I am so glad I flew out of Heathrow two days before the new terminal opened.

/flight took off an hour late, but at least I have my bags

That's good to know. I was so worried about the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow.

A moment of silence for Rosie O'Donnell being stranded at Heathrow's new terminal.

bags bags bags bags bags.
fags fags fags fags fags fags fags.
hags hags hags hags hags.

It must me Saturday.

/extra credit if you find the haiku above.

Having your bags lost for you sucks.

/Always got mine back eventually
//Knock on wood

I left a couple of "Old Bags" there. Not going to file a missing-persons report either. I wonder if they've discovered them there yet?

They still have a long way to go before they can challenge Philadelphia International to a luggage losing contest.

Denver is unimpressed...

skinink: A moment of silence for Rosie O'Donnell being stranded at Heathrow's new terminal.

It said bags, not pounds.

Umm...

Why is this happening?

I just hang all my stuff off my nipple rings with hangers, luggage problem solved!

Esn: Umm...

Why is this happening?

Because BA is too incompetent to properly train their staff, as well as ensure extra staff were on hand for the first day at a new terminal.

And I was annoyed O'hare doesn't have free wifi (ten bucks? DIAF).

Skiffy: That's good to know. I was so worried about the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow.

nice

Didn't this same kind of thing happen when Denver International opened up? I seem to remember news reports of that airport being awash in orphaned bags when it opened up, on account of that super-duper new automated bag handling system not quite performing as advertised.

I'm flying through there on BA in about two months. I certainly hope all this mess will get cleared up by then.

rka

nice

You know he won.

Even with 10 years of training for their staff and the perfection of their system, BA still would have managed to farked it up. My father worked for BA for over 25 years and he said his last few years at the place was made frustrating by the company filling the place with middle management who have no skills whatsoever apart from hiring other employees who're equally as useless. Many of the older staff were offered retirement packages as an incentive to leave so they could hire cheaper people.

This Heathrow event is a result of the company's complete lack of skilled management and poorly trained staff.

I'm so worried.

Hell, thats just the Queens purses.

I see the folks that ran Denver's airport have moved overseas.

Britain = incompetance

Skiffy: That's good to know. I was so worried about the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow.

I came here to say that.

Esn: Umm...

Why is this happening?

Likely some corporate idiot decided that slowly ramping up operations to ensure a buffer in case of problems wasn't worth it financially. After all why wait a month to get all that money for a full set of flight bookings if they can do so right away. Of course they didn't take any other precautions neither since those would cost money as well and after all what are the chances that something could go wrong...

ANYONE who has ever complained about oversized carry-on luggage, things like this are the reason why... You can't trust the airline with your luggage, at least not if you need to make use of it any time soon... If your going for less than a week, jam it all in to the carry-on... Longer, either take the risk, or have it shipped commercially...

Once my bag went to the airport without me. So after a couple of days I go to the lost baggage claim center in a room in the airport. I see my two baggages there. And I tell to the lady behind the counter, those are my two bags and I want them. She says yeah go ahead take them. I could have picked two more and she would not have cared. As a matter of fact i should have, at least I would have got something more than my fruit of the loom underwear stuffed in two baggages.

/It was st. louis airport
//You just have to go and say it is your bag
///No forms/ No IDs/Nothing

Monty845: ANYONE who has ever complained about oversized carry-on luggage, things like this are the reason why... You can't trust the airline with your luggage, at least not if you need to make use of it any time soon... If your going for less than a week, jam it all in to the carry-on...

Meh, I've only had my luggage held back once and that came in the next day or so. I don't put anything expensive or irreplaceable in there anyways so it's not like it matters that much.

Longer, either take the risk, or have it shipped commercially...

Because neither fedex nor ups ever utterly destroy or lose packages...

silout: /It was st. louis airport
//You just have to go and say it is your bag
///No forms/ No IDs/Nothing

You're right, after all those checks they do on you when you pull the luggage of the carousel are so complete and airtight.

Rakishi: Because neither fedex nor ups ever utterly destroy or lose packages...

