'Lost' baggage and inconvenience.... ****ing Airline....

[Dupont666]

So decided to fly on a one stop strategy to get home yesterday as it meant no sitting in a bus for 3 hours between Tampere and Helsinki before the Helsinki to Heathrow flight.

Queried the check in attendent as I thought that 30-40 mins to transfer was a bit short to get my luggage off one of these buggers:



and onto a proper jet.

Was told that it was easy and they did it all the time so not to worry and was being silly thinking that it wouldnt be transfered and not make it.

So got to Helsinki and ran to get on the proper jet to get to heathrow and managed to blag a whole row for my and the OH, so finally got some sleep after being level with the prop on the other plane which meant constant noise. OH warned me that the bag 'might' not make it as its a tight transfer, but told her that I had been assured since I was the only one tranfering that it would be there, so no worries...

got to heathrow and dashed to get through passport control as hate that area with a passion and went to baggage collection and low and behold I wait and wait and wait until the abu dhabi bags start to get unloaded.... AWWW st!!! Not impressed...

Went to the missing luggage to be made to wait for 45mins (dozen people waiting and one member of staff) then told yes my bag is still in Helsinki and would it be ok if I stay at home on monday morning (9-12) to wait in for it.... Told them in no uncertain terms to fk RIGHT OFF... they can deliver tonight as it has all my contacts lenses in and my glasses so if I didnt have them I was fked for work, they tried to tell me that it wasnt possible as they dont usually do late night taxi deliveries and it was after hours, so I told them it either gets there to my flat in London tonight staight after the flight (due in 21:30) or they pay me for the missed day of work, they agree to the delivery straight after the landing.

Phone them up at 21:40 to make sure it has landed and when is it coming over.... get told to speak to the delivery company, ok me thinks not an issue, will go and speak to them and find out the score.

They tell me that they will deliver between 23:00 and 01:30 only and if I wasnt in/awake I would have to go in and get it myself... after much swearing and the fact they couldnt deliver any earlier I have to agree to it or lose a days work.... sure enough as sods law would have it, they arrive dead on 01:30.

I later find out that there was not a hope in hells chance I was going to get my bag on the flight and its cheaper to inconvenience a few passengers and deliver them a day late/late at night then it is to pay the fine and try and get my luggage on the plane and delay it and give the customers the it got 'lost in transition' story.

How are they allowed to do this and get away with it bearing in mind they own the fking airports that I flew to and from in Finland?? Could they have not just flew 30-45 mins earlier into helsink and made my stop over longer??

fk BUNCH OF USELES S.....

So now im cranky, tired, need more coffee... but have my bag... Not checked the contents for my glassware that I brought back (lots of cool ittalia stuff) as it was nearly 2am and I needed sleep and if thats broke I will be PISSED...

Incidentally the holiday was excellent, if not let down by the trip back...

[Parsnip]

Similar happened to me:

Paris > Amsterdam > Stavanger

Had about 70 minutes between the flight to amsterdam leaving and the one to Stavanger taking off. Amsterdam flight was delayed, but not by much, result was me getting to Stavanger while my bags stayed in Amsterdam.

Checked with the baggage bloke in Stavanger, assured me that it would be on the next flight and that there were a few people in the same boat.

Saying that, it arrived on the next flight and they sent it round the same day - dont know if the story would be the same if it was a late night flight.

[bigandclever]

Dupont666 said:

Told them in no uncertain terms to fk RIGHT OFF... they can deliver tonight as it has all my contacts lenses in and my glasses so if I didnt have them I was fked for work

If they were that important they'd be in your hand luggage. Or on your face

I share your pain though. Worst I had was a bag going missing on it's way to Lanzarote, somehow getting lost between the aeroplane and the terminal. It finally reappeared 4 weeks after the end of the holiday, having bounced around various European airports before getting to the end of the line somewhere in Africa, and was just left outside the house. It was utterly reeking - there were some cartons of baby formula milk in it that had burst at some point and the whole bag was filled with cheese. BA ended up paying for the lot to be replaced.

[Dupont666]

bigandclever said:

Dupont666 said:

Told them in no uncertain terms to fk RIGHT OFF... they can deliver tonight as it has all my contacts lenses in and my glasses so if I didnt have them I was fked for work

If they were that important they'd be in your hand luggage. Or on your face

I share your pain though. Worst I had was a bag going missing on it's way to Lanzarote, somehow getting lost between the aeroplane and the terminal. It finally reappeared 4 weeks after the end of the holiday, having bounced around various European airports before getting to the end of the line somewhere in Africa, and was just left outside the house. It was utterly reeking - there were some cartons of baby formula milk in it that had burst at some point and the whole bag was filled with cheese. BA ended up paying for the lot to be replaced.

