@Red Leon, I thought you travelled Biz. I was in economy on the pre+BB .
I use a Rab 50L kit bag (with rucsack Straps) because it is squashable if you get size checked.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Kimski44 wrote:
Apart from anything else, @sean1967 has def got the right attitude and sad as I am for his plight, this makes for hilarious reading…. (Sorry Sean1967). Really hope his underwear, never mind all his ski essentials, turns up tomorrow. Agree re unnecessary spending sprees as mentioned above, but I’ve considered it a little naff for many years now to actually TRAVEL in a ski jacket (I suppose if you’re a bloke, it’s alright) so I would be skiing along in my fluffy teddy bear coat if this was me… which would be ok I guess and I think many of the ladies on here are with me!!
This is a spoof post, right?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
JailBaitMcFlude wrote:
Kimski44 wrote:
Apart from anything else, @sean1967 has def got the right attitude and sad as I am for his plight, this makes for hilarious reading…. (Sorry Sean1967). Really hope his underwear, never mind all his ski essentials, turns up tomorrow. Agree re unnecessary spending sprees as mentioned above, but I’ve considered it a little naff for many years now to actually TRAVEL in a ski jacket (I suppose if you’re a bloke, it’s alright) so I would be skiing along in my fluffy teddy bear coat if this was me… which would be ok I guess and I think many of the ladies on here are with me!!
This is a spoof post, right?
Sez the man who travels in shorts and flip flops.
Does explain why when you're flying for a weekend with just carry on you see people with a suitcase each plus a ski bag.
@Dave of the Marmottes, yeah but only because it's comfortable, not because wearing trousers is naff or I give a f*** what anyone else thinks
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@zikomo, you have been very lucky then and I really wouldn’t speak too soon.
This is the second time in a few years BA have lost our bags quite spectacularly. Summer 2019 we had to drive an extra 3 hours back on ourselves (and then back again) to collect most of the family luggage as they delivered it to our first stop despite upwards of 20 phone calls explaining we had moved out of state. My husband’s bag was separated and went to Venice and Dallas in the meantime. He only got it eventually over a week later because a former colleague worked in head office and was very helpful.
Now just returned from half term all our stuff is in T5 and it only takes one glance at Twitter to see that this is not a company doing a competent job. I can cobble together another set of gear and have ordered some hire boots for my arrival but my heart breaks for 70 kids who arrived in Milan with no ski gear today having waited 3 years for their school trip.
After being panicked by stories here of lost luggage and when the hand luggage allowance has allowed I've packed boots in hand luggage, along with salopettes, and ski socks, base layers & gloves stuffed into boots. Jacket and midlayer you wear, goggles in goggle pocket & helmet strapped to hand luggage. Its doable but not much space for much else. But all other stuff is superflous to the reason for travel.
And not much space in overhead locker or under seat in front of you either I suspect!
There's not much I'd do different next time except take daily disposable contact lenses in carry-on (have always been paranoid about the solution they're stored in get flagged and needing to be chucked) and a change of socks and under-crackers.
And not waste time looking for somewhere to hire clothing and just start spending BA's money on replacement gear straight away.
I do wonder how long they'll take to deal with the claim I submitted on Friday now that they've stuffed at least another 500 people this weekend though.
Might have to start process of insurance claim even though I really don't want to go through with it.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@Skimum1, I would agree that when BA get it wrong they tend to do so spectacularly! But it is not so much that I am lucky, as that some others have been spectacularly unlucky. Over the years (and I fly a LOT) I must have had a dozen or so bags not delivered with the flight with BA. Only one of them took more than 24 hours to be delivered to wherever I was staying. I am not saying all is great with BA, but that in the vast majority of cases they get luggage to you pretty quickly. That is of course no consolation when the delay is extended and particularly inconvenient.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Does anybody actually know what's up with all this luggage problems at T5?
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Just reading that aswell. Does that affect insurance/ba comp as weather is out of there control?
