A British family's holiday was left in tatters after long delays saw their baggage left at Manchester Airport. Jaymeleigh McCarroll, her husband Will and their six-year-old son Walker jetted off to Barcelona on Sunday (June 4) and couldn’t wait to spend 10 days in the sun.
But when they arrived, they quickly realised their luggage was never loaded onto the plane – meaning they were left without clean clothes for days. The family, who travelled with another couple who has three children, say they were met with problems almost immediately after arriving at Manchester Airport ahead of the trip.
Mum Jaymeleigh, 35, says there were “huge queues” to drop off their checked luggage as a conveyer belt had broken, leaving them fearing they would miss their flight. The family were allegedly told to leave their luggage and the bags would be loaded onto the next flight to Barcelona if it missed theirs.
Once both families were on the plane, the flight was delayed by an hour, leading them to believe the luggage was being loaded onto the aircraft after all. But as they waited at the baggage carousel at Barcelona airport, it became apparent all six of their suitcases were still in the UK.
“It’s just a disaster,” Jaymeleigh told the Manchester Evening News. “My six-year-old had an operation on his wrist before we left and his medication is in his luggage.
“We don’t know where it is and there’s no clue on when we’re going to get this luggage. We thought the medication would be safe in there – we don’t know when it’s going to come.”
The family say they frantically called Ryanair and Manchester Airport in a bid to trace the lost bags and were told they would be sent on a flight at 9pm that evening. Several members of the family camped out at Barcelona Airport in the hopes the bags would eventually show up – but they never did.
Thankfully, the luggage eventually arrived late on Tuesday evening (June 6).
“We’re here for 10 days and it ruined the first day,” retail manager Jaymeleigh added. “We’re just massively stressed. It’s just been one thing after another.
“We’re trying to entertain four kids and we don’t know what to do for the best. We’re all mega stressed.
“This is our annual holiday and we’ve got nothing but the clothes we’re stood up in. Everyone looked forward to these 10 days and it’s ruined.”
The flight delay meant the families also missed their paid-for airport transfer and had to fork out £200 for a taxi to their hotel.
“It’s extremely difficult when we have to use our spending money on necessary items,” Jaymeleigh said. “So the kids have to be told no when asking for something on their holiday. It’s nothing short of disgusting.”
In a statement, Ryanair said: “Due to a baggage belt failure at Manchester Airport (4 June) some passengers’ luggage was not loaded on to this flight from Manchester to Barcelona. To ensure that these passengers receive their luggage as quickly as possible, it was sent on the next Barcelona flight and has now been delivered to Barcelona Airport.
“We sincerely apologise to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused as a result of this baggage belt failure at Manchester Airport, which was entirely beyond Ryanair’s control.”
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport said: “We experienced a technical issue with the Terminal 3 baggage system for a brief period on Sunday, and although this was quickly rectified, it disrupted some airlines’ check-in processes, which in turn caused longer waits for passengers at check-in and security at some points on Sunday morning.
“While we are glad these passengers made their flight, we are sorry to hear of a delay in reuniting them with their bags, which is a process managed by airlines and their handling agents.
“We would like to apologise to any customer impacted by this incident on Sunday and thank our colleagues for their hard work returning operations to normal.”
