British Airways desk staff in Rome was not helpful. They made me check my hand luggage because it did not fit in their ridiculously tight quarters. I have carried that bag on every flight until I get to Rome and the desk staff makes me check my hand luggage with fragile pottery inside. They assured me it would be well taken care of. Yeah, right. All of my pottery from Spain is now broken. Why can't they do more to help the customer!
Why didn't you help yourself? You should have read the carryon guidelines and you would have been prepared. The fact you were allowed an oversized carryon when flying other flights is a moot point.
You could have shipped your fragile pottery home (most shops will do this for you) or packed it carefully in your checked bag.
Contributor 
12,722 posts
90 reviews How does your British Airways complaint relate to your Easyjet complaint?
Watch for OP's next posts to appear in the Rome forum. She'll be complaining about how old and broken down the buildings were in Rome :).
Contributor
15,770 posts
71 reviews Hi,
I can empathize.. but I also do think that Gracie is right.. BA does speak to this issue in their Contract of Carriage, Section 8j:
BA CoC;
britishairways.com/travel/…en_us
The notion that you have used it before without issuse is unfortunately not germane.. but.. I do also cede that the inconsistent enforcement of carry-on baggage makes this issue even more difficult to police.. but in the end, your prior flights with this bag does then make it acceptable for all future flights-- each one is it's own unique situation.
As far as the staff not being helpful goes.. that's hard to say.. I will say that if this happened well before check-in cut off time, perhaps more could have been done to help you find suitable packing materials.. but we'd need to know the time-frame in which this occurred and the situation at that time.
The size of the template itself may or may not be "ridiculously tight" but in the end, unless there is a local rule to the contrary, BA is free to set that as small as they see fit..
While I'm not saying that perhaps BA could have done more for you at the check-in counters to try to find alternatives that still met their rules, but also better protected your pottery, in the end, knowing and complying with carry on baggage rules do fall to you the passenger.. While BA doesn't apparently publish one set size limit, they do make it known that there IS a size limit..
Travel Safe,
Contributor
12,722 posts
90 reviews Gracie,
I will have to show him my photographs (I was in Rome last week) which will hopefully change his mind!
Photographs :-
Edited: 20 March 2011, 17:57
Contributor
22,294 posts
340 reviews rules are rules I'm afraid. If your hand luggage is too large then it has to be checked. I know it is a pain that the size does differ between airlines, but is is the passengers responsibilty to be aware of the size guidelines before travel.
Two posts, different airlines, same problem. Anyone spot the common factor?
Common factor is that the OP has champagne tastes but only wants to pay Brown Ale prices!
Maybe it would be better for everyone if he/she just stayed in the USA and did all their flying with their impecable, faultless, 3 cents a trip airlines and left the TA community to actually assist fellow travellers instead of expecting his/her every whine and moan to be taken seriously.
So far you've whinged about British Airways, Iberia, EasyJet ... I think you'd better hire yourself a private jet next time.
As noted above, there does seem to be a common factor ....
Contributor
57,504 posts
14 reviews Was there no way you could have removed some of the Spanish pottery pieces, put them in a carrier bag (to take with you on board) and then checked the piece of hand baggage? If you were not given the option to do that then that does veer to the unhelpful end of the ground staff bell curve; if you chose not to do that then it was your decision rather than that of the airline.
BA, IB, EZ and most other airlines publish guidelines for checked and hand baggage size and weight on their websites. BA allows up to 23kg in weight for one piece of hand baggage (with the caveat that it fits either under the seat or in an overhead locker) which is very generous indeed.