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@WASHOUT, I think it may well do, according to the basis to claim compensation that BA publish, but you can probably find other views and you can always ask.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
zikomo wrote:
... Over the years (and I fly a LOT) I must have had a dozen or so bags not delivered with the flight with BA. Only one of them took more than 24 hours to be delivered to wherever I was staying. I am not saying all is great with BA, but that in the vast majority of cases they get luggage to you pretty quickly. That is of course no consolation when the delay is extended and particularly inconvenient.
The trick with flying regularly.. is not to use hold baggage at all
BA one lost my snowboards for almost a month, which is why I know precisely how long you have to wait before you can legally write them off under the Montreal convention etc.
I don't think they're anyone's favourite airline.
Quote:
Just reading that aswell. Does that affect insurance/ba comp as weather is out of there control?
It does not affect their liability for losing your bags.
Typically they use that excuse to defend against EU flight compensation, which is a whole different area of liability dodging.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@philwig, Flying without hold baggage is the obvious choice and one anyone with any sense would take where possible. That is not possible for the 4 family trips we make a year (6 of us) the half dozen or so work trips I make that are longer than a week, or the two fishing trips a year that I typically make. Add to that that I grew up abroad and went to a boarding school, so 6 x long haul trips per year for 7 years. In all those trips I have had delayed luggage around a dozen times.
I am not a defender of BA. Simply stating the facts. The fact that there are exceptions (like your snowboard) does not take away from the fact that the vast majority of delayed baggage finds its way to you very quickly. It is important to put things in context, not least to avoid people getting stressed out about a very small risk. I general I rarely have problems with lost luggage at all, the vast majority of the time bags arrive in time. And when they are delayed, the vast majority of the time they are delivered within 24 hours. When you put the two things together there is a tiny risk of you being without your luggage at all, let alone for more than 24 hours. It is vanishingly small for it to be lost for more than a day.
Take some essentials in hand luggage (medications, change of underwear, glasses, electronics). Take a credit card. Have good insurance. All common sense things to do. Stressing about the tiny, tiny risk that things will go wrong makes no sense at all.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@philwig, …my niece and partner went cycling in Vietnam and Cambodia. The bikes arrived safely in Saigon on the way out. On the way back…no bikes in Heathrow. All paperwork filled out. Phoned the next day…where are the bikes? In Chile. Ah. Two days go by…phoned again. Now they are in Vancouver. Two days go by .. phoned again. This time expecting anything from Anchorage to Adelaide. One is in Heathrow…the other…who knows. By day 12 they both are in Heathrow, one of them VERY bent. Luckily both are steel, so once the rear triangle had been retracked using a scaffolding pole they were ready to go…
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
WASHOUT wrote:
Does anybody actually know what's up with all this luggage problems at T5?
I think at least one person on here has inside knowledge as I was pretty sure someone said they'd spoken to colleagues as they worked for the company concerned, but can't find the posts now.
(EDIT: found the posts in a different thread, but the airline was never named so might not have been BA)
When it was just a few bags being left off the flights to Vancouver (like mine), I assumed it was a weight vs fuel issue and a calculated decision made at late notice. Possibly to take into account what someone else mentioned about commercial cargo.
As far as this weekend was concerned, it sounds like it might have been due to some of the machinery concerned not being operational due to the high winds.
But I was also pretty sure I read that there was industrial action planned for last Friday which was apparently cancelled. So maybe something went on with relation to that?
Or maybe they're still just operating low staffing levels and aren't able to cope with the additional number of flights / travelers during busy half-term period?!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
According to a BA quote in a BBC article it was difficult to get the doors to the luggage hold open in the wind.
Must have been bloody difficult because we arrived Saturday evening and still no bags.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Skimum1 wrote:
Wish I had travelled in my ski jacket as I’d have it now for my flight out on Thursday rather than it being stuck in the depths of T5…
Treat yourself to a new jacket on BA. Something wild, that you'd never normally wear.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@jebroni3_16, I too was on that flight on Saturday...we missed our connection home to Dublin and had to stay in the Hilton Garden in T2 and get the first flight home on Sunday morning...we left the hotel at 05:00 and there was families asleep on the sofas on the foyer obviously in the same predicament....they've proper f**ked up this time.
