Lost luggage

What a pain and anxiety. Did you happen to buy tickets through a travel agent? If so, can you enlist their help?
If you are also a TripAdvisor member, there is an AirTravel forum who are pretty savvy and may have a name at BA for you.

Ug, that's horrible. Assuming you are not reunited with your bikes in a timely manner, is renting a quality road bike an option?

Both bikes are custom for our sizes. Could probably outfit my husband- but I am 5'1". Our cleats and helmets and entire kits of clothing are in the bike boxes.....

Well, three days is a long time so hopefully they will show up. In the mean time, reach out to your travel insurance carrier (you did buy this I hope) and see if your trip interruption coverage would be triggered if you can't do the ride.

It must be frustrating but please do let it consume the start of your trip. Your bikes will be found or not whether you are sitting around fretting or enjoying Madrid.

I would probably be on the phone with BA every couple of hours! I am assuming you are utilizing all of BA's tools to find your bikes.

Don't panic. I have had skis delayed by a half day to two days. If the bikes ended up in the wrong country it could take a couple of days to reach you. Check with BA to see if they have located the bikes or if they are still missing. If they don't know where the bikes are start working on a Plan B such as renting.

Fortunately the occasion my skis were delayed two days was on the return trip home. I found out the skis ended up in Russia and it took a day after the skis were located to get delivered to my home. The half day delays were usually caused by skis not getting loading onto our connecting flight. That tends to happen when the aircraft is a smaller regional and the flight has a lot of skiers.

Get BA to authorize replacement rentals and that may get you an answer as to whether BA located the bikes.

PS We always carry-on our XC ski boots. Skis are easier to rent that good boots.

And you might consider a return trip to the airport. I was impressed by the lack of English fluency in Spain and the difficulties we had with airport personnel in Madrid (we flew UA). So, maybe your bikes are sitting there, wouldn't that be nice. If not, having a face to face with customer service might help?

We travel with bikes and part of the problems is that the cases looks scary in the x-ray with all the steel and cables. And then the box fails the hydrocarbon test. So by the time they open the case and decide it isn't a bomb, may have missed your plane but the tracking numbers should tell them where it is. Where did BA say the cases were? There is not much you can do. Good luck.

A return trip to the airport has been a strong consideration. What could it hurt?

I have found sending a DM ( direct message) via Twitter to an airline gets a fast & helpful response from an airline 24/7. You need to follow the airline on Twitter so that you can DM each other. Fingers crossed for you.

I would definitely make an airport run.

Do you have a report number?

Have you been able to check on the BA tracking system?

......is renting a quality road bike an option?......

Never is if you are dragging your bikes with you. I use a Brooks leather saddle and would not ride a mile without it. Would you go on a week long hike in a pair of rented boots?

Let us know what happens.

How is this going??

To Alan- received an email from British Airways this am. The bikes never got put on the plane last Sunday at McCarren Airport (,Las Vegas). Hung over baggage agent? So after 5 days of 'trigger time' there is a glimmer of hope.

Our trip begins on Sat, the email said they bikes are on a flight to arrive in Madrid on Friday at 11:00pm! I'll believe it when I see it.
We have called the airline's number in Spain daily and pleaded. It's all done by computer tracking.
Fingers crossed.

Wow! Sounds promising. I'm sure you'll be meeting that flight. Best of luck and do enjoy your trip even with this rocky start!

I took a week long cycling tour in Tuscany in 2008. One of the tour members also flew BA and her bike and baggage were also lost. They finally caught up with her the LAST day of the tour. Thankfully the tour company was able to outfit her with a bike and she was able to get all of the gear she needed, but what a bummer to pay $4,000 for a week long tour and not have your own gear. The tour company told us that BA loses more of their clients bags and bikes than any other airline.....

Sending good juju for your bikes to arrive soon!

Curious, what was your fee for the oversized luggage? You pay the fee and still don't get the service.

How stressful!

I would absolutely demand that they refund your oversize luggage fee (or whatever they charged you for baggage).

Keep us posted - I hope they arrive!

Dear responders-
Thanks to all who put in their 'dime's worth' on the lost bicycle bags.
They arrived at the Madrid hotel this evening at 5:45pm. Almost a full 4 days late. We flew British Airways in part, because they don't charge for ONE checked bag- even if the bag is skis or gold clubs or a bike. So......I guess you get what you pay for!

We did our level best to enjoy our pre-trip extension in Salananca (lovely preserved and super clean university town) but it was tough.

We kept receipts for some added expenses due to the late arrival and will file a claim. I pulled the tags (their were layer upon layer of baggage tags on the bikes) and saw that when we checked the bags at McCarren Airport (Las Vegas)- on 7 May, they sat there for 3 days before being 'found' and sent on to Spain. Does not speak well for LV.

