bag issue - urgent
 

Hi all
Looking for some urgent advise.

Currently on Paros island in Greece but our Olympic flight to Athens is 45 min late

Meaning we're going to miss our BA flight to LhR at 6.50. We could just run and probably just make it. But not our bags.
What happens if we just leave them?
Can we open a case once we land at LHR? Will BA have to send them into us or will Olympic (but they don't fly to UK)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

bag issue - urgent
 

Let's assume and hope that you just purchased one ticket, they know your final destination but if you are to pickup your suitcase and you don't, it will remain in Baggage Claim.
What you can try doing (Dont know if OA does that) is for them to tag your luggage LHR and send it through. I think they would have to contact UA but afterall they do have both a ticketing AND you "may check baggage to" BA
Good luck, have a safe way home

bag issue - urgent
 

It's two desperate tickets as you can't buy the island tickets as one ticket. Some OA issue....
OA say they can't ticket it to LHR :(

bag issue - urgent
 

Tricky. I'm not sure I would want to leave my luggage after flight 1.

I assume your airport is really small, but is there some shipping/mailing company which you could just send your bags with? To your final desination?

bag issue - urgent
 

Are you sure? I see availability as PAS-ATH-LHR
with OA/BA.
Anyways let's not reminisce on what could've been done.

hco has a good point, what's your ATH-LHR ticket value? What would be the cost of sending a 23kg luggage to London?

Next time, issue your tickets through a third party, OA might not be able to go and play in BA's inventory, but a TA sure is

I would see if OA can thru check it and if you get a claim check to LHR then run for it. Otherwise. .. I would wait for the bags unless I could do without ever seeing them again.

bag issue - urgent
 

Let us know how it goes nstofberg

Right so its update time.

Firstly, the reason we couldn't buy the flights on 1 ticket are because OA only release the tickets for the season very close to the start of the season (it changes every year as the route has something to do with Government contract etc). So waiting until then to buy the LHR - ATH flights on BA become expensive.

Second point - OA said they couldn't check our bags through to LHR yet when we got to ATH, BA staff said they could?!

Third point - we decided to just leave our bags and run (as I had called BA who said they'd made a note to expect us). Well we got to to the gate at 18.45 for a 18.50 flight and there was no note and no one knew anything.
We were going to get our friend in Athens to have the bags shipped to us (or I was going to use my miles to fly back and collect the bags in person).

So in the end we collected our bags and there were no flights on BA for 3 days. So BA couldn't change our ticket to another flight (even if we paid the plenty and fare difference).
Then checked the other airlines and no real options and the 2 that were, were over £800 each with connections with Cyprus or TLV etc.
Anyway, suddenly something made me check online again and 2 BA flights appeared, one today at 8.15 and another at 13.35 so ran to BA desk and they were closed.
So I quickly booked the flights at €600 each before they disappeared.
(On a side note, when we checked in online for our original BA flight, we got offered the £99 upgrade, which we took - more money lost).

I've emailed OA to ask them what they can do but doubt they be helpful. Always messaged BA to explain desk was closed and if we could get a refund for the new flights, less the fee change and fare difference and upgrade fee. Will let you know what they say.
Anybody got any other suggestions or routes I can go down?

(I'm waiting to hear about my travel insurance but need to get the reason for the delay from OA first).

Seems like a fair request to BA, unlike some crazy people asking for compensation and extra miles and no change fees and the whole world.
I hope this can be done by BA, and you have to insist that BA desk was closed. Did you try calling the call centres?

Travel insurance probably wont pay for a delay, they would pay for Interruption let's say which would buy you an economy ticket back home, but that would be in the case of an emergency, I dont believe insurances pay for mech issues or weather delays

Was going to call the centre in the UK but I was on hold for 15min last time when I first called to tell them about the delay.
And the flights were available and then disappearing, I couldn't afford to waste time in case someone else booked.
Hopefully they'll understand - happy to pay fee change and fare difference! Just not a whole brand new ticket ;)

bag issue - urgent
 

Well at least there was a solution to bring both the luggage and yourself back to LHR :)
GL

Given that these were two separtate tickets, OA will likely say that it delivered OP and his bags on schedule to ATH. That was the end of OA's responsibility.

BA will say that OP voluntarily did not fly his scheduled itinerary ATH-LHR but that BA was ready, willing and able to transport him. That was BA's responsibility.

Anything which either or both carriers do is solely as a matter of customer service goodwill and nothing else.

It's water under the bridge for OP, but it's also the case that when you book separate tickets (which may have been done with good reason here), you should make certain that you allow significantly more time for your transfer, that you avoid checking anything and that you understand that the downside risk is that you care stuck at your transfer point with no support from either carrier.

Particularly on the return where you don't really care how quickly your luggage makes it back, it's worth considering simply shipping it and putting the items you really need in carry-on.

Your travel insurance may come through for you - mine does cover delays when not booked as one ticket provided the first flight is scheduled to arrive at least 2 hours before the next one departs.

Oh, interesting. I'll definitely check my cover.
Who is your insurance with Emma?

Never knew about such an insurance, it would definitely be useful for for nstofberg.
At the rythm I book separate tickets, you won't see me getting that insurance any time soon, but in this case it definitely was a good reason to book 2 tickets