Contact lense case had leaked so no solution in either of the sections (just my luck) and the bottle of solution and replacements were in the main case along with glasses (usually kept in hand luggage), ordinarily I would have kept them in (30 day jobbies) put the air con in the plane had dried them out and I was grumpy so I wasnt prepared to go to boots and fork out any of my money to get some more solution.

[jamoor]

I had the same, KUL-AMS-MAN, New Years Day.

No luggage at MAN, guy at the desk didn't bother checking as he knew the score, I wasn't bothered as it had nothing important in it.

Luggage was stuck on the next plane, which was a couple of hours away. The luggage was on my doorstep three hours after I got home, result.

[XJSJohn]

Schipol sthol always looses luggage on transfer, its one of their specialities.

And to OP, yup, airlines do get away with this a lot and its stupid / frustrating! Have to say from experiance though that Heathrow is one of the most unhelpful at getting luggage back to you.

Changi will contact you as soon as your luggage arrives and make arraingements at your convenience to return it to you at your desired location.

[Corpulent Tosser]

If you had to run to make the connection in Helsinki how the hell did you think you had any chance of your luggage making it ?

I regularly get a flight with a one hour transfer time on my way home and if my luggage makes it with me that is a bonus, it is not expected.

[Dupont666]

Corpulent Tosser said:

If you had to run to make the connection in Helsinki how the hell did you think you had any chance of your luggage making it ?

I regularly get a flight with a one hour transfer time on my way home and if my luggage makes it with me that is a bonus, it is not expected.

there was no swapping of airlines, its a run that they do and they sell the tickets as a package, plus with less than 10 on the first flight its not like its hard to ship it across or find the bag to the other flight as it has done all the security checks by then.

[Corpulent Tosser]

Dupont666 said:

Corpulent Tosser said:

If you had to run to make the connection in Helsinki how the hell did you think you had any chance of your luggage making it ?

I regularly get a flight with a one hour transfer time on my way home and if my luggage makes it with me that is a bonus, it is not expected.

there was no swapping of airlines, its a run that they do and they sell the tickets as a package, plus with less than 10 on the first flight its not like its hard to ship it across or find the bag to the other flight as it has done all the security checks by then.

Swapping of airlines or not, if you had to run to make the connection there was very little chance of a baggage handler doing the same.

If I leave less than 1-1/2hrs between flights I take my luggage being on the same flight as a bonus, if you really need your luggage to arrive with you I suggest only taking hand luggage or leaving more time between flights.

[Dupont666]

Corpulent Tosser said:

Dupont666 said:

Corpulent Tosser said:

If you had to run to make the connection in Helsinki how the hell did you think you had any chance of your luggage making it ?

I regularly get a flight with a one hour transfer time on my way home and if my luggage makes it with me that is a bonus, it is not expected.

there was no swapping of airlines, its a run that they do and they sell the tickets as a package, plus with less than 10 on the first flight its not like its hard to ship it across or find the bag to the other flight as it has done all the security checks by then.

Swapping of airlines or not, if you had to run to make the connection there was very little chance of a baggage handler doing the same.

If I leave less than 1-1/2hrs between flights I take my luggage being on the same flight as a bonus, if you really need your luggage to arrive with you I suggest only taking hand luggage or leaving more time between flights.

Wasnt an option unfortunately as this was the only flight from Tampere, but was strange that they are the only people to fly from there and there was only 2 flights that day so why they couldnt fly 30-45 mins earlier into Helsinki is beyond me.

And then to say there was easily enough time to get the baggage there is annoying... I only had to run as 1km in flip flops and god knows how many dwaddlers made me late and only just got to the gates as the boarding now sign appeared (probably had another 15mins so not that bad)....

[havoc]

XJSJohn said:

Schipol sthol always looses luggage on transfer, its one of their specialities.

Oh hell...transiting through there en-route to Africa later this year!

[speed8]

havoc said:

XJSJohn said:

Schipol sthol always looses luggage on transfer, its one of their specialities.

Oh hell...transiting through there en-route to Africa later this year!

I've only ever had one bag not make it through Schipol in over ten years of travelling through there. Charles de Gaulle and Air France on the other hand, it would be easier to count the times my bags 'have' made it.....

[havoc]

speed8 said:

Charles de Gaulle and Air France on the other hand, it would be easier to count the times my bags 'have' made it.....

Oh sh't...August with work!


...the odds ain't looking good at the moment, eh?

[speed8]

havoc said:

speed8 said:

Charles de Gaulle and Air France on the other hand, it would be easier to count the times my bags 'have' made it.....

Oh sh't...August with work!


...the odds ain't looking good at the moment, eh?