What precautions could anyone suggest for return flight? Insurance at the airport? I don't even know if they do that anymore.

PS- your contributions really helped us cope, by the way. Didn't feel like we were so hung out to dry. :-)

I've never needed even to investigate using it, but I think a lot of credit cards provide some form of protection for lost bags; I don't know whether they help at all with delays. You have to have used the card to buy the airline tickets. Hold on to all your documentation till you've had a chance to check this out. I have no idea how much time you have to file a claim.

Check online so you know exactly what BA is required to do for you.

Thanks for the update. Good to hear that the bikes arrived (presumably safely) and just in time for your road adventure.

I hope that a blessing in disguise was BA delivering your bikes to your overnight accommodation and not making you trek out to the airport.

Only advice for your return is to label the bike boxes with your final destination in addition to contact information. (I label my checked bags with my itinerary dates and locations should the bags need to be reunited with us part way through a multiple city trip.)

I've read all the fine print on the layers of tags. One seems to explain it all. "Found bag on May 10th". We checked into the airport at 2:30pm for a 5:30 flight on 7 May. Looks like they sat there in LV for 3 days. Grrrrrr

So glad you got them in time! Enjoy your bike tour.

For the trip home maybe tape candy to the outside of the boxes with a note asking they please be put on the right flight.

So glad they arrived. How nerve racking, but imagine if you hadn't flown in early? Now you are set to go. Safe travels.

Glad this ended well. I think you'd not find insurance at the airport. I'd consider shipping your bikes by FedEx or DHL. Yes, it would cost a fortune but I'm sure those bikes were not cheap. The carrier will sell you insurance.

FedEx or DHL. Yes, it would cost a fortune but I'm sure those bikes were not cheap.

Would $582 USD for a one-way Madrid to Las Vegas be considered a "fortune"? BikeFlights estimates FedEx 5 business day delivery to cost $581.95 for one road bike (53" x 9" x 29" box weighing 55 lbs). Faster three business day delivery increases shipping cost to $866.95.

That makes BA's free as one allowed checked bag much less than a fortune even with 5 day service.

My complaint in transporting a boxed bike as airline luggage (many many years ago) was paying a bike surcharge and having to sign a waiver that the airline wasn't responsible if they broke my bike. Ironically I shipped the same bike to New England by UPS and had it returned shipped home by UPS. The bike made it safely to Vermont for a nice bike ride but got a bit bent on the return voyage back across the country - one wheel broken and the frame bent. UPS bought the bike. (To be fair to UPS the cardboard box did get a bit bangged up crossing the country and back.)

Wow, that is a fortune! I had no idea. I guess if it was an under $1000 bike I'd chance the airline and hope it can be insured. If it's a one of a kind $10K custom, another story. I guess the OP will sort that out.

Haven't priced bikes recently, have you? Only bikes sold at Kmart are under a $1,000. The above problem is the main reason we shifted to BikeFriday that pack in a large but standard size suitcase instead to large bike box. We have never had a problem with delay or damage since shifting to the suitcase.

Add the phrase "and up" to your $1000 bike pricing. And bike fanatics can spend $1000 on wheels and tires:
https://www.westernbikeworks.com/product/mavic-2017-ksyrium-pro-wheelset
where today's sale price drops the MAVIC2017 Ksyrium Pro Wheelset to only $941.95 UDS.

I've only done one European bike tour holiday, a self-guided but arranged two weeks in northeastern Germany. Although we have a tandem Bike Friday we elected to simplify travel and rented touring bikes from the bike touring company. We did bring our own helmets, pedals and saddles which the touring company installed (and removed) for us. I was happy with renting for the following reasons:

Multitude of path surfaces including Plattenweg, cobblestones and gravel/packed dirt. See: http://bicyclegermany.com/path_conditions.html
My road bike uses 23mm tires. (The rental ran on 32 or 35mm robust tires - no flats in two weeks.)

Fenders. Not that I no longer bike commute I'm a fair weather rider and my good road bike doesn't have fenders. (The rental had fenders and hub generator head and tail lights.)

Who would steal a rental bike. (Rentals were supplied with bike locks and tool kits)

Renting vs BYOB:
http://bicyclegermany.com/rent_or_bring.html
No right answer,

Lost luggage is always everyones worst fear. Its happend to me only once but I am sure it will happen again.
Maybe a GPS Luggage tracking dot will help at least keep track where it is for your own piece of mind. For $40 at least it is piece of mind.

Liam

Liam- that crossed our minds (tracking device). If the USPostal service can track a letter, why couldn't British Airways tell us the location of our bikes for 3 full days! Well, we've had them for our cycling adventure so even with the 6 days of waiting, we got our bike trip. Heading over the Pyrenees to France today!!