Are your bags lost even if they beat you to your destination!

[amaroo]

Arrived MAD (Madrid) Thursday after flying QF/BA, BNE-SYD-LHR-MAD Spent an hour waiting for our First class tagged bags to be spat out on the belt. Finally, two of the last 4 bags out are ours......another example of priority bag tags working!

The only problem is we have 4 bags not two......wait some more, then with heavy heart turn & make our way to the counter no one wants to visit - Lost baggage.

Stand in long queue and be entertained by the wonderful antics of watching Europeans struggle with the queuing concept - did bring a smile to my face.

Finally, my turn & go through the motions of logging claim - lovelly Spanish lady at Iberia with perfect English.

Walk out and really happy to see the hotel transfer driver still waiting for us.....some 2 hours late. Get in the car & drive to hotel.

As we enter the freeway to the city my phone rings.....it's a lady from EK wanting to know why I haven't collected our two bags at MAD, that have been sitting their for 4 hours.......BTW, we flew QF/BA.

I explained our situation, she explain our bags have been to Dubia. I give her the BA/Iberia lost bag reference No......she tells me that she will walk them over to IB counter straight away so that we should get them later in the day.

Smile, hang up phone & finally start to enjoy the fact that we're in SPAIN.

Around, 8pm no bags have arrived.......we got to MAD at 1pm.

Get the hotel to ring IB, no answer......try BA & got through. I get handed the phone and explained the situation, very rude BA lady tells me that's not possible as in their system they have no idea where our bags are. I again explained the details of the EK call - she cuts me off with that's not right, what's was the name of the EK lady....etc.

I lose it with a classic DYKWIA verbal assault down the phone line......she backs down & promises to ring the EK counter.

Bags turn up 8am next morning.

 

[ozmille]

What did the luggage tags say, any indication of the strange routing there? Count your lucky stars they made it I think. Bit of a mistake putting bags on an EK plane instead of a BA one :shock:

 

[TheInsider]

Arrived MAD (Madrid) Thursday after flying QF/BA, BNE-SYD-LHR-MAD Spent an hour waiting for our First class tagged bags to be spat out on the belt. Finally, two of the last 4 bags out are ours......another example of priority bag tags working!

Didn't think BA had priority baggage, especially since it came off a QF flight. It's not a OW benefit.

 

[TheInsider]

Also just curious have you flown EK before, and if so has it got any old bag tag stickers 'bingo stubs' on the bag?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Didn't think BA had priority baggage, especially since it came off a QF flight. It's not a OW benefit.

I think the bags were tagged 'First' by QF in BNE all the way through to MAD so BA wouldn't have actually been involved with tagging the bags just transhipping them.

Wonder if the bags went BKK-DXB-MAD or LHR-DXB-MAD? I'm thinking it's the first option otherwise they wouldn't have made it to MAD around the time you did.

 

[TheInsider]

Be interesting to know if it had a rush tag on there with the EK flight details.

Wonder if the bags went BKK-DXB-MAD or LHR-DXB-MAD? I'm thinking it's the first option otherwise they wouldn't have made it to MAD around the time you did.

Or could've been misplaced in BNE or SYD and then SYD/BNE-DXB-MAD

 

[elbarto]

Don't the bags have to be on the same aircraft as the passenger?

 

[TheInsider]

Don't the bags have to be on the same aircraft as the passenger?

Rush bags are different.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Don't the bags have to be on the same aircraft as the passenger?

Rush bags are different.

Did the bags actually have rush tags on them for the EK flights or were they incorrectly put on an EK flight still with the original QF tags for BNE/SYD/LHR/MAD on the bags?

I don't know about in Spain, but in Australia if an airline mishandles a bag once it is 'rushed' to the correct destination they forward it to wherever you're staying. For the EK employee to call the OP up & query why they hadn't collected their bags makes it sound like the bags appeared on the baggage carousel in MAD as a regular passenger bag.

 

[amaroo]

We were flying BA with the BNE-SYD being a code share.

Now a little history....when checking in at BNE we asked if we could get on an earlier flight (so we could indulge more at SYD Flounge) she sad she would try but forgot & two bags disappeared down the shute before I asked again about the earlier flight.....she kept the other two bags behind her & sent us off to the ticket sales counter. Something to do with code share & limited options!

We were issued new BP's and sent back to the checkin counter....the lady then replaced the bag tags on the two bags placed behind her and said she would get the other two pulled and have the tags replaced with the new ones.

When the two bags didn't arrive we had a good idea why!

The bags that travelled on EK were the ones that needed their tags replaced. Upon arrival into our hotel room they had an Expedite Baggage RUSH tag.....they flew on EK435 to DXB & EK141 to MAD. Which means they flew ex BNE.

Really amazed they got to MAD before us & that someone from EK called me on the mobile - I think we were really lucky.

I should also add that I got a text message from BA stating that a bag did not travel with us......pays to turn your phone on as soon as you land as I didn't and spent an hour+ waiting for them.

Great show to get the bags to MAD but it was all let down by not communicating with the local staff thus we had to wait until the next day.

Hence your bags can be lost even when they are at your destination before you get there & are waiting for you.

 

[markis10]

Don't the bags have to be on the same aircraft as the passenger?

Only for the first flight, then they are free to travel on their own, as mine have done on a number of occasions, reaching the destination before me.

 

[harvyk]

Don't the bags have to be on the same aircraft as the passenger?

Yes and no. Bags can travel on a different flight to the pax, provided it was not at the pax's request.
So a pax can not ask to go on a different flight if their bags are already loaded into the aircraft (or request that they're bags take a different flight to the one which they are on).
But if the airline failed to load the bags onto the aircraft they may use whatever method of transport \ flights the airline deems appropriate to reunite the bags with the owners at the destination.

 

[Blackadder]

Don't the bags have to be on the same aircraft as the passenger?

Not necessarily, I have had my bags arrive before me, when I changed to a later flight after a delay had me feeling I wouldn't make a connection at DFW through to HSV

Sent from my GT-I9000 using AustFreqFly

 

[ozmille]

Didn't think BA had priority baggage, especially since it came off a QF flight. It's not a OW benefit.

When flying CW I get those orange Priority tags.

 

[TheInsider]

Something to do with code share & limited options!

That's correct, if you are booked on a codeshare flight generally the marketed carrier has to make those changes (in this case BA).