I too was affected by the big fustercluck at Heathrow on Saturday on my way back from the Dollies. It was breezy on Friday yes but not enough to cause the carnage that occurred. Ein real sheisseshow at the fickenfactory.
I spent two nights in London before getting back to Glasgow yesterday by booking another flight outwith my original booking. Bags and skis should arrive back in Glasgow tonight.
@jebroni3_16, I too was on that flight on Saturday...we missed our connection home to Dublin and had to stay in the Hilton Garden in T2 and get the first flight home on Sunday morning...we left the hotel at 05:00 and there was families asleep on the sofas on the foyer obviously in the same predicament....they've proper f**ked up this time.
Aye it was bad. Once I heard my flight was coco'd, I boosted sharpish to Hammersmith on the Piccadilly line. Had a great curry for lunch on the Sunday and a rake of stout in Connolly's in Acton watching Celtic go 3 points clear of the satanic hordes.
I'm thinking bamboo for my new BA sponsored scants.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Been in Connollys many a time...had belter of a session there when Ntcham scored "that" goal in the Glasgow Derby.
Next up for us is Ischgl for St Patricks Week..
"....In Ange We Trust"
After all it is free
After all it is free
sean1967 wrote:
I too was affected by the big fustercluck at Heathrow on Saturday on my way back from the Dollies. It was breezy on Friday yes but not enough to cause the carnage that occurred. Ein real sheisseshow at the fickenfactory.
...
I spent two nights in London before getting back to Glasgow yesterday by booking another flight outwith my original booking. Bags and skis should arrive back in Glasgow tonight.
When I resurrected your old thread, I didn't think that it might inadvertently result in you getting shafted once more. My apologies!
Glad you (once again) managed to make the most of the "experience" though
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
jebroni3_16 wrote:
sean1967 wrote:
I too was affected by the big fustercluck at Heathrow on Saturday on my way back from the Dollies. It was breezy on Friday yes but not enough to cause the carnage that occurred. Ein real sheisseshow at the fickenfactory.
...
I spent two nights in London before getting back to Glasgow yesterday by booking another flight outwith my original booking. Bags and skis should arrive back in Glasgow tonight.
When I resurrected your old thread, I didn't think that it might inadvertently result in you getting shafted once more. My apologies!
Glad you (once again) managed to make the most of the "experience" though
You jinxed it big time alright, really screwed the pooch on this one.
It was all going well. Skied Friday in Selva until the last lift up Dantercepies. Few scoops in Panorama Bar then skied down like Jesus with Con te Partiro blaring in the ears and Weissbier fuelled tear in the eye. Quick shuffle into the jeans, the bus to Bolzano and night in the Laurin after getting my snout round a few stout in Pogue Mahone's.
Early train to Verona, bus to the airport all smooth until the wheels came right off the stagecoach at Heathers.
All your fault, ya jebroni.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
sean1967 wrote:
after getting my snout round a few stout in Pogue Mahone's.
Great name....from the Irish - Póg mo thóin. I wonder how many people drinking there know what it means.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@Old Fartbag, Im not sure they’d want to know!
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@ster, I'm not sure they'd care
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
We were also caught up in the chaos at T5 on Sat, coming back from Milan, arriving c.11pm. At least the pilot on our flight said don't bother waiting on the bags as there weren't any ground crew to unload them. our 7 bags have apparently been collected by a courier (on Monday evening) but still no sign of them. No tracking number, no way to contact anyone, website works intermittently
The weather on Friday may have been the precipitant of the issues but it was forecast and alerts/warnings were widely distributed for several days. The real problem is that BA have clearly pared their operation down to the barest of bones and are relying far too much on cheaply developed and badly designed technology. As a result, they have no tolerance for and can't (even remotely) cope with the slightest of hiccups. They're still using the pandemic as an excuse not to answer the phone at all and their customer service is now the worst of any company I've ever encountered. They're actually far worse now than any of the budget airlines.
