Has anyone here had something stolen out of their luggage at Heathrow?
Mar 19th, 2008, 03:54 AM
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Has anyone here had something stolen out of their luggage at Heathrow?
Hi, everyone,
I just returned yesterday from a business/pleasure trip to Scotland and Belgium. Halfway through the trip, I flew on British Airways from Edinburgh to Brussels via Heathrow. I arrived safely in Brussels, but my luggage did not.
Thankfully, they easily located my bag in London, and it was delivered to my hotel room in Brussels later that night. But the first thing I noticed when I opened up my suitcase was a big gaping hole where my toiletry bag had been. I can only assume that someone stole it out of my suitcase during the layover in London. I am steaming mad - that toiletry bag is a beautiful Kate Spade that I adored, and it was filled with all of my makeup, my pills, a couple pairs of disposable contact lenses, and a bunch of other things.
Has this happened to anyone else here? Can you offer any advice on how to handle this? I have already submitted a claim on British Airways' website, but I'd love to hear if others have had any luck getting reimbursed for stolen items.
Other than that, my trip to Edinburgh, the Scottish Highlands, and Brussels was great!
Thanks,
Meredith
I just returned yesterday from a business/pleasure trip to Scotland and Belgium. Halfway through the trip, I flew on British Airways from Edinburgh to Brussels via Heathrow. I arrived safely in Brussels, but my luggage did not.
Thankfully, they easily located my bag in London, and it was delivered to my hotel room in Brussels later that night. But the first thing I noticed when I opened up my suitcase was a big gaping hole where my toiletry bag had been. I can only assume that someone stole it out of my suitcase during the layover in London. I am steaming mad - that toiletry bag is a beautiful Kate Spade that I adored, and it was filled with all of my makeup, my pills, a couple pairs of disposable contact lenses, and a bunch of other things.
Has this happened to anyone else here? Can you offer any advice on how to handle this? I have already submitted a claim on British Airways' website, but I'd love to hear if others have had any luck getting reimbursed for stolen items.
Other than that, my trip to Edinburgh, the Scottish Highlands, and Brussels was great!
Thanks,
Meredith
Mar 19th, 2008, 03:57 AM
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We like to call it Theifrow...my Ipod Nano is missing from my most recent trip via Heathrow to Dublin from China...Still holding out hope I placed in deep in my carry on bag and will unpack everything tonight. It does happen a lot from what I am told.
Mar 19th, 2008, 04:04 AM
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Yeah, I'm starting to realize that it's a common occurrence. I am kicking myself for not just carrying my bag on! I carried on the rest of the trip, but I just didn't feel like dealing with it that day. 
Mar 19th, 2008, 04:12 AM
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I am so sorry, because I would be mad as ---- if my makeup bag were missing, it is the most important article in our luggage, with that said, I will tell you my story. BA is one of my fav airlines but recently I made a trip from US to Bahrain, I had, are you ready for this, fourteen suitcases...I had just purchased a wonderful french tablecloth and napkins from William Sonoma and they are no more...they are gone.....my suitcase was missing for over six weeks....I was just ready to file the claim, when they called....I guess it was in that big black hole in Heathrow, and though I am grateful to have the container back, why in the world would they take those dozen napkins (which are no longer for sale and I have tablecloth)....just this week at my home a check arrived for the amount of the napkins with apology.....the bottom line I had always in the past inventoried my luggage, this time my DH said, oh it will be fine...well it wasn't fine when he thought he had lost a bunch of his wonderful CD's.....figure out what you have in it and email them, call them and just be persistant, they will reimburse you but it does not happen overnight for sure.....
Mar 19th, 2008, 05:08 AM
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No, no travel insurance, unfortunately.
Alan, I said I assume it was stolen at Heathrow. Of course, it could have been stolen anywhere. But since it was waylayed at Heathrow for several hours, that seems like the most likely scenario. And we flew British Airways because it was much more affordable than BMI.
