A man has hit out at British Airways after luggage containing important medical equipment was lost by the airline and not returned to him.
Giles Duley, a photographer, writer and cook known as the ‘One Armed Chef’, shared on Twitter that his bag had not been put on a recent British Airways flight due to an error at check-in.
He was reportedly told the bag would be returned to him as soon as possible following the flight, but to no avail. The situation is “urgent”, he stated, because the bag contains vital medical equipment which he needs for his prosthetics.
Giles wrote on Twitter: “Dear @British_Airways, After an error at check-in, my bag was not loaded onto my flight. Ground staff were aware at the time, and I was promised the bag would be sent asap and I was given an apology for the mistake. I’m still waiting for my bag and/or any kind of communication.”
British Airways’ official Twitter account responded, asking the passenger to provide more details via Twitter direct message. But Giles continued: “I replied as requested, but was only a bot dealing with my message so got nowhere.
“Baggage has medical equipment needed to keep my prosthetics operating so request is urgent. Mistake was made by your team at check in and I was told it would be fixed. It was not.”
British Airways replied: “Once again, please accept our apologies for all inconvenience caused we don’t have any further updates at the moment.”
But Giles responded that there have been “no updates”. He wrote: “But I’ve had no updates?! You simply said you were continuing tracking. That’s not an update.”
This is the latest in a string of lost luggage incidents across multiple airlines this summer, due to staff strikes, flight delays and cancellations.
This is partly due to airports struggling to cope with increased travel demand after Covid restrictions eased, while numerous airlines had not managed to replace staff who left the aviation industry during the pandemic.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary told Sky News that Brexit was also a factor: “A lot of these pinch points would be solved very quickly if we could bring in European workers.
“We are hide-bound and hamstrung by a government so desperate to show Brexit has been a success, when it’s been an abject failure. It won’t allow us to bring in EU workers to do these jobs.”
The Independent has approached British Airways for comment.
