mgm

I've just had a most frustrating experience with BA and really don't know what to do next. It's a bit long winded so appologies in advance if you get bored!

I flew Concorde LHR-JFK two weeks ago. On boarding I put my camera in the seat pocket and started to settle in. Then I realized I was sitting in the wrong seat (1 row behind where I should have been). Took my correct seat but forgot about the camera. Towards the end of the flight I looked for my camera and remembered it was in the seat pocket, so I asked the passenger behind me if he could see if it was there. He said that he had found the camera before we took off and gave it to one of the flight attendants.

The flight attendant said that it had been off-loaded in London as they assumed it had been left there from the previous flight. She assured me that there should not be anything to worry about as it was given to one of the Concorde gate staff and they would send it to lost property.

When I arrived at JFK I spoke to a special services agent who said he would get in touch with London and make sure it was taken care of. A short while later I was given a reference number and the number of lost & found in London. I was told the camera was being forward to them and that I could collect it when I returned to London.

Just returned to London and spent nearly the whole day trying to find out what has happened. Basically the camera never turned up at the lost & found department and the only reference they have is the report by the special services agent at JFK. Now I am being given the run around by BA Customer Relations.

I've asked them if it is possible to get in touch with the flight attendant to see if she remembers who the camera was handed to (given that the Concorde staff are a relatively small group she might know who it was). They have said that as I am not an Executive Club member I have write to them and then they might do something. If I had been an Exec Club member they would have recorded the details online and started enquiries straight away. I don't have a great deal of faith in BA's responsiveness to written communication as I have been waiting for over a month for a answer to a different issue I wrote to them about.

It has crossed my mind that the camera may have been "appropriated" and if so is all the more annoying given that it was definitely found and handed to the ground staff by the cabin crew.

It is an expensive camera but I can get it replaced on insurance. What is most annoying is the brick wall treatment I am getting from BA because I am not an Exec Club member. So, I guess unless I am incredibly fortunate and BA responds quickly to my written request, there is no hope of finding out what actually happened to the camera.

Ideas anyone?

Canista

To benefit from the super tracking for BAEC members [ ], why not apply on-line and call them back once you have your number?

As an aside, I don’t think you can infer that your camera was stolen – it could simply be misplaced.

You could of course put a post on Bassa to look for a new one (oops, just kidding).


[This message has been edited by Canista (edited 11-26-2002).]

PUCCI GALORE

Simple my love. Get hold of the airport police telephone number and report the incident to them. Get an incident number and follow it up (you'd need to do that anyway).

Do not assume that anyone innocent. The first question that I asked was why did she not make a PA to see if it did belong to anyone on board?

Have you also tried calling Heathrow on 0208-759-4321 and ask for T1 - Lost Property.

I do hope that it shows up.

MikeinSIN

Dude..

What a COMPLETE waste of your time...

I think what [b]PUCCI[\b] said makes sense.

Call the police, make a statement, get a case reference number.

Call BA, tell them it's in the hands of the police. Also, get in touch with Customer Relations, tell them that you don't CARE if you're not a BAEC member. You were travelling on Concorde, NOT in economy, and expect commensurate treatment.

It'd be interesting to see how this pans out.

Regards

Mike

mgm

Thanks for the input. I think PUCCI's idea of making a police report then informing BA is a good one. Calling the general airport lost property is a long shot but I'll also give that a try.

PUCCI - I agree with what your point of not assuming anyone is innocent. Though I'd like to highlight that I do believe what the crew said is true. I neglected to say that the first crew member I asked knew what I was talking about but was not the one who handed it over. She then got the other crew member to explain to me what had happened. I think I understand why she didn't make a PA as this all happened very early in the boarding process and her assumption was probably reasonable under the circumstances.

Another less tangible reason is that the person in question has been on all of the Concorde flights I have taken this year (4 in total). She has remembered me each time, made a point of having a chat and once or twice given a little more attention than necessary.

I will post an update there are any developments.


[This message has been edited by mgm (edited 11-27-2002).]

hfly

Why would you fly the Concorde so often and NOT have an EC number??

LHR Tim

Could be putting the miles in Qantas, Aer Lingus, Lan Chile, etc. Or it could be the great Flyertalk to Starwood to Qantas Concorde Give Away Extravaganza!

mgm, follow Pucci's sage advice, somethings not right.

mgm

My main bases are the U.S. and Asia/Australia. From a frequent flyer point of view I get more benefits by having AAdvantage and QF accounts (both at Emerald level) than I would from a BA EC account. Anytime I fly BA transatlantic I use my QF account - which is where the points for the Concorde flights went. Given that there is supposed to be an alliance that makes it easier for us as premium frequent flyers, then in theory I have one account too many as it is. Unfortunately this is what you have to do to get around the fine print of no mileage earning on BA transatlantic flights and no domestic lounge access in N.A. for AAdvantage members.

Of perhaps more interest is what happened yesterday. I decided to give customer relations one more try and insist that they do something (as MikeinSIN pointed out this was Concorde and they should'nt be fobbing me off).

Finally spoke to someone who was a lot more helpful and he said I shouldn't have been told to write in and he would take all the details and investigate. He got back to me later in the day and said that no report was filed on the aircraft by the cabin crew or by the ground crew closing out the flight, which apparently should be done anytime something is found. I've asked if he could get a message to the crew member and see if she remembers anything. He is going to do this but said that it might take a while and implied that it would be unlikely to get a positive result.

I will go ahead and file a police report - which I'll need for an insurance claim anyway. If I don't get a suitable response from BA I'll ask the police if it's something that can be taken further (though in the larger scheme of things I feel this is doubtful).

Ho hum.


[This message has been edited by mgm (edited 11-28-2002).]

oldpenny16

This is a classic stone wall. Get an EC number even if you never use it. This is stupid. How about the guy sitting behind you? Does he have a new camera?