Baggage concern - Travelers' Intercom - British Airways, customer complaint

Editor's note: ITN was mailed a copy of the following letter, sent by a reader to British Airways.

During July 1997 I flew first class on British Airways to Prague. My luggage did not fly with me, however, and I spent the first three days in Prague without any of my belongings. This failure on the part of your company caused me to spend a substantial amount of money to purchase items necessary until my bag arrived -- but without any compensation from your company.

Your firm also lost my luggage on the return trip. It was received several days after my return.

During November 1999 I flew business class on British Air to Budapest. My baggage flew in some other class and on some other airplane. Again, I spent the first three days of my trip without my belongings. A British Airways employee glibly said to me that it happens all the time.

As in Prague, I had to expend funds to purchase items needed to get by until my luggage arrived. Again, I did not receive even one penny in compensation from your firm for my monetary loss.

On Aug. 14, 2001,1 flew business class on B.A. to Bucharest. With a substantial layover at London's Gatwick Airport, I had checked my luggage all the way through to Bucharest and had enough personal possessions in my carry-on to get by for one day. When I reached Bucharest, once more my luggage was not there and, as in Budapest, the B.A. employee with whom I spoke could not have cared less if my luggage arrived or didn't.

It was Aug. 19 before I received my luggage. As with the past flights on your airline, I had to purchase items to get by for several days without my belongings. I do not have any receipts for my purchases in Bucharest, as the shopkeepers would not take credit cards and it appeared they did not want to give out receipts for my cash purchases. However, it cost me around $80 to get enough items to continue on until I received my bag.

To add insult to the injury, a B.A. employee attached a tag to my bag indicating a short connection at Gatwick when actually my connections were 22 hours apart.

This also brings up a new issue. My bag had been unused until my B.A. flight and it looked 20 years old when I finally received it. I cannot understand how one bag could have gotten so scratched and battered in one trip. This, too, is unacceptable.

I feel the loss of my luggage on each and every trip cannot be just one person's incredibly bad luck, so it would appear that a large number of bags is being transported on your airplanes without the owners of that luggage being on board those particular flights. This opens up the possibility of a bag being placed aboard an aircraft with some items that could possibly cause the airplane harm, placing air travelers at risk!

Editor's note: ITN sent another copy of the above letter to British Airways (75-20 Astoria Blvd., Jackson Heights, NY 11370) and two months later received a call from a representative of B.A. stating that the letter was being forwarded to the proper department for review. When, two months later, no reply had been received, ITN sent another letter which went unanswered.

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