Just wanted to vent a little.

I came home to CH from the States yesterday. Phoenix to London, London to Geneva. I didn't notice until I looked at the itinerary, but the connection in London only allowed us 1:10 between flights. So I think "okay, one dad with 2 kids in tow, this is just barely doable."

We got to London on time, and the BA rep met several of us at the jetway with express connection tags to get us priority at the security checkpoint. Unfortunately, the line at the super duper express x-ray machine was just as long as any other line, but shout out to BA for realizing this could be a problem and doing what they could to help.

We got hung up at security because in the rush I made a rookie mistake and forgot to take my laptop out of the bag, but by a small miracle, we made the connection with a couple of minutes to spare. Again, good organization by BA. They knew we were coming and the gate agent was waiting for us.

At that point, BA was running like a well oiled aviation machine, and I was thinking to myself how much better this is than when I've had similar situations in the States.

Because of all this, only about half of our luggage made it on the same flight. Not really a surprise, In fact, I'm actually pretty impressed that any of our stuff made it. Again, good job from the Brits to pick any of our stuff out of the mountain of luggage that comes off of a huge airplane like a 747 and get it swapped out in that length of time.

Unfortunately, the followup had been less than stellar.

I filed the claim with the lost luggage office in Geneva, and they were able to look up the missing items by bar code and tell me that they were still in London and would be in on the next flight, at about 10:00 pm, and will be delivered to our home this morning.

Morning goes by and there are no bags. I call the phone number at 1:30 pm and it rolls to hold music. 12 minutes later I hang up.

I call back at 4:00 pm and am on hold for about 5 minutes and then get to talk to a live person. She tells me that they are with the courier and are still scheduled for delivery today, but she can't give me a time. She says that the courier will call and let me know when they will be here.

At 6:30 pm I call back for a 3rd time and hardly had to hold at all before the rep comes on and tells me that they will be delivered tonight, but that it could be as late as 11:00 pm.

This sounds fishy to me, but I'm an optimist, so I sat here like an idiot with my eyelids propped open just in case they actually show up. Unsurprisingly, there hasn't been a peep from the mysterious courier, even to let me know that they weren't going to make it tonight.

BA did a great job of helping me make my tight connections work, and due to circumstances beyond their control, I didn't get my stuff. I understand that. But whoever runs the lost luggage in Geneva (I'm assuming that it's the airport authority or some contract outfit) could have at least called to give me an honest heads up. At this point I'm more than a little disappointed....

Lost&Found is done by Swissport and DNATA, both private companies not owned by the airport and actually in foreign ownership. British Airways until recently was handled by Swissport (Ferrovial, Spanish) but apparently changed recently to DNATA (Dubai )

Delivery therefore will take place during Monday

What is unexpected in any of this its pretty normal for luggage to not be able to make a connection of this short time frame.

You really need to change the posting title since it is the airport who stuffed the luggage not BA

Neither airport did "stuff" anything. but the companies under contract with BA, and this means, under the Warsaw Convention and the DenHaag-Protocols, that it clearly WAS British Airways.

Also now it is NOT Geneva-Airport who will deliver the items but the contractor of British Airways.

Another topic is the LHR connection. A connection of less than 2 hours in LHR even in case of a punctual arrival is absolute rubbish and inevitably will lead to problems. The origin of the whole trouble is whomever arranged that crazy booking. Adequate transit-time in LHR is 3 to 5 hours. On the OUTBOUND from Europe, there should be an overnight stay in London as the exContinent to LHR flight may become cancelled for whatever reason

Last time we lost luggage coming from Heathrow it was delivered this end at 23.30. A friends soft bag had been standing in heavy rain at LHR. The bag was so wet that the clothes had to go straight in the tumble dryer first...

The minimum connection time, T5-T5, is 60 minutes. This is on the tight side if you don't know the layout of the airport, and is particularly tight if you arrive and have to depart from one of the remote terminals, because you've still got to get to the main terminal to clear security before your onward flight, meaning two train rides.

I'm actually surprised that the bags didn't make it, as the T5 baggage operation is pretty slick. Out of curiosity, did you notice whether your bags were tagged as 'SHORT' when they were loaded in Phoenix? They should have been flagged as a short connection time and loaded/expedited appropriately.

My experience is like yours -- once the bags are in the hands of a courier, it's anyone's guess when they'll actually arrive. Good luck!

Now you know why you always need to check the connection times! I don't know why, but if you have to use a connecting flight the transit times are all around one hour 30 which is ricidulous these days. I always check and make sure I have at least 2 hours and preferably 2 and a half whichever direction I'm travelling in. It only needs the first leg of the journey to be delayed by even a few minutes and you can kiss a 1.30 connection time goodbye.

Good on BA for their efforts to help you make the connection though. I don't think many airlines would do that.

What you are experiencing with your lost luggage is absolutely normal regardless of which airline. It will show up eventually. It always does.

On the other hand, your experience with BA is impressive. Must say Im more and more inclined to go with BA. ...if it wasnt for the fact that Heathrow is a pain to connect at and also most my flights are within Star Alliance land. But I am getting a bit tired of all the "enhancements" that are taking place lately within the LH group so im looking for alternatives...

Thanks everybody,

Like I said, I just wanted to vent last night. I agree with the good input that you all provided. I'm not exactly a rookie at this, and understand that British Airways isn't at fault in this. It's my own fault for not noticing such a tight schedule when the trip was booked. BA did a great job overall and I definately have no problem with them. (FYI the bags were marked with a Short tag in PHX).

Its just one of those things that happens from time to time, but it's still annoying when you get handed off to a second or third party contractor who doesn't follow through.

I checked this morning to see if they could give me an idea when they would show up, so that I could know how to plan my day, and the rep was showing that they had been delivered last night. Oh well....

Uh, just out of curiosity, how does one go about changing a thread title? If someone can point me in the right direction, I will be happy to come up with something more articulate and witty that my sleep deprived brain was able to manage last night

Call us 1-800-MOD-4-U

...... but be prepared to be kept on indefinite hold, listening to musak.

Seriously, you don't have a Swiss toll-free, I mean freephone, number??

WARNING - You will be Switzerlanded with call charges if you call the Mods

You must confuse us with the naughty line you keep calling from your work phone!

Dear Moderator team. Please accept this communication as written authorization from thread originator, henceforth to be knows as Desert Rat, to change the title of the electronic communication commonly known as "this thread"

Desert Rat suggests the following as possible alternatives titles;

1. "British Airways employees are all rock stars"
2. "British Airways good- baggage contractor only average"
3. "A painful example of how Desert Rat isn't nearly as funny as he thinks"

Done .......

Ok, I just checked with my line manager and he told me, that he's been constipated since Christmas and won't approve of your aforementioned suggestions. We can however offer you the following options "When the Arizona sun does more damage than good"
or
"I just flew across the ocean and desperately need some sleep and water"?

Please let us know which one you prefer and I'll be happy to implement the changes.

Oh man, you are as sharp as razor soup this morning, my friend

See...whilst you are messing about with your processes, authorisations and protocols.....I just did it. That's why cultural diversity in the Mod team is so important

Don't forget about modesty, my dear Chips.