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That’s what a BA representative said by way of excuse when our bags were delayed by more than two hours earlier in the year. I laughed, and put it down in my lengthy notebook of ridiculous excuses.
But it happened again yesterday. Two hour delay in T5 baggage hall for us. One lady who had been waiting all day received her bags after 6 hours.
And the excuse? A BA lady with a clipboard was saying that they couldn’t work in the rain. “Health and safety. It’s very dangerous. There’s nothing we can do, I’m afraid. If you want to go home, we’ll send your bags on for you.”
Am I the only person who finds this preposterous? Britain is hardly known for its arid climate!
If this were true nobody would ever get their bags at MAN 😂
Quite, I landed 6 days ago in MAN and I’d still be waiting.
It obviously happened in London, and yes, it’s frankly a disgrace that they even have the cheek to come up with that as an excuse.
With the combination of health & safety and strong unionisation, I’m not entirely surprised and yesterday evening’s rain was fairly extraordinary.
I don’t know what happened there last night but people do sometimes under estimate the issues. Last month in Nice, there were people waiting for three BA flights back to London. The first was diverted to Marseille and the return cancelled, the next held for a while, then also diverted to MRS, return planned but eventually cancelled. Gatwick flight, held, then diverted but did make it to Nice and picked up the return pax. The last BA flight, due to overnight, landed fine. BA/Avia staff said it was weather specifically wind. There were a few flights landing, wind sock not too agitated, mixed sun/clouds, reports from people nearby that no particular weather issues. This led to staff receiving much abuse and threats of ‘serious’ claims and compensation. This aggressive conduct was mirrored by people calling BA. Liars, incompetent, will never fly BA again etc. All apparently very unpleasant. Avia had produced six staff members to help but were hampered by the complainers.
The situation reported by BA/Avia was in fact entirely true even if not overtly visible to the passengers. There was a 12-15mph tail wind for landing on 04; the A320 is apparently not currently certified to land with a tail wind above 10mph. Flights couldn’t land on 22 into the headwind because that’s a visual approach only and the cloud cover was too low. EasyJet and AF equally affected. Some other aircraft were able to land but most diverted.
One needs the facts before making judgements.
Thanks for reminding me of yet another advantage of not checking a bag in. HBO is the way to go, have been doing it for years.
If there was the potential for thunderstorms, people can’t work outside indeed (understanbly).
In the 80s a ramp worked died in Texas with a lightning strike and since then many countries and airlines imposed restrictions.Indeed.
It’s not just the rain but the possibiluty of lightening as well as high wids
And remember when rain stops play it’s not because of a passing shower or light drizzle but because it’s heavy and sustained rain.
I have heard the same explanation/excuse. It’s frustrating but there’s not a lot you can do as a passenger. BA did the same as they did with you offer to let you go home and send your bags later. That sounds like a fair compromise.
In my case I decided to wait as baggage started to come out and in the end I only waited another 30 minutes so just under 2 hours in total.I sympathise with BA staff to a point as bad weather does cause complications and it can be difficult to handle baggage in wet weather and yesterday’s rain was particularly heavy.
Why wait 2+ hours? Did no one tell the lady waiting 6 hours what her options were as that’s terrible CS.
Make a missing bag claim and let them drop your bags off for you. Even better when travelling via public transport as now a heavy suitcase lighter.
In my last case they were at home just after I managed to get home on the train.
@JDB, I’m happy to say that yesterday I saw no evidence “staff receiving much abuse and threats of ‘serious’ claims and compensation”. The baggage hall had a carnival atmosphere, with clapping, cheering and shouts of excitement every time someone was reunited with their bag. But people making the best of a bad situation doesn’t excuse poor service.
“it can be difficult to handle baggage in wet weather and yesterday’s rain was particularly heavy” doesn’t wash as an excuse. Are there no waterproofs in this world? Weather can be overcome with a desire to do the job. The RNLI doesn’t down tools when it rains. 7 boats containing 427 migrants arrived in the UK yesterday, despite the rain. I’ve seen Welsh hill farmers rounding up their sheep in weather that made yesterday in London look like a Greek summer.
The three groups of people waiting 6 hours had a cancelled connecting flight and wanted their cases for an overnight hotel stay. They had nowhere else to go. Airtags told them that their cases were already indoors, so weather wasn’t a problem. Dozens of staff left their shifts while they were waiting – surely one of them could have held back for a few minutes to put a group of people out of their misery?
We got 10,000 Avios per person last time this happened to us.
*cue JDBs head exploding
@jj – I don’t know exactly what was going on at LHR but I do think the premise that the staff could have put on some waterproofs and got on with it is rather simplistic!
