Lost baggage :-(

[al78]

Just come back from Florida this morning, unfortunately my suitcase didn't come with me.

It all started on Friday when I had one of those connecting flights where I had to fly from Jacksonville to Miami, then Miami to Heathrow, with about 1 hr 40 mins connection time. This would normally be plenty of time as there are no customs to go through after the first leg and my bag was checked in all the way to Heathrow which meant I didn't need to go through baggage reclaim. Unfortunately, severe weather delayed the flight out of Jacksonville by two hours, so I arrived in Miami 30 minutes after my connecting flight left. I managed to get a room for the night at a nearby hotel but was unable to get hold of my checked bag, and the airline put me on another flight to Heathrow on Saturday evening. I managed to get the flight back to Heathrow but my bag was not in baggage reclaim, so had to go to the desk and obtain a property irregularity receipt. I now live in hope that I will see this suitcase again soon.

Has anyone else had this happen to them and if so, how long did it take to get your luggage back? It is highly likely that the lost baggage is a consequence of the missed connection but am curious as to where it could have ended up, given it was tagged for a Heathrow destination.

 

[rollinstok]

Reminds me of a couple of years back when we were travelling to Manchester Airport on a very busy train. There was a large group of Chinese tourists who all got off the train at Preston, around 15 of them were on the platform while 2 or 3 passed their bags down off the racks. I was lucky to see my rucksack about to be passed through the door and managed to prevent it being taken. When the train left the platform there were less than 20 Chinese outside with about 40 bags !! Quite a lot of people arrived at Manchester without their luggage, and of the people I spoke to later in the airport there was still no sign of it.

 

[coffeejo]

When I came back from the States a few years ago, my luggage stayed on for a cheeky extension to the holiday. The airline arranged a reunion within 48 hours. It was actually a much better way to travel since I was saved from wrestling two large suitcases on and off an assortment of trains and buses from Manchester airport to my mum's in west Wales. Lost luggage FTW!

 

[HovR]

I've had this happen quite a few times, and the luggage has always made it back to me.

A few winters ago I was flying to Oregon, USA, to visit some family for Christmas - I was flying with a connection through Dallas, TX. I had deboarded in Dallas, claimed my baggage and dropped it off at the location for it to be put on my connected flight, and made my way to the gate. From here the flight kept on getting further and further delayed due to snow in my final destination of Portland, OR.

Eventually the flight was canceled, as the Portland airport had been completely shut due to snow. After a few hours of waiting around in Dallas I was put on a flight to Seattle, however my luggage never followed. From Seattle I was supposed to get a connecting flight to Eugene, OR, which hadn't been affected by the snow. That flight never took off due to blizzard conditions (which we somehow managed to land in, in a tiny MD-80 - That was scary!).

So I ended up being stuck in Seattle with only my carry-on for 24 hours until I could be picked up by a family member with a 4x4 that could handle the multiple feet of snow and ice.

Bought some cheap 'temporary' clothes from Wal-Mart until my baggage made it to the local tiny airport a few miles from where I was staying a few days later.

 

[Arch]

Coming back from a conference in Mexico, my academic poster in it's plastic carrying case failed to appear at Leeds/Bradford.I got it back a few days later, but only after a courier (Shitty Link, I think) rang meat about 8.30pm to say they couldn't find the university department address to return it to (it's likely they were parked outside, but couldn't be bothered to investigate through a set of open gates), and wouldn't accept another address to deliver it to, because it was the end of his shift. Eventually, they managed to find the department, but it was more trouble getting it the last 30 miles or so than the previous thousands....

 

[TVC]

I've not been separated from my bags myself, but I know a couple of people who have, both of whom had their cases delivered to their home by taxi within 48 hours.

 

[MossCommuter]

If I had a pound for every time an airline had lost my bags I would have precisely no pounds. As an erstwhile frequent flyer my bags arrived at my destination after after me very often indeed but I have never had anything lost altogether.

Fingers crossed for you; I have every confidence your luggage will turn up.

 

[Leedsbusdriver]

I lost my bag at the airport once,but unlucky for me she found me and we had to go on holiday together that year.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

One flight back from India my ma was on the airline put the luggage for the whole flight on a different plane. She got it back...a few weeks later!

 

[Globalti]

A friend of mine at college flew back from Belgium and when she got home to the Midlands, opened her case to find it full of pornographic magazines. A few phone calls later it turned out that she had swopped cases with a very well known pop star and he had hers, waaay down in Cornwall. Being as he was extremely rich you'd have thought that he would offer to do the swop but he was curiously reluctant to get his case back (!!) so she had to drive down, find his address and do the swop. When she opened her own case she found it had been rummaged through, she was not happy about it.

There was a time a few years ago when every time I came back to Manchester through Schiphol I would arrive minus my case. It was so bad that KLM were sending an articulated truck over to the UK every day full of British passengers' luggage, which was then being distributed by taxi. I even began to believe that there was a scam going on between the UK taxi firms and the Dutch baggage handlers but the true explanation was more prosaic; they were rebuilding the baggage handling areas at Schiphol.

 

[Red Light]

IME its always connecting flights that lose your baggage. Usually in your circumstances I would collect them from the first flight and check in to the transatlantic flight with them rather than let them go through automatically. Better still to travel with hand luggage only.

 

[biggs682]

must admit never happened to us , but then we just put all our luggage in boot and drive to great yarmouth .

you will get it back , just keep pestering airline

 

[ASC1951]

I've only lost my luggage once in thirty years and, like everyone else here, go it back almost immediately. IME it's an impressive system, given the number of items and the opportunities for human error.

 

[Maz]

Reminds me of a couple of years back when we were travelling to Manchester Airport on a very busy train. There was a large group of Chinese tourists who all got off the train at Preston, around 15 of them were on the platform while 2 or 3 passed their bags down off the racks. I was lucky to see my rucksack about to be passed through the door and managed to prevent it being taken. When the train left the platform there were less than 20 Chinese outside with about 40 bags !! Quite a lot of people arrived at Manchester without their luggage, and of the people I spoke to later in the airport there was still no sign of it.

Now that's what I call a Chinese take-away.

 

[al78]

Success, my bag and I are now reunited . From what I could gather it had been held by BA in Miami after I had missed the flight.