I deal with UPS and FedEx quite literally every day. I have shipped and received several hundred packages through both companies. So far, a grand total of two packages have been lost. One made it back to me in less than a week. The other, I was issued a check for $1500 two weeks later.

Last time I went through BWI, my laptop was quite literally stolen from me, due to a security screener not realizing that a dead battery does not turn a laptop into a nuclear bomb.

the ha ha guy: Rakishi: Because neither fedex nor ups ever utterly destroy or lose packages...

I deal with UPS and FedEx quite literally every day. I have shipped and received several hundred packages through both companies. So far, a grand total of two packages have been lost. One made it back to me in less than a week. The other, I was issued a check for $1500 two weeks later.

Last time I went through BWI, my laptop was quite literally stolen from me, due to a security screener not realizing that a dead battery does not turn a laptop into a nuclear bomb.

Boy do I buy the wrong kind of batteries...

Bags bags bags... it always seems like you've got too many bags...

Globochem

NSFW Language.

Skiffy: That's good to know. I was so worried about the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow.

I came in here looking for Monty Python references.
I was not disappointed.

"I'm So Worried", by Monty Python (new window)

theigorway: Britain = incompetance

ROTFLMAO

hint: before you call somebody incompetent, make sure you can spell incompetent.

the ha ha guy:

Last time I went through BWI, my laptop was quite literally stolen from me, due to a security screener not realizing that a dead battery does not turn a laptop into a nuclear bomb.

You realise removing the guts of an electronic device and replacing it with explosives is a fairly easy process and hard to spot in an x-ray, right?

Hagbardr: They still have a long way to go before they can challenge Philadelphia International to a luggage losing contest.

So true.

I used to work for NWA(the airline, not the gangsta rappers) and I handled lots of lost luggage calls. The most important thing you simply MUST do is file a lost baggage claim at whichever airport happens to be your final destination. So many people fail to do this and it becomes nearly impossible to help them over the phone if this isn't done. If for some reason you can't do it at arrival time because there's no one there or whatever, you will have to go back at some point and file that claim, or it becomes a BIG maybe whether you and your luggage will ever be reunited. They want you to have your stuff, it's just impossible to find it without filing the claim to start everyone looking for it.

Skiffy,
That's good to know. I was so worried about the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow.

Thank You, I came here for acknowledgement of python.

Why are there so many old ladies there? They can probably get them to leave by offerring free sandwiches or something like that.

You guys obviously haven't read the other article about the 12 kilos of cocaine they found...

There are only two types of luggage: carry on, and lost.

/Mileage runner

itsfullofstars: I see the folks that ran Denver's airport have moved overseas.

FTW.

Everybody sing now,

I'm so worried about what's happenin' today, in the Middle East, you know
And I'm worried about the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow

Link (front fell off)

My personal nightmare with BA...was flying with a group of 15 people or so from Hamburg to London, London to Detroit on BA. Flight canceled in Hamburg, so they sent us on Lufthansa from Hamburg to Dusseldorf to London on Lufthansa. No big deal, flights get canceled all the time.

Problem is when Lufthansa hands our bags over in London, BA forgets to put them on the plane. Pretty bad, but the worst is that when BA finds all of our bags, they don't even bother to look at the tags on them to see who they belong to. Just slapped some UPS labels on them and sent them out, doesn't matter where to or where it was supposed to go. My bag first ended up in Canada before the person they tried to deliver it to realized it should be going elsewhere. I had brought 2 bags and they sent me back two bags belonging to two different people living in two different countries. Quite an experience trying to get my stuff back.

And this is why I don't check baggage.

I stopped flying BA at the end of 2005, promptly went and earned top-tier elite status somewhere else, almost never go near Heathrow any more, and am sure BA's timing here had something to do with the "open skies" agreement that starts next week - think "Shiny new terminal for us, and none for you!" - so I am getting a huge kick out of this.

steklo

Yes! I was at SMF just 2 weeks ago, and saw those. Great public art.

I was at the airport this morning waiting for baggage, and was surprised to see this pass through...

The worst airline in the world now has its own exclusive new terminal in the worst airport in the world? What could possibly go wrong!

/work at LHR

What hotel in London can you get for 100 pounds?