DARTS star James Wade fumed at British Airways after his bags went missing – as he faces a race against time to get them back.
The 42-year-old flew from Heathrow to Hamburg on Friday for the Baltic Sea Open but arrived without his luggage.
James Wade was on his way to the Baltic Sea Open when his luggage went missing from his flight to Hamburg[/caption]
Wade was fuming after the responses he received from British Airways’ customer service team[/caption]
The eleven-time major winner was knocked out in Kiel, Germany, in the semi-finals by Scot Gary Anderson.
And to rub salt in the wounds, when he arrived back in the UK he discovered his luggage had never left the airport.
Wade claims he was told it would be delivered to his home but wasn’t given a time scale, with the World Matchplay – which he won in 2007 – just days away.
The star took to X to complain about the situation in a long and detailed post recounting his frustrating experience.
Wade said: “British Airways what an absolute mess.
“Checked in for my flight to Hamburg on BA0974 from T5 Heathrow on Friday 11th July 2025, and said good bye to by luggage for what seems to be forever.
“Landed in Hamburg to the delight of no luggage. I was then told to expect my bag to be delivered to my hotel by 11:30 the next day. With frustration this never happened.
“On return to Heathrow today, I have been informed that the luggage has never moved from its current location and on request that BA return this to me in person.
“I have then been told that they are unable to return my personal and professional possessions and have to wait for their procedure of delivering the luggage to my home address with no specific time scale.”
Wade’s reference to “professional equipment” suggests his luggage included some of his darts equipment.
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The timing of the loss could not be worse for the English thrower, who is not sure whether he will receive his items back before he leaves for his next major tournament.
He added: “With me leaving to attend the World Matchplay on Friday the 18th July 2025 in Blackpool you can appreciate this is not ideal preparation for one of the biggest major tournaments of the PDC calendar year.
“Absolutely shocking customer service.”
He tagged British Airways’ X account in the post.
Wade is the latest darts player to encounter luggage problems in recent weeks.
Gerwyn Price impressively managed to win the Poland Masters two weeks ago with newly bought darts that he had to file down after his signature set was lost in transit.
Meanwhile Ross Smith took to X on Friday to announce he’d also lost his luggage on the way to Hamburg – which he sarcastically labelled a “great start to the European Tour”.
He was quickly joined later that day by Chris Dobey, who claimed in a post on X that he had received ‘no communication’ from British Airways after his baggage was lost.
British Airways have been contacted for comment.
In a previous statement regarding Friday’s issues, a BA spokesperson said: “We’re working really hard to get our customers’ bags to them as quickly as possible following a failure of Heathrow Airport’s baggage system on Friday.
“Whilst this was out of our control, we’re sorry for the inconvenience caused.”
England thrower Ross Smith also fell victim to British Airways’ luggage problems en-route to Hamburg[/caption]
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
- 1994 – Dennis Priestley
- 1995 – Phil Taylor
- 1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
- 1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
- 1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
- 1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
- 2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
- 2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
- 2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
- 2003 – John Part
- 2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
- 2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
- 2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
- 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
- 2008 – John Part (2)
- 2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
- 2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
- 2011 – Adrian Lewis
- 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
- 2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
- 2014 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2015 – Gary Anderson
- 2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
- 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
- 2018 – Rob Cross
- 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
- 2020 – Peter Wright
- 2021 – Gerwyn Price
- 2022 – Peter Wright (2)
- 2023 – Michael Smith
- 2024 – Luke Humphries
- 2025 – Luke Littler
Most World Titles
- 14 – Phil Taylor
- 3 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
- 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler
