Hey guys,
Looking for a bit of advice and any experience from travellers who have been in a similar scenario. I flew from Manchester to Austin 9 days ago with British Airways. I currently live in Austin and was back in Manchester for a wedding.
When I arrived at Austin airport my baggage wasn’t there - no problem, the BA assistant asked me to fill out a form with a pen and paper and she informed me that the luggage would be sent out the next day. I did offer to come back to the airport to collect but they said they’d handle it.
The following day I had a missed call from a random number whilst I was working. I immediately called back and the call went straight to voicemail. I then received a text saying they have attempted to deliver my luggage unsuccessfully. This was a third party company called “Where’s my suitcase” - ironically named considering that’s all I’ve wanted to know for the last week!
After numerous back and forth with BA and this mysterious company who are pretty much uncontactable, BA informed me that WMS had left a note on my file saying that I answered the phone call on the day of delivery and “told them to f*** off” - something I would never say to anyone unnecessarily, but even more so if they are the bridge between me and my belongings. I asked for proof of this phone call to which BA couldn’t give me, but concluded that when I wrote down my number at Austin airport the assistant who helped me must have added my number into the system incorrectly - however I have since realised that this can’t be true because WMS did try to call me when they were delivering the bag. I believe this is probably some sort of tactic for the delivery driver to not have to wait around for too long and return those item back to WMS’ warehouse or return the suitcase back to the airport for BA to deal with.
For the past week I’ve been trying to find my luggage - and eventually spoke to someone at BA a few days ago who said that my suitcase was at the warehouse with their third party courier (WMS) and they will inform them to return it to the airport.
This morning I spoke with BA who confirmed my baggage was at the airport. I left work, spent $25 to head from Downtown Austin to the airport at around 12:30 and spent the next 3 hours at the airport trying to find my luggage. Every staff member at BA I spoke to brought up the fact that there was a note on my file saying I had been rude to the delivery driver (genuinely driving me insane because it didn’t happen!!!) and none of them could locate my bag. They then decided they would pay me out for my lost belongings - and handed me a post it note to write down my name, number, and the value of the items inside the suitcase. I left the airport and booked a taxi - no longer than 5 minutes later the woman I had last spoke to rang me and said she had found the suitcase! I went back to the desk and was really really grateful that this lady had gone out of her way to find it. She said the suitcase had been left in a closet in the BA office at the airport as they didn’t really know what to do with it considering the note they had received from the delivery driver was that the person they had tried to contact (me) had told them not only to “f*** off” - but also “not to ring this number again”. (Genuinely laughable that any person rotating 2 pairs of underpants until they have their suitcase back would say this)
I returned to work and then about an hour ago got back to my apartment to finally unpack, to discover that 50% of the items in my suitcase are missing. Someone has been through it and picked out the more expensive items. I treat myself to nice clothes when I can afford to - they’ve taken shirts, t shirts, trainers, shorts, trousers, a bottle of aftershave I hadn’t even opened yet.
I have just rang the lady at BA who rang me when she found my suitcase - and she said this has never happened before and she will “investigate further” but doesn’t think there’s anything she can do.
Am I just in a scenario of their word against mine? I don’t want to be a Karen but the fact that someone has gone through my luggage is really not sitting right with me. Is this a police matter? I can prove that I purchased most of the items that are missing but some of which were gifted to me. The delivery company seem very sketchy, and I already know they lied about what I said to them on the phone - I 100% never spoke to anyone at that company. The lady at BA said where the bag was left would have been secure and there is CCTV that she is going to look through, she admitted the only time the bag was not under surveillance was when the delivery driver was in possession of it. Any thoughts/advice on next steps moving forward would be greatly appreciated - or even hearing from someone that has been in a similar situation and managed to get some sort of resolve.
(Sorry for the Ted talk - I do feel much better for venting, thanks!)