I have traveled regularly on BA, this time we were awaiting guests who began their flight in Rome connecting thru in London on BA to Phoenix.  If your reputation is based not on how you handle things when things run smoothly, but when things go awry,  then BA is in trouble.\n\nThe 3 guests arrived but not one piece of baggage (4pcs). Customer service at the airport said \""wait\"" apparently thinking that the bags would materialize... nearly 2 hrs later, with a promise that the bags would be delivered, a BA employee explained that there was an IT problem and that several hundred bags were not where they were supposed to be. \n\nOne of our guests was a visiting Prof, teaching a class for a semester at ASU. Needless to say not having any of her clothes, or teaching materials was a disaster. \n\nThe next morning we contacted the BA \""lost baggage number,\"" answered by someone barely understandable, who explained that the bags were now at the airport and we could pick them up. We went to the airport only to be told \""oh, you must have talked to the call center in India, they have no idea what's going on, I don't know why they tell people to come to the airport!\""  You have no idea? Maybe it's because they're contracted by BA and instructed to do so!\n\nWe learned that BA \""contracts\"" a local service to deliver the bags but we \""have to be patient because the company is a small company and there are hundreds of bags.\"" Excuse me? We have to be patient because you (BA) contracted with a company not up to the job? \n\nEach day we returned to the airport....we also called the \""call center\""  and they  provided incorrect information each and every time; telling us each day that the delivery service had our bags and would deliver them that night \""but if they didn't we should call back the next day.\"" \n\nThe website to which we were referred was equally useless listing the bags as 3 black bags (2 were light blue 1 was yellow) and showing a beige baby stroller as black. When we spoke to the customer service person at the airport, she explained that with all the bags that were misdirected the staff in London didn't have time to put \""colors in the system, they just labeled everything 'black.'  Could BA be less efficient or effective? \n\nTwo of the bags arrived at midnight one week later, the last bag and baby stroller at 11:00 pm the next night. \n\nThe staff was clearly stressed, all were as pleasant as possible but British Air could not have been more inept and their staff more ill informed.