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BA profits from lost luggage debacle
Last updated at 09:22am on 04.01.07
Luggage left piled up in Heathrow
As thousands of passengers continue to be affected by the great lost luggage crisis, British Airways makes money from their misery.
It is forcing them to use a premium-rate helpline to seek their missing bags, and pocketing the profits.
Read more about the travellers' chaos... • Travellers who wait in vain for their long lost luggage
At the same time it is accused of doing little to tackle the luggage mountain at Heathrow, now believed to comprise 15,000 items, when simple checks would have seen them returned to their owners long ago.
For while the airline has not yet been able to find out who owns the mountain of suitcases left at Terminals One and Four, the Daily Mail was able to track some down in a matter of minutes.
At the same time there are persistent rumours - which the airline vehemently denies - that it is preparingto destroy all the lost luggage because paying out insurance claims would be quicker and cheaper.
After a calamitous 2006, which culminated in the pre-Christmas fog crisis at Heathrow leading to hundreds of cancelled flights, BA had been hoping to make a fresh start this year. But things have gone from bad to worse.
The beleaguered airline last night admitted it has a backlog of 7,500 lost bags. This is estimated to be only half of the total number of lost luggage as other airlines - including British Midland - have been affected. However, BA is being blamed for the bulk of the chaos because it, rather than the airports authority BAA, handles the baggage for many of the airlines using the terminals.
Many passengers have not seen their possessions since mid-December following the chaos sparked by heavy fog and faulty baggage equipment.
They are urged to use the Internet to track lost bags, but many claim the official website is useless - and are phoning an 0845 number given by the airline for those seeking information.
BA gets up to half of the 3p-a-minute cost of calls to the number, and some desperate callers say they have been on the phone for up to ten fruitless hours, trying and failing to recover bags which in many cases are filled with long-overdue Christmas presents.
The International Airline Passengers' Association, which has some 400,000 members worldwide, accused BA of cashing in.
Spokesman Jonathan French said: 'BA seems to be making the most of this baggage situation rather than simply helping its customers. It could just as easily set up an 0800 freephone number for this kind of eventuality.
'Free calls wouldn't remove the pain of losing your possessions, but would at least take away the cost of trying to find out where they are.'
BA admitted it did make money from calls to its baggage number, but insisted the charges were necessary to offset the cost of running a call centre in Newcastle.
Because the piles of bags have not been securely guarded, passengers fear many could have been stolen - and because terrorists could conceivably have interfered with some, those going back in the air will have to go through security checks again before being loaded, leading to further delays.
The airline has blamed the Christmas fog and a series of computer glitches for creating the baggage problems. But industry insiders say simmering anger among the baggage handlers has led to 'unofficial' walk-outs which have exacerbated the problem.
One source said: 'BA baggage handlers have been walking out for three weeks. It's not official but it's happening. BA are in complete denial about it.' BA denied that it was subject to any unofficial action by its 2,000 baggage handlers - but it did concede that it was in the middle of changing working practices at Heathrow's Terminals 1 and 4 in readiness for the airline's switch to the new Terminal 5.
A spokesman said: 'The problem began before Christmas when there was a fault with a baggage belt at Heathrow Terminal 4. That caused the initial backlog, and about 8,000 bags were not delivered.
'Then the fog at Heathrow caused further problems, and there was another Terminal 4 baggage belt problem on December 29 leading to about 10,000 bags not being delivered. We have put on freighter planes to get the bags to their owners and have drafted in a number of volunteers to help.'
BA has claimed the problem will be resolved by the end of the week, but those waiting for their baggage since mid-December are among those refusing to believe it.
The airline has been given extra incentive to solve the problem by the reaction of some enraged customers in Nigeria who have been waiting for their bags for two weeks - with some making death threats and talking of kidnapping BA staff at Lagos airport.
Apart from the Christmas fog chaos, BA's 2006 misery was compounded by the summer terror scare which caused disruption to almost 100,000 passengers and cost the airline a staggering £100million. Then there was the damage caused by the case of check-in worker Nadia Eweida, who was banned from wearing a cross leading to calls for a BA boycott from church leaders and politicians before the airline saw sense.
Reader views (7)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
Very few businesses in the UK have any integrity any more and most use 0844, 0845, 0870 and 0871 numbers to rip off their customers.
They have learned from 10 years of New Labour misrule (just check out how many government departments - for which we all pay - use that type of number).
Even GP Surgeries are now using rip off 0844 numbers and allege it's for efficiency. It's NOT more efficient - more people answering incoming calls makes a telephone system more efficient, not an automated answering and queuing system - it's to make 5p per minute from the sick whilst keeping them in endless queues.
- Ian, Colchester, UK
Just thought I would let you know my luggage has just been delivered to my home address after being 'lost' for 13 days. Some credit must go to BA staff for sorting out this monumental cock-up. Have faith, yours might be next.
- Marion, Southampton, Uk, Southampton, UK
I wouldn't mind 'local rate' 0845/0870 numbers as much if they weren't barred from the included-minutes with my mobile phone contract - or if operators of these numbers were legally obliged to provide alternative standard numbers at the same time.
- Gb, London, UK
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