Passengers flying from Manchester to Spain have been left high and dry without their luggage — after an ENTIRE flight’s worth of baggage was left behind in the UK.
The Iberia Express flight to Madrid on Sunday (September 11) jetted off from Manchester Airport without any bags, the airline says, due to ‘the lack of handling agents from our handling provider’. However, three days on from landing in the Spanish capital, passengers the Manchester Evening News spoke to say they still don’t have their belongings.
Now, Iberia Express says the bags will be on Wednesday’s flight — but sun-seekers still don’t know exactly when they will be reunited with their possessions, the M.E.N. understands. To make matters worse, some have been on a merry-go-round of customer service phone calls, bounced from operator to operator.
“It’s astonishing,” one passenger who gave his name as Geoff, said. “It’s somewhere. There has to be a point where someone says ‘leave it with me’ and they ring someone and say to them ‘Dave, you know those 200 pieces of luggage, what should we do with them?’”
Geoff says he packed an iMac computer for a business trip in Madrid, but still has not got his ‘expensive bit of kit’. Partly, he says, that’s because staff handing out lost luggage forms in Spain on his arrival did not give him a Property Irregularity Report (PIR), which is the key piece of information airlines need to track their lost luggage.
He continued: “I rang the airline the next day [Monday] and they wanted a PIR. At the airport, I was tired and thought I should get something back [when I handed in my form]. Both of them [on the phone] said they knew nothing about it.
“I then rang the London number, and they also asked me for a PIR and I did not have one. I then rang back [baggage handler] Menzies and he said it was something to do with us but we service all the airlines so I had to go back to Iberia.
“How difficult can it be? It is a big pile of luggage! I could not get my head round it. Eventually I got a PIR number and I went on to the online tracker, and it kept saying the ‘search continues’. Then they said it would be coming here and I have not had an email [to say so], that was yesterday afternoon.”
Another couple who have been left without their stuff is Javi Roca and Ellen. The husband-and-wife from Brighouse in Yorkshire were flying to visit Javi’s parents, as it’s his 42nd birthday this week.
Despite looking forward to their week away, nurse Ellen has revealed the lengths she has gone to to get answers out of the airline. She explained: “None of the baggage had been put on the plan. We waited for half an hour at the carousel, but another passenger said we were going to wait forever.
“We all then go to the service desk. There were old people, lots of people in wheelchairs and babies. It was chaos.”
Ellen, 35, went on: “Then the next morning they said they did not have any information. They still have no idea. The global baggage tracking system has no information. The whole flight’s bags were not packed.
“The only communication is when Javi called them, and they said we can buy back essentials. All we have is the clothes we had on the flight. Everything was in the hold.
“Every time we call they say they have no information. They have not given us any information and just keep saying they are looking for it. They just say it has not been scanned into the system. It has not been touched by a baggage handler.”
After the Manchester Evening News contacted Iberia Express about the predicament, a spokesperson said they had arranged for the luggage to be put on their next flight from Manchester to Madrid. That flight is tonight (September 14).
A statement said: “On the 11th of September on flight IB3693 MAN-MAD, the checked baggage could not be loaded onto the aeroplane due to the lack of handling agents from our handling provider in Manchester.
“Upon arrival in Madrid, we informed all of the passengers about the lack of checked luggage and, as you said, it was explained to them that all essential expenses incurred can be claimed back and reimbursed by the company once they have been analysed.
“Also, I would like to point out that, in order to track the status of the luggage search, passengers should fill out a document called a Property Irregularity Report (PIR), to receive a claim number that then can be used to manage this matter.
“Tonight, we are operating the first MAN-MAD flight since Sunday (I23693 MAN-MAD 14SEP 21:15-0:45H) in which all of the bags will be regularised and delivered to the passengers as soon as possible. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Baggage handlers Menzies Aviation have been contacted for comment.
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