A family claim they had to spend €500 on clothes and toiletries after all their suitcases went missing.
Emma Hayward, 44, her husband, two children and her mum travelled on a Ryanair flight from Manchester Airport to Fuerteventura on Saturday only to find they were without suitcases when they arrived on the Spanish Island. The family said they have no idea when their luggage will arrive, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Emma claims she and her husband have already had to fork out €500 on new clothes, shoes, and toiletries for the family. The mum-of-two from Cheshire claims she's made repeated attempts to contact Ryanair but claims she's been told they can't help as it's Manchester Airport's responsibility.
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She said she is now warning other holidaymakers to pack as many essential items in their hand luggage as possible, after she claims other people staying in her hotel have had the same issue. Emma's debacle comes as passengers flying back to Manchester on Sunday shared videos of "hundreds" of luggage left "abandoned" in the baggage halls as they waited hours for their own luggage to arrive.
Emma said: "We always mix the luggage in our bags in case one of the suitcases goes missing, but we never anticipated all of them getting lost. At check-in because we had soft suitcases we were asked to put them on a conveyor belt in a separate area, which I've done before.
"Once we landed everyone else seemed to disappear so we thought they might be coming out through special luggage. We waited and waited but nothing came. We had to keep going to the Ryanair reps and eventually they gave us missing bag forms to fill out.
"We were told our bags were still in Manchester and they would be on the next flight. I said that wasn’t until Tuesday and they said they would try and fly them out from a different airport."
Emma claims she has heard nothing since they arrived at their hotel on Saturday evening and has spent several hours on the phone to Ryanair to try and find out when their bags might arrive. She added: "I must have rung Ryanair 30 times and they keep saying it's Manchester Airport's fault. They said they have sent the airport a message but that they couldn't get hold of them.
"Three other families at our hotel have also lost their bags as they had soft cases too. One of them has a young baby. I rang arrivals at Fuerteventura and asked if our bags were on the Tuesday flight and they said they weren’t.
"We went shopping yesterday to get some clothes as we literally have nothing and have spent about 500 euros on that alone. We are going to have to go again today now as it’s a nice hotel and you can’t really wear the same thing you wear in the daytime in the evening.
"We’ve no idea if we’ll get the money compensated but I’m just trying to focus on getting the bags back. We are lucky that we can go out and afford to buy new clothes. Some people wouldn’t have spare spending money."
Emma said the family had been looking forward to their first holiday abroad since 2019, but the first few days have been tarnished by the confusion surrounding their suitcases. She said: "We are self-employed and the last couple of years have been hard. It's just annoying that you can't relax because having to sort the bags out is on your mind the whole time.
"My mum is a lot more careful with the kind of things she wears so it's been a nightmare for her. It's really not ideal at all. I think our bags are just sitting somewhere in Manchester Airport but who knows if we'll get them back. I can’t believe that Ryanair doesn't have a contact number for them."
It is understood issues relating to check-in and luggage are the responsibility of the airline and their designated baggage handling agent. Swissport and Ryanair have been contacted for comment.
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