I have booked with them again recently for 2 more trips this year because they rolled my silver status over for a couple of years but that's unlikely to happen again as my business travel is never going to go back to the way it was so as soon as I lose the the lounge/check-in/baggage perks, I'll never fly with them again. There's simply no value proposition whatsoever from their offering: A premium price for, by some distance, the very worst level of service? No thanks.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
BA flight home from Munich to Heathrow was cancelled at short notice yesterday and not offered a new flight until two days later.
Customer service weren't helpful saying just wait until Thursday.
Cost me a lot to get home with Lufthansa and hoping the insurance will cover it.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@BenW_86, lucky then. BA didn’t even get their hands on your luggage to lose it.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@BenW_86, Couple of things:
1. Did they offer accommodation, transport and food for the intervening period? If not follow-up and state you will be making a formal complaint to the EU regulator (which covers all flights arriving in or departing from the EU).
2. Remember to claim your full compensation for the cancellation, again under EU law
3. BA should reimburse your full costs. I would attempt that first formally with them. Follow-up through small claims process when/if they refuse to do so. Airlines constantly try to avoid paying to re-route you on another airline even though they are legally required to do so. They should have arranged this directly for you. I have always had eventual success getting the full costs of a re-route back from the airline (including BA), but normally legal action required to do so.
4. Inform your insurers and see what they want to do. They might want to support you in getting the full cost back from BA. If not, most good insurance policoies would cover this eventuality.
It has become so common for airlines to behave in this way, which is why I like to pursue them to the full extent when they fail to fulfil their obligations. Frankly otherwise it is cheaper for them to continue to screw passengers over, as the cost of paying out to the few who pursue them is less than the cost of re-routing everyone.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Great advice and spot on @zikomo
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Cheers for the info, very helpful @zikomo, they offered to cover accommodation costs etc in Munich. I persisted that they should cover my alternative flight home but they just kept refusing and time was of the essence so just had to go for it.
@jma, +1 completely agree with your assessment - no other airline has had these issues!
I’m pretty sure I won’t get my bags back before my flight to GVA, just hope BA will cough up for new toiletries, new ski pants, goggles and gloves I’ve had to buy in the meantime…
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Our bags turned up yesterday by courier. So 3 days/nights without our gear. Very pleased to have all our own stuff today - makes skiing much easier.
Luggage tracker website says bags are still en route.
Now the task of trying to work out what to claim from BA and what from insurers starts. There are 4 of us so we've spent a reasonable amount getting sorted.
Still waiting here (coming up for 4 days) - all our friends travelling with Swiss Air got theirs as their flights landed on Saturday. Trying to be patient (and grateful that it happened coming home, not travelling Oti) but getting fed up now.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@Soozm, same here, mine is still in a facility on the airport outskirts (iTag left in ski jacket!)
After all it is free
After all it is free
@Skimum1, I’ve been following your story.. aren’t you due to go again tomorrow? That is very frustrating!!! We’re just low on pants here. Mr Sooz is another story, lamenting his beloved lost snowboard!
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
bastathecat wrote:
Our bags turned up yesterday by courier. So 3 days/nights without our gear. Very pleased to have all our own stuff today - makes skiing much easier.
Luggage tracker website says bags are still en route.
Now the task of trying to work out what to claim from BA and what from insurers starts. There are 4 of us so we've spent a reasonable amount getting sorted.
My bag turned up over two weeks ago (three days after my flight) and the system is still showing that as "en route", so I wouldn't hold my breath on that changing just yet.
I've started the process of claiming from BA and BA alone. Have told them I don't have insurance. I do if course and have advised them informally and checked there's not a time frame I need to begin claim process with them.
As there isn't, I'll continue to pursue BA for recompense in the meantime. Got 11 months left on my travel insurance policy!
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@BenW_86, Good luck. Don't let them off the hook. Happy to help based on past experience if and when you need it. Just shout!
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
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