British Airways
I had to carry a Mac Pro on a flight from Brazil to England. It's one of those big beasts, they weight 22kgs.

I wrapped it in bubble wrap, tied a convenient carrying handle on it, stuck 'fragile' stickers on it, and checked it in.

When I got it back in London, it had been irreparably smashed. The case, which is fucking STRONG on those, was completely bucked, and the motherboard had been shattered. It had obviously been thrown / dropped from somewhere high.

To cut a long story short, after emialing BA in UK, and been told to email BA in RIo, and vice versa etc etc (fast forward about 3 months, 10 emails, several photos of before and after) I got a reply from customer services in UK advising me;

'We suggest in future you take your laptop as hand baggage'.

Laptop? 22kg hand baggage? I don't think so.
( Not Pineapple anymore, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 14:13, 10 replies)

Airline luggage complaints...
...specifically designed by international treaty (no less) to make in entirely impossible to ever get a penny of compensation. I had an epic battle between myself, BA, Air France and Cameroon Airlines about ten years ago over lost cases. Gave up.
( Scaryduck LIKES EGG, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 14:39, closed)

Have to say
I didn't bother after that. They clearly hadn't read anything I'd said.

I knew it was a bit of a chance shipping it in the hold anyway. It was either that or give it to my mad brother in law as a present, and he can go fuck himself.
( Not Pineapple anymore, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 14:55, closed)

You should
have bought the Macbook Air.
(Ethelred is watching cheese grow, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 14:39, closed)

.
*groan*
( Not Pineapple anymore, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 14:53, closed)

Wankers!
The lot of them! I bloody hate airlines! They'll try and get every penny out of you!

My girlfriends mother almost gone done over by Virgin before flying to NY because she used the shorter version of her name on the plane ticket (same as her tax form) rather than the one on her passport. When she realised this, they told her she'll need to pay for a new plane ticket, as it's non refundable! Got it sorted in the end though by marching down to the branch and flapping arms etc.. Took 2 weeks of bickering on the phone beforehand though. She got in a right state about it too. :(
(MrNorm, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 14:45, closed)

Bubble wrap and a 'fragile' sticker!!??
That was brave. Next time, get a Pelican case for it. They make one for that specific computer. Utterly, completely indestructible and, importantly, very discreet. A dozen union baggage handlers with fire axes won't make a dent in it, but they wouldn't even notice it because it's just a grotty looking black box. Not even close to being cheap but then a Mac Pro isn't either: at least £2,500, four times that if kitted out.
( Scrumper, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 15:20, closed)

yeah,
It wasn't very bright, but it wasn't mission critical or anything. I took the hard disks out and put them in my luggage. They survived :D
( Not Pineapple anymore, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 15:36, closed)

Got to agree.
Bubble wrap isn't protective like that. I can't believe anyone thought it would make it through OK. Surely we all know that the bags get moved around not too carefully?
(robbersdog, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 16:39, closed)

agreed, they are some kind of beast
3mm aluminium alloy plate all round......
( Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Fri 3 Sep 2010, 1:15, closed)

I actualy worked for BA for two weeks as part of an emergancy lost baggage team for bags lost due to the snow causing flights to be cancled. A days training later and I spent the next 11 days telling people I had no idea where there bag was, when they might see it, and that it wasn't considered lost untill 6 months down the line.

I got called all sorts, and I almost felt like I deserved it. Never give BA a valuable bag, they could lose a haystack in a needle.
(Mong goose, Sat 4 Sep 2010, 0:52, closed)