BoeingFever777 From United States of America, joined Jul 2009, 409 posts, RR: 57 Posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 2873 times:
British Airways was nominated the worst performing of all Europe's major airlines and is forecast to lose a record 1.3 million bags this year.
That is just crazy... How can such a well known carrier lose that many bags a year?
Air France and Lufthansa, which both carried three million more passengers than BA during this period, performed significantly better, with one in 62 passengers losing bags.
FXramper From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 7023 posts, RR: 93 Reply 1, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 2871 times:
Ikramerica From United States of America, joined May 2005, 21025 posts, RR: 60 Reply 2, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 2845 times:
1 in 62 pax sucks too.
What is going on in the EU where they lose so many freaking bags?
Just doing a random search I found an article about the USA industry in 2005, which seems to be the latest article. US was the worst, with 9.6 per 1000 pax, or 1 out of 104, while the best in the table provided was CO, with 1 in 242 passengers. That's my CO experience, being elite for 6 straight years and never once having a misplaced or misconnected bag.
All of those were increases of 2004. But still better than these current EU rates. Anyone know more recent statistics for the USA?
Of all the things to worry about... the Wookie has no pants.
Analog From United States of America, joined Jul 2006, 1900 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 2807 times:
Quoting Ikramerica (Reply 2): What is going on in the EU where they lose so many freaking bags?
They're trying to get pax to carry on? Oh, wait a sec....
Boston92 From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 3390 posts, RR: 7 Reply 4, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 2797 times:
Is this LOST bags or just delayed bags? Seems unlikely to actually lose 1 million bags a year. Where do they go?
"Why does a slight tax increase cost you $200 and a substantial tax cut save you 30 cents?"
Swiftski From Australia, joined Dec 2006, 2701 posts, RR: 2 Reply 7, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 2699 times:
"One in every 35 passengers on BA flights lost luggage between April and June and a continued baggage crisis at Heathrow is expected to exacerbate the problem throughout the summer peak."
These statistics are bases on performance from an poor period for BA, which was well publicised.
Fiancial results and forecasts are based on previous years and trends, but this bag "report" seems to be based on taking a 3 month period, and applying it to the next year, then using that figure as the "estimate"
Zvezda From Lithuania, joined Aug 2004, 10511 posts, RR: 66 Reply 8, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 2686 times:
FedEx has a vastly better successful delivery rate, despite having a much more difficult task -- billions of possible destinations rather than hundreds of destinations.
The best reform that could be taken would be video surveillance of everyplace that a bag can be from when the customer checks it until it's being driven away from the terminal toward the aircraft. That would provide a much better reward/cost in terms of security alone than the current gate rape practices, and would just about put an end to pilfering.
Aviator27 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 9, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 2665 times:
I was one of them. One month later, my bag has showed up. I am going to the airport to pick it up because I don' t trust them to deliver the bag to my current location.
Thomas_Jaeger From Switzerland, joined Apr 2002, 2264 posts, RR: 31 Reply 10, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 2569 times:
BA lost my bags on 4 out of 5 long haul flights this year. It took them 4 days twice to get them delivered in India and I only got them that quickly because I was literally fighting for them and running around airports looking for them myself . It seems like they really have a major problem in LHR, let's hope that they will get that under control with T5 because I seriously had enough of it for now.
Swiss aviation news junkie living all over the place
Bongodog1964 From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2006, 3012 posts, RR: 2 Reply 11, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 2534 times:
It's quite simple really and can nearly all be attributed to LHR's creaking infrastructure not only being unable to cope with the unexpected, but also at times unable to cope with normal operations.
The crux of normal problems seems to be the underground conveyor system between T1 & T4, which breaks down frequently, this then results in passengers making their connections, whilst their bags are stuck underground.
The second problem is an inability to cope with the other problems to afflict LHR over the past few years, the worst being the fog delays for a week last December, and the security alerts last summer.
Hopefully T5 will make the situation better as the only BA baggage transfers away from T5 will be to the Iberian services in T3.
Readytotaxi From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2006, 2596 posts, RR: 3 Reply 12, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 2475 times:
Do you have to book this service in advance?
you don't get a second chance to make a first impression!
Bongodog1964 From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2006, 3012 posts, RR: 2 Reply 13, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 2408 times:
PiedmontINT From United States of America, joined Jul 2005, 376 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 2386 times:
If a criminal wanted to ditch the evidence all he would have to do is check said evidence in his suitcase and it would magically dissappear! Good luck finding it coppers...
