A Belfast mother has opened up about her frustrations with easyJet after her luggage was lost on a dream trip to Disneyland Paris for her daughter's birthday.
Gemma Stitt is mum to seven-year-old Katie and 18-month-old Henry.
They flew to Paris on December 4 last year, with a trip to Disneyland a surprise present for Katie's seventh birthday.
Read more: Co Down woman on her easyJet luggage nightmare
However, as Gemma explained, the trip was soured and disrupted from the moment they landed in Paris.
"There was us and two other families that didn't get their luggage," she said.
"Whenever we went to speak to someone in the airport in Paris, we were just given a leaflet to fill in from a guy who didn't speak any English.
"Now we were told that the case could be on the next flight out."
There was no sign of the luggage that day though and it meant Gemma had to take her children in search of buying clothes in a snowy Paris, instead of going to Disneyland on their first day as planned.
"I had lots of wee personalised Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse birthday stuff in the case and that obviously never came.
"We lost a whole day in the park, which was my daughter's birthday, she just cried the whole day, it was awful.
"I spent nearly £500 on clothes and nappies, everything that was needed, because whenever we got there, it was snowing.
"Then the whole day in Disney too which was about £150 for tickets.
"I had all their wee snowsuits and everything in my case, it's not as if it's in the summer and you can just buy wee shorts and t-shirts.
"It was vests and everything you needed for them to be warm."
Gemma said she has been trying in vain since she got home to get easyJet to see if she can get her case back or whether they might cover her costs as a result of the case not making it to Paris.
"Thankfully I had insurance and I've put in an insurance claim, which they've replied to say they're looking into it, but I've had nothing from easyJet," she said.
"Every time I speak to easyJet, to search my claim, they say that there's no record of it, but I've screenshotted everything thankfully.
"It would even help just being reimbursed for what I had to buy after losing it in the case, or even just acknowledgement to be honest."
A spokesperson for easyJet confirmed they had been in touch with Gemma and that the company would provide her with a gesture of goodwill.
"We are sorry for the loss of Ms Stitt’s bag and we understand the frustration this will have caused," a spokesperson said.
"This is not the level of service we expect for our customers and so we are looking into this with our baggage handling partners at Belfast and Paris Charles de Gaulle airports.
"easyJet operates up to 1,700 flights carrying up to a quarter of a million customers and their luggage across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa every day and incidents of lost luggage are extremely low, with reports by World Tracer, the independent system used by the industry for luggage tracking, showing that easyJet has one of the best performances in the industry.
"On the rare occasion a bag is lost we advise customers to submit a claim for their missing items and so we are in touch with Ms Stitt to confirm that her claim is being processed and provide a gesture of goodwill to apologise for the inconvenience caused."
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