Also, while I don’t have to deal with unionised manual workers myself, I know people who do and the idea of holding someone back to do some hours beyond their shift, even paid at overtime rates, in that sort of industrial relations environment is just nuts.
The idea also of expecting someone to go and search through thousands of bags to help the three groups is a lovely idea but not very realistic, particularly if the cases had already gone to the BRF. It may be easier in the new T2 baggage environment some years hence.
There is a duty of care onus on BA towards its employees and it is quite possible that the weather was sufficiently bad (including thunderstorms) that working conditions became unsafe or equipment unsafe to use, which is rather more serious than staff getting wet which can they do all the time; what happened yesterday is relatively uncommon and isn’t the norm in rainy conditions.
I would note also that Heathrow had had a very long accident free period but tragically has suffered two workplace deaths in the last couple of years. One of those involved baggage. This has led to a huge rechecking of health and safety protocols by airport staff and contractors.
I was out in the rain yesterday evening unintentionally but also went to check how some newly hugely enlarged soakaways were performing and they were struggling and this morning there is much visible damage from the rain all around us. Conditions were not even ‘new’ normal.
I too would have been cheesed off by my luggage being delayed but well implemented health and safety processes and proper worker protection should rank a long way above some late arriving bags.
Sounds like excuses to me. Don’t get me wrong, the occasional freak weather phenomenon is understandable but this feels slightly more normal.
Either way then, if there are significant blockers to delivering luggage then this needs to be clearly signposted and frankly then don’t charge £100s worth of fees to do it.
I rarely complain and certainly wouldn’t be agressive in doing so but ultimately people waiting for hours to pick up luggage is ridiculous.
The problem may well have been the weather but I’m afraid it’s just an excuse or symptom of much deeper rooted issues.
I too would have been cheesed off by my luggage being delayed but well implemented health and safety processes and proper worker protection should rank a long way above some late arriving bags.
Very much this. A few hours wait for bags is very, very frustrating. Slipping carrying a potentially 32kg suitcase could be a permanent injury.
It’s funny that on this site most people usually automatically stand up for the workers and dish out heavy criticism of most big financial services providers or airlines who are always in the wrong. However, when some awful inconvenience like delayed bags occurs, worker safety gets given the two fingers and all sorts of armchair airport/airline operational experts emerge.
This was yesterday evening’s rainfall at Heathrow: –
2024-07-15T17:45:00Z 5
2024-07-15T18:00:00Z 3.4
2024-07-15T18:15:00Z 3
2024-07-15T18:30:00Z 1.4
2024-07-15T18:45:00Z 0.2
2024-07-15T19:00:00Z 0.8
2024-07-15T19:15:00Z 1.6
2024-07-15T19:30:00Z 1.8
2024-07-15T19:45:00Z 1.2
2024-07-15T20:00:00Z 1
2024-07-15T20:15:00Z 0.8
2024-07-15T20:30:00Z 2
2024-07-15T20:45:00Z 1.6Also, while I don’t have to deal with unionised manual workers myself, I know people who do and the idea of holding someone back to do some hours beyond their shift, even paid at overtime rates, in that sort of industrial relations environment is just nuts.
Employers choose what kind of industrial relations they establish.
In our business, our operational teams always do what it takes to ensure everything is finished each day. If a spike of work comes in, people work overtime because we have a culture that customers must never be disappointed by us. If the overtime becomes prolonged or excessive, we give ex gratia payments as a thank you. Colleague retention and satisfaction is well above industry norms. Our competitors don’t work the way that we do, and we are able to charge a premium that more than covers our additional staff costs. The business wins, colleagues win, and customers win.
I fly regularly with BA because I usually get decent service at a decent price, and I’m normally pretty sanguine about the airline’s faults. But, twice in a few months my baggage has been seriously delayed due to rain. That suggests a lack of planning for weather conditions that fall within the normal parameters.
@jj you cannot equate office workers doing overtime vs lowly paid manual workers who are (rightly) protected by their unions and you know that.
Yesterday evening’s weather conditions were not within any norms, even newer norms. You refer to “culture” which is very important and one of those cultures in aviation is safety first. It is beyond unreasonable to expect staff to work in an unsafe environment simply to ensure your suitcase turned up on time. You can’t be moving heavy containers or bags and driving vehicles close to people and aircraft in those conditions including terrible visibility even at very short range. You are actually talking about a risk of serious injury or death. You make it sound like BA was inconveniencing you for fun when the cost to them will have been very high.
@JDB, if you treat people with respect and make them feel valued, ask them pleasantly for co-operation when you need it, understand when they can’t help you out, thank them profusely when they can assist and reward them for their flexibility, a great deal can be achieved. It doesn’t matter if the people concerned are company executives or minimum wage manual workers, human nature is the same.
Scrooge wisely observed of Fezziwig, ‘He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil’. Employers could do worse than read a little Dickens. They may find more wisdom there than in any number of management tomes.
@jj but you don’t know how much overtime the baggage handlers and other staff had already done. People have limits. It’s not that they are uncaring but may be physically and mentally incapable of working longer no matter how much they want to or the exhortations from management.
Getting people to stay late may impinge on their rest hours for example that could then affect their work the next day.
These people aren’t robots to simply order about. If you did that then you’d have even fewer of them than there already are.
And they may have other comittments as well. They may have families that need their presence which is just as important as someones bags. They may have a partner or carer waiting at home who can’t leave children or a sick relative alone until you get home. That delay may impinge on their going to their own work themselves.
@jj you wrote “if you treat people with respect and make them feel valued, ask them pleasantly for co-operation when you need it, understand when they can’t help you out, thank them profusely”
This is simplistic. It might make more sense to view treating staff well is not expecting them to work longer shifts during periods of bad weather. Even if it is to help out.
The reality is that BA has no desire to delay passengers or make them wait for baggage. In fact it has on-time baggage delivery targets which likely were missed yesterday. And I’m sure BA would have been trying their best to deliver baggage to the carousels as quickly as possible. The more flights are impacted the more it adds to the problem. But expecting staff to work in unsafe conditions and beyond contracted hours is not going to help with staff morale anymore than it is going to satisfy customers who are inconvenienced.
BA offered a practical solution of letting passengers go home and have their bags sent separately. It’s not BA’s fault if passengers decide not to do that and then wait hours at the airport.
Were passengers all loaded/offloaded via jet bridges during the heavy rain, or were buses and mobile stairway trucks in use?
(genuine question — I don’t know)
Yesterday’s rainfall was far from extreme. Heathrow’s Operational Flood Plan defines an extreme rainfall event as >25 mm per hour, and the data provided by @JDB shows we didn’t get close to that yesterday. The World Meteorological Society defines heavy rain as a precipitation rate more than 10mm per hour, so most of the evening – including the period when the clipboard lady said that work was too dangerous – had only moderate rain (2.5-10mm per hour).
No-one expects staff to be put in danger, although unpleasant conditions should never be a reason to stop working. With the correct procedures and equipment, it should be possible to work in moderate rainfall. It’s a regular occurrence in Britain, and it will happen more frequently with climate change.
The fact that I personally have twice this year had serious baggage delays due to rainfall suggests that BA cannot cope with weather conditions at its home airport that are within climate norms.
I kind of agree with AJA because lots of slippery metal surfaces and humping bags around in the rain is much higher risk.
But I can’t help agreeing with @jj that BA has brought this on themselves.
Since Terminal 5 was opened there are too many peaks of baggage problems.
Since covid and still continuing, there have been many signs that BA is trying to cut things too fine and is failing to provision for normal level of contingencies of all sorts. In shortage of planes, failure to load sufficient meals,shortages of crew, no staffing on the ground who can assist/rebook/reticket at their major hub Heathrow which just makes the effects of all the irrops worse… clear evidence that they’ve been selling a lot of flights a reasonable assessment of normal contingncies arising in the course of operations, would have told them they wouldn’t have the resources to run, or could be hit by the usually expected external contingencies like the odd storm somewhere, or something else going wrong with Heathrow Operations..etc.
And particularly I can’t help thinking that BA’s shameful dumping of longserving experienced staff and their previous pension and contract rights during Covid, has something to do with their current operation’s lack of resilience.
On the Heathrow Airport baggage handlers side? Thank heavens they’ve got a union. After the way they’ve been treated by management on things like pay and conditions and probably still undermanned, even though I know there’s got to be an element of jobsworth and over-taking advantage of health and safety provisions, Good Luck to them.
Time for management to solve tbe root causes of extreme consequences of all these small failures. They don’t deserve to dump risks onto workers because they haven’t sufficiently provisioned to run their businesses, i.e. BA and Heathrow.
@jj the Heathrow Climate Change report is about the impact of rainfall/flooding on aircraft, vehicles and physical infrastructure, not about safe working conditions. The rate to which you refer is, inter alia, about attenuation.
People in civilised countries should not be expected to work in unsafe conditions and it would be unlawful for BA to ask them do so. If emergency services are working heroically in such conditions to save lives as they often do, that’s one thing but to expect them to do so to fetch your suitcase, well…
@JDB then they need to invest in technology and processes to make it safer. Becuase frankly it’s London and it rains ALOT of the time and in most cases it’s pretty heavy.
I don’t disagree that H&S is important but I’m with LL and the view that the issue is extreme cost cutting and a lack of provision for when things aren’t going just as they should, that isn’t where management make their money.
Hopefully BA can bring it back from here with investment in the right areas.
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