get along the aisle, to where crew told her it had been placed, it had gone. Crew didn't help her check other areas, and said she had to leave aircraft and just ask if it had been handed in at the carousel. Nothing. Spent a further 2 hours waiting at lost luggage. Anyone have any experience of passengers 'mistakenly taking' cabin bags and then returning them? Any advice on how BA can help facilitate this if the luggage is no longer on site? Does it just rely on the effort of the passenger, if they've taken it home and then realised case not theirs? As a newbie, I'd be grateful for any advice. Thank you.

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA forum.

Unfortunately I have seen this happen a few times, and my usual advice is to ask for the bag to be placed on the opposite side of the aisle to where you are sat. That way, even if you are some way from the bag you can keep an eye on it, which you can't do if the bag is on the same side of the aisle (or even above you). The worst case involved someone's passport being in the bag and the passenger refused to get off the aircraft unless the bag was returned to him. It was a bus transfer so actually this did result in him getting his bag back.

And even more unfortunately you won't be able to do much other that hope that someone returns the bag to the airport - they don't always do this - or contacts you direct if they find some contact details. This one is best handled by insurance, and may need a police report depending on the insurance conditions (and is do-able online). Strictly speaking, if a BA agent was the last person to touch the bag, then it is covered by Montréal Convention (MC99), to a maximum value of £1400 approx, but I suspect BA won't be helpful on this one.

Dave Noble

Looking ar article 22 of the Montreal Cnvention, it would seem that the XDR1288 liability only applies to checked luggage given the reference in the statement

The 1000 limit has increased has increased to 1131 and then to 1288

corporate-wage-slave

I don't think that's the correct reading, see also article 17. The Convention puts a limit on baggage claims, that's all and that's the point of the Convention, at least from the airline's perspective. For special declarations there's another limit provided certain things are done. But the issue here will be under whose control is the bag in question so I doubt BA will do much. but the case is arguable.

Dave Noble

Based on the requirement for liability on unchecked baggage as per article 17 to be BA's fault, I would think it would be a hard case to argue that another passenger taking it was BA's fault

PAL62V

I think it’s highly unlikely the other passenger will contact the bag’s owner. It was surely stolen & not taken mistakenly, by the simple fact that otherwise their bag would still be in the overhead locker?

Can I help you

Usually when a bag is mistakenly taken a similar bag is left on board?

orbitmic

You omit the part where the op mentions that the bag was moved by BA staff though I'm unclear why it was. Whilst not a sure solution, I'd argue it means that inadvertently, the airline arguably took some responsibility it wouldn't have had otherwise.

cvision

To the point why some FAs on major US airlines at least refuse to touch and move bags in overhead bins themselves.

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Dave Noble

I didn;t think that that was the reason but that it was for reasons such as (a) it isn't their job and (b) if they got injured doing so, that would be their own problem due to (a)

BA Newbie

That's what you would hope! She wanted to look for this on the aircraft, but BA staff ushered her off plane, and said to check for it in the baggage pick up area. She's an inexperienced flyer herself, and didn't have the confidence to push it with them, but realises she could have been more insistent. I'm wondering if BA had already checked all the other overhead areas, and privately suspected it had been taken deliberately (ie stolen), but didn't want to worry her, or maybe admit it at that point.

southsquare

Interestingly, QR routinely advises passengers "to keep valuables with you on the flight".

corporate-wage-slave

Unless you hear within about 48 hours then I fear it is lost. I would check the Heathrow Lost and Found to see if it's there, and try to register it with BA baggage service too (they may not accept it). And put a claim in via ba.com/complaints
Crew can be pretty insistent that people leave the aircraft on arrival, but I think it's perfectly reasonable to explain that you need to find the bag and that you will check all the baggage areas just to make sure. And if the crew member doesn't like that (they probably won't) there isn't a lot they can do. Other than help in the search. The crew's insistence of course now counts against them in terms of claim (indeed to the point that it may be that the £1400 cap won't apply, since there is a reckless provision that goes against this).

Tiger_lily

If only BA took the same approach as Lufty. An economy pax started moving my husband’s bag from the Business overhead locker so that he could put his own bag there. The purser deftly removed his bag, took it to the back of the plane and told him in no uncertain terms that he would be removed from the flight if he so much as created any trouble.

danielflyer

I would file a police report so that it’s on the record that a BA staff member was the last person to touch the bag. I would then ask BA to pay for the bag. From there I would probably attempt to file a small claims case in Portland for the value of the bag.

This happened to me once on another airline. My bag were moved and I had no idea. Thankfully it was not stolen. I refused to get off the plane until the crew located it.

Maybe I will start using AirTags for my carry-ons as well.