This afternoon I received a note from a Danish lady friend: Having met her guests at Malaga airport they were told their luggage had been placed on a flight to Barcelona! They were inconvenienced; subject to indifference and paper-shuffling; treated as though they were nuisances. Then to cap it all the impudent suggestion that they return to the airport to pick their luggage up the following day!

Happily, Lisa knows the rules. She gave them their address and suggested they deliver it. They will do so.

I think it is a shame that such jobsworths exist and feel sorry for travellers who meekly do as they are told. I suppose in many circumstances they have little choice. It happened to my son at Alicante airport. I demanded they deliver it. They did. If we let as many as possible know proper procedure the authorities might actually begin to do their jobs properly.

Years ago when Concorde went into service a large poster was displayed at Heathrow. The picture was of the airliner with the caption: ?Breakfast in London ? Lunch in New York.? Some card had scrawled beneath it: ?Luggage in Tokyo.? Nothing changes without protest!