Alan, I said I assume it was stolen at Heathrow. Of course, it could have been stolen anywhere. But since it was waylayed at Heathrow for several hours, that seems like the most likely scenario. And we flew British Airways because it was much more affordable than BMI.
Mar 19th, 2008, 06:19 AM
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A ring of baggage thieves at Boston Logan a decade ago or more ago was stealing both from passengers and from freight shipped as baggage -- notably credit cards. A young woman handler who informed against them was found dead in a car trunk in the parking garage.
When my father received his trunk which was shipped by sea from Europe at the end of WWII, someone had drilled out the rivets, stolen the contents, and put new rivets in the trunk so it looked good as new!
It isn't just Heathrow, and it isn't just today!
When my father received his trunk which was shipped by sea from Europe at the end of WWII, someone had drilled out the rivets, stolen the contents, and put new rivets in the trunk so it looked good as new!
It isn't just Heathrow, and it isn't just today!
Mar 19th, 2008, 10:28 AM
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I had something similar happen a few years ago flying ORD to CDG...with my daughter. Our bags didn't arrive until the next day and when they were delivered to our hotel we opened them and notice very strange things missing from both our suitcases. All my daughter black (no other color) underwear were missing...several sweaters, a pair of shoes, only some of her make up...it looked like someone had a lot of time to go thru her things and pick and choose. Some other very personal hygiene items were also taken...only a new bottle of perfume and a scraf was taken out of my bag along with two magazines and a book. I called American Airlines immediately from the hotel and of course no one was available...it was only 4 in the afternoon and the recording was only in french, which was no surprise, but no way of complaining about the situation. Thanks to our hotel desk clerk he was able to get me a phone number and I registered my complaint and later was reimbursed for a few things. The part that creeped us out was that they went thru and picked what would essentially have been a complete outfit for a person my daughter's size from top to bottom and inside out....yuck!
Mar 19th, 2008, 01:03 PM
#15
I keep my toiletries bag in my carry-on tote (excepting obvious liquids or getls which go in a ziplock in my checked luggage).
Meredith~ Sorry for your loss, but I would never let my cosmetics bag, cosmetics, prescriptions, glasses, sunglasses, stuff like that... out of my possession.
Meredith~ Sorry for your loss, but I would never let my cosmetics bag, cosmetics, prescriptions, glasses, sunglasses, stuff like that... out of my possession.
Mar 19th, 2008, 01:12 PM
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Terrible! This may be a clueless question, but were the bags in question locked?
I used a couple of airport shrink-wrap services for the first time a few months ago..it may seem like overkill but perhaps it is an option for some travelers if you have such a machine at your departure airport.
Does anyone use these on a regular basis?
I used a couple of airport shrink-wrap services for the first time a few months ago..it may seem like overkill but perhaps it is an option for some travelers if you have such a machine at your departure airport.
Does anyone use these on a regular basis?
Mar 22nd, 2008, 03:58 AM
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If you want your luggage broken into, use expensive cases.
These rings work by having one thief select the bags which are re-routed to a nearby safe place where someone else opens them.
Japanese tourists used to be picked out because of their fondness for cameras. I expect laptops are the target nowadays.
No self respecting thief would go near my bags.
These rings work by having one thief select the bags which are re-routed to a nearby safe place where someone else opens them.
Japanese tourists used to be picked out because of their fondness for cameras. I expect laptops are the target nowadays.
No self respecting thief would go near my bags.
Mar 22nd, 2008, 08:45 AM
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Our suitcases were broken into in Santiago Chile. I reported it to Air Canada (as we were flying with them) They said they weren't responsible so I called our home insurance company. No problem. They wanted a wrtitten report, didn't even need the A/C incident number. They just had me shop for new items and submit the bills. Of course you can't replace everything that had sentimental value etc but at least I was compensated. I would never travel without my makeup close at hand - it would be too frightening to those who had to look at me if I didn't have it on!!!!
