‘I’ll never be using BA again’: Airline customers slam British Airways for ‘leaving them without baggage after belongings weren’t loaded onto flight’
- Some flights to and from London Heathrow have taken off without bags on board
- BA blamed French Air Traffic Control strikes and poor weather for the delays
There has been yet more airport chaos as a number of British Airways flights took off last night without any passengers’ bags on them, with angry customers saying they will avoid flying with the carrier again.
Customers travelling to and from London Heathrow expressed their frustration at being separated from their luggage as delays plagued journeys yesterday.
Flights from London to locations such as Lisbon, Belfast, Kuwait and Johannesburg went with only some or no bags on board, customers have said.
BA has blamed French Air Traffic Control strikes and poor weather, which it said has caused knock-on delays which have continued into today.
BA customer Sophia Ashe, who was travelling to Bologna yesterday, told MailOnline that she will ‘never fly with them again’.
The farmer from Tetbury said her flight’s takeoff was delayed by over an hour last night.
When she eventually reached Bologna, she said, ‘everyone sat waiting at luggage reclaim and it wasn’t until half an hour later, a customer on the same flight told us about the luggage [not being loaded]’.
‘No one at the airport made an announcement,’ she said, adding that she didn’t leave until almost 2am having filled out lost luggage forms.
‘This is not the first bad experience I’ve had with BA. I will never fly with them again,’ she said.
Sophia was not the only holidaymaker who faced delays and ended up travelling without her luggage.
Others have reported waiting over an hour to collect their luggage before discovering that it had not actually been on the plane with them.
Dave Brett, a London-based travel blogger, was journeying from Berlin to Heathrow yesterday when he found out that the carrier ‘didn’t know’ where his luggage was.
He said that the status of his bag is still ‘missing’, meaning he has had to buy new clothes, and explained how he thinks it failed to travel with him.
Dave Brett, a London-based travel blogger, was journeying from Berlin to Heathrow yesterday when he found out that the carrier ‘didn’t know’ where his luggage was
‘When boarding the flight, the pilot announced that we must quickly board to avoid missing our flight take off slot.
‘For this reason, I believe my bag never made it onto the flight as it was a quick turn around from the arrival landing.
‘I wasn’t the only one waiting for my bag, other British Airway flights arriving at Terminal 5 also had massive bag delays of up to and over 90 minutes.’
Dave claims that ‘hundreds of passengers had issues’ yesterday, and shared a picture of the busy Terminal 5, adding that the baggage support desk was ‘swamped with forms being filled in.’
Dave said he has had other bad experiences while travelling with the carrier and described his latest experience as ‘a real frustrating nightmare’.
‘I choose to fly with British Airways for business reasons as I expect efficient service and I end up wasting my valuable time that could be used elsewhere.’
Passengers have had to fill out forms to get their bags back, with BA’s policy to get luggage out to travellers on the next available flight or to return it to their home address.
Will Grimm, from London tweeted: ‘@British_Airways Flight BA55 from Heathrow to ORT, delayed by 3 hours and no baggage was loaded. ORT BA baggage enquiry desk in chaos. Unacceptable that people are mistreated like this.’
One woman, who travelled to Innsbruck yesterday, tweeted that she is ‘still waiting on info about my bag’, which she had been informed is being sent to her home, leaving her ‘with no clothes for a week’.
The carrier says that other European airlines have had similar issues.
It comes after Banshees of Inisherin star, Barry Keoghan, criticised BA for ‘bad customer service’ after losing his suitcase on the way to Los Angeles for the Oscars.
The Irish actor, 30, said he was taking ‘tons of sentimental stuff’ for the show on Sunday and that the airline could not ‘seem to be helpful’.
BA said in a statement to MailOnline: ‘As a result of French Air Traffic Control industrial action and the continued adverse winter weather conditions around the UK and Europe, some of our customers’ baggage was delayed last night.
‘We’re really sorry for the inconvenience caused and our teams are working hard to get their luggage to them as quickly as possible.’
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