Readytotaxi From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2006, 2596 posts, RR: 3 Reply 15, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 2333 times:
Ncelhr From Vatican City, joined Jul 2006, 354 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 2302 times:
I flew through LHR T1 last week.
Absolute havoc. I do not know how they do this: hundreds of passengers waiting at passport control, no trolleys, luggage taking nearly an hour to get delivered and once on the belt, luggage tags looking as though they went through a shredder. Toilets that looked like the aftermath of a tsunami. Only a handful of (very tired-looking) employees.
On the same day there was a report in English papers that security at LHR is slower than in Tel Aviv, and another one saying that passengers are starting to avoid LHR due to its near-collapsing state.
What is going on?
ps. I have really high hopes in T5; it looks beautiful.
VV701 From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 6612 posts, RR: 17 Reply 17, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 2258 times:
The interesting thing about this thread so far - despite the accurate analysis of Bongodog1964 in Reply 11 - is that there is not a single mention of the real culprit, BAA. Its baggage handling systems at LHR, particularly in what is currently its youngest terminal, T4, simply cannot cope with the number of bags it tries to handle or the number of passengers it is paid to handle. But unfortuneately there is no analysis available of how many bags BAA looses as oposed to the number that BA looses. If there was I am sure that with Open Skies some US airlines would not be rushing to move into LHR quite so quickly.
Is it not totally tragic and does it not reflect terribly on the UK that BA has to send lost luggage to Italy to be sorted because the Heathrow systems are so lousy?
Pacallen From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 27 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 2240 times:
My dad flew United LHR-ORD on 8/1 and was surprised how quickly he got through security. He arrived almost four hours before departure expecting to see lines all the way to the motorway but everything went very smoothly for him, getting checked in and past security in about 40 minutes. Thankfully both of his checked bags arrived...
Boeingfever777 From United States of America, joined Jul 2009, 409 posts, RR: 57 Reply 19, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 2235 times:
Quoting Pilotdude09 (Reply 5): How many passengers travel BA a year? How many flights a day, month and year does BA have?
If you compare those numbers it might not seem so bad, but 1.3 million is still a shocking amount of bags to not make their flights.
AF and LH do double and triple than this and have hardly the issues that BA has... Both CDG and FRA are very very busy airports as well. I also believe both LH and AF fly to more intl. destinations than BA making it easier for them to lose bags in transfer.
Helvknight From Switzerland, joined Aug 2006, 995 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 2218 times:
Quoting VV701 (Reply 17): Its baggage handling systems at LHR, particularly in what is currently its youngest terminal, T4, simply cannot cope with the number of bags it tries to handle or the number of passengers it is paid to handle.
Exactly. The baggage system at LHR is somewhat dilapidated, with a number of well publicised breakdowns as BAA would rather invest in more shops in airside rather than infrastructure. Hopefully with the move to T5 the situation will improve.
Bongodog1964 From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2006, 3012 posts, RR: 2 Reply 21, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 2185 times:
Quoting VV701 (Reply 17): Is it not totally tragic and does it not reflect terribly on the UK that BA has to send lost luggage to Italy to be sorted because the Heathrow systems are so lousy?
This is the one part of the whole sorry mess, in which I believe BA could and should take decisive action.
It is generally accepted that LHR cannot cope with any situation out of the ordinary, at which point baggage chaos ensues.
IMO BA should rent warehouse premises close to LHR to which the baggage mountains could be taken; this would not only keep the bags out of the wet (on some occasions these mountains have been outdoors); but would also keep them secure, and reduce the congestion. Here they could be sorted (without being sent to Milan) containerised and fed directly back into LHR.
This seems simple to me, but I'm not running BA !!!
OHLHD From Finland, joined Dec 2004, 3962 posts, RR: 27 Reply 22, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 2150 times:
Quoting BoeingFever777 (Thread starter): That is just crazy... How can such a well known carrier lose that many bags a year?
It is not the airline that losses bags it is the airport.
Quoting Ikramerica (Reply 2): What is going on in the EU where they lose so many freaking bags?
It has nothing to do with the EU. Probably you know that BA is flying also to the States. Do you know how many of these bags are left behind or not transferred? I do not blame the States either.
