Lisa and I have flow out to Milan for a couple of days. It is our first holiday without Alex since he was born but I think Lisa is getting used to the idea. Several calls to her parents have persuaded her that he is having a great time camping in the snow with his grandparents. (We are having an equally great time, although far from snow we have beautiful Italian spring weather.) 

Milan is an interesting city, although I still have not worked out were real people shop - surely not everyone in Milan can afford Gucci, D&G and Luis Vitton?!? I have had to confiscate Lisa's credit card and keep reminding her that we are in the middle of an international credit crisis!

The only downside so far has been British Airways. I flew out here Friday morning and whilst I sailed through Terminal 5 at Heathrow, I then spent an hour in the plane waiting for it to take off because it was not working. Lisa flew out yesterday and had a similar problem. Worse though, Lisa's suitcase did not make it on to her plane and when she got to Milan she was told that it would be on the next plane and would be couriered straight to our hotel.

That was about twenty-four hours ago and by my calculations there have been about five more BA flights from Heathrow to Milan since then but guess what? Yep, no luggage.

I have tried to call the number on the information sheet that BA gave to Lisa twice and keep having to hang up because there is no response. I have also left a message on the answerphone but as yet I have not had a call back.

I understand that T5 is having some teething problems, that was probably inevitable and it it a great terminal. What I do not appreciate though is the dishonesty and lack of information from BA.

The other really irritating thing about the whole situation is the form that BA gave to Lisa. It actually includes the line "This report does not involve any acknowledgment of liability." I am sorry, we checked our luggage in at the BA baggage check, we then boarded a BA plane that we had bought tickets for only to find that our luggage did not make it on. If BA are not prepared to accept liability who exactly do they think is at fault?

These things happen, but a bit more responsibility from British Airways would make the situation a little less frustrating.