It is always the last carrier who is charged with the loss or the delay.
If you travel HNL-SFO-JFK-LHR-MAN and just the last flight is on BA it is still BA´s fault, regardless if the bag was ever transferred from HNL to SFO.
So asking what is wrong in the EU is rather shallow.
Anyway I advise my friends to avoid LHR as much as possible.
Jacobin777 From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 14968 posts, RR: 61 Reply 23, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 2145 times:
Quoting FXramper (Reply 1): Let's play hide the checked bag!
BA lost my luggage this past winter (even though I checked in 1st class)... .......at least I got it back (6 days later when 2/3 of my trip was over)...
PlateMan From United States of America, joined May 2007, 903 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (5 years 9 months 2 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 2104 times:
I flew in Tuesday to Heathrow T1, and there were just bags everywhere in the baggage claim.
All over the floors, hallways, etc. I went looking and most had BA tags.
I had no problem at all with mine, but it was kind of crazy to just see literally hundreds of bags laying everywhere.
-Brian
"Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain
25 Buck3y3nut: BA Lost my luggage as well past december. The bags arrived 2 weeks later though... Thank god I just flew back home so I didn't worry about clothes etc
26 Geo772: The problem here is feeding back into LHR. The problem with all the baggage facilities at LHR is that they were never designed for the volume of bags
27 BAxMAN: What are you talking about? Was Dr Evil your math teacher in Moldova?
28 BoeingBoy: First Class with bags - How utterly Peasant - Don't you know where Seville Row is ? LOL
29 Ikramerica: Why are AF and LH so poor then? They barely touch BAA airports.. But still 50% worse than the worst USA airlines... So, when you fly BA from MAN-HNL,
30 Boston92: Out of 500,000 United Flight miles over a span of 7 years...UA has lost my bag once, and got it to me at 11 pm, 5 hours after I arrived.
31 Sketty222: Not a bad idea But CDG and FRA arent built with a 1960's infrastructure! LHR isnt the modern airport its made out to be and is desperate nned of an u
32 FlyingClrs727: Sounds like the Heathrow baggage systems is one of the few places in Britain that isn't under heavy video surveillance.
33 ABpositive: Think about the savings though... 1.3 million bags at an average weight of 10kg (at least) is 13000 tones! That's a lot of fuel saving!
34 Ikramerica: No, he was saying that when connecting, BA gets blamed when other carriers mess up, but somehow, the other carriers don't get blamed. If they connect
35 Jacobin777: ...actually, when flying to/from the USofA (which is always on AA), I check in on business class.....the BA one was a bit lucky....I usually fly in t
36 Boston92: Whats up with the lady accross the aisle? Is she dping something under there?
37 OHLHD: Wuhaa, it was an example but somehow you did not understand that. I will highlight it the next time for you. BTW, BA does not fly to HNL....... Hogwo
38 Zvezda: There are several hundred major airports to which airline baggage is checked. There are over a billion residential and commercial addresses, though p
39 Ikramerica: No, it makes no sense. You think it makes sense, but it doesn't. It was just an attempt on your part to explain away the BA mess. Problem is, every m
40 AF2323: Here are the latest statistics : For Europe : http://www.aea.be/aeawebsite/webRSC/SerQlty/DL/CR07-Q2.pdf (page 2) For USA : http://airconsumer.ost.do
41 BAxMAN: No it's not. Your comparison is nonsense. Hehe! Try and stop me, my friend! While you're at it, try and stop the EU, the UN, the Martian Alliance, To
42 OHLHD: First of all I don't try to talk away the BA mess. It is known in the business that BA is because of of LHR a mess. You probably know that BA is hit
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From United States of America, joined Jul 2009, 409 posts, 
From Australia, joined May 2005, 1774 posts, 
From Lithuania, joined Aug 2004, 10511 posts, 
From Switzerland, joined Apr 2002, 2264 posts, 
. It seems like they really have a major problem in LHR, let's hope that they will get that under control with T5 because I seriously had enough of it for now.
From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2006, 3012 posts, 
From Vatican City, joined Jul 2006, 354 posts, 
From Finland, joined Dec 2004, 3962 posts, 
Probably you know that BA is flying also to the States. Do you know how many of these bags are left behind or not transferred? I do not blame the States either.
.......at least I got it back (6 days later when 2/3 of my trip was over)... 
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