A mum's long-awaited holiday was ruined when she was forced to spend 10 days wearing the same 'stinky' tracksuit she flew in - after British Airways 'lost her luggage'. Melanie Marvell planned a trip from the UK to the US for to visit friends she made when she used to work in America.
The 58-year-old had booked a sequence of three connecting flights to make the long-haul journey to Rhode Island the bargain price of £550. The sales assistant was due to fly from Newcastle International Airport to Heathrow Airport with British Airways, then to Shannon Airport, Ireland, with Aer Lingus and finally to Boston Logan International Airport with British Airways again.
Melanie says she checked her suitcase in with British Airways at the start of her journey and made the short flight to London as planned. But when she went to check in for her next flight to Ireland with Aer Lingus - owned by the same company as British Airways - she says she was told she had been 'offloaded' by British Airways.
After a stressful back and forth between different terminals, the sales assistant was finally put on a flight with a different airline - JetBlue - to make the journey straight to Boston. But in all the chaos, her suitcase was never put on the plane meaning she didn't have all of her new clothes and gifts inside.
Instead, Melanie says she was left feeling like a 'slob' in the tracksuit that she had only donned to be 'comfy' on the plane - leaving her too embarrassed to leave the house.
British Airways have since located the missing suitcase at Heathrow and given it to DHL to return to Melanie but she claims she is still yet to receive it - more than a month after returning to the UK. British Airways explained that they 'proactively booked' Melanie on the next available flight after her inbound flight from Newcastle was delayed due to 'adverse weather conditions' and apologised for the 'delay' to her journey.
Melanie said: "I've got all new clothes and presents in the suitcase including a glass angel that I needed because we all went to the cemetery with gifts for a girl that died to put on her grave. "I'm not a tourist in Rhode Island, I've been there and done it. I didn't have enough spending money to go out and buy new clothes so I had to stay in the same clothes for ten days.
"You stink. You can have a shower but you're putting on the same clothes you had on yesterday. You can't keep asking if you can wash one outfit because it's too expensive the same as here, so I didn't get it washed every day. I got it washed every two days.
"It should've been an exciting time because I hadn't seen people in eight years but it wasn't. I was anxious thinking 'is my suitcase going to come tomorrow?' I got myself on such a downer. Everyone was getting dressed up for Thanksgiving and then there's me in a tracksuit that I'd been in for ten days. It ruined my whole holiday and Thanksgiving.
"I would normally travel in a tracksuit because it's comfy but that's not what I would wear on holiday - I had dresses, trousers and skirts in the case. I felt like a slob."
While Melanie was bounced between terminals at Heathrow Airport trying to find out why she had been 'offloaded' and what flight she had been booked onto instead, the Aer Lingus flight to Ireland left without her. When she was finally put on a flight with JetBlue and arrived in Boston her 'nightmare' journey only got worse, as she waited four hours at the luggage carousel only for her case not to arrive.
Then, having missed her chance of a lift to Rhode Island with a friend, she was forced to take a bus before spending the entire ten-day trip in the same tracksuit she'd travelled in.
The mortified mum-of-one even had to spend Thanksgiving in the 'stinky' outfit while everyone else got dressed up for the holiday. Melanie said: "I used to work in America and I made friends. I haven't been for eight years and I was going to celebrate Thanksgiving with them - I've been planning the trip since January.
"When I got to London Heathrow I went to check in with Aer Lingus, who I was flying with, and they said 'you've been offloaded' I didn't know what that meant. They said 'go over to Terminal 5 because you've been booked to go direct from London straight to Boston with British Airways'.
"So I got to Terminal 5 and went through security and they said 'you're not on this flight'. Bearing in mind Heathrow Airport is not little and you've got to get a bus to and from [terminals]. I ran from Terminal 5 to Terminal 2 four times to try and get on a flight.
"There was no one there to help me. Running round an airport - someone that's had a heart attack - I finally said 'I've had enough'. At this point I was in tears. Then this man from British Airways said 'we'll sort something out'. He got in touch with his manager and they put me on a flight with JetBlue to Boston - they weren't going to allow me on it at first.
"I've never seen my suitcase at this point, I don't even know it's missing. I handed it over at Newcastle to British Airways and then whether they've put it onto the Aer Lingus flight or kept it at Heathrow I don't know.
"When I got to Boston and was trying to get my suitcase they didn't know where it was. After about four hours of searching I missed my lift from Boston to Rhode Island and they were still looking for it.
"They said it would be there tomorrow but I was coming home ten days later on the 30th of November and it still hadn't turned up. I rang and said 'can you find my suitcase and redirect it to my house in England' - I'm still waiting."
Melanie has vowed never to book with British Airways again after the stressful travel journey and her special trip being 'ruined'. She now just hopes that she will see her suitcase and the contents - including new outfits - again, as she is still waiting for it.
Melanie said: "It's absolutely disgusting, they've had me running around an airport when I've had a heart attack. Surely there should've been someone there to help but there was no one. That's where the breakdown with my suitcase happened I think.
"Apparently they found my suitcase at London Heathrow somewhere and they've given it to DHL and it's floating around somewhere. I won't fly British Airways again, I'm put off for life. I wouldn't recommend them ever again. It's just been one big nightmare."
A spokesperson for British Airways said: "We're sorry for the delay to the customer's journey due to the late arrival of their inbound flight caused by adverse weather conditions. Our teams proactively booked the customer on the next available flight and they arrived in Boston ahead of their planned original arrival time."
A spokesperson for Aer Lingus said British Airways are responsible for Melanie's bag since the booking was made with them and they were the final carrier. DHL claim that they attempted delivery of Melanie's suitcase but the address could not be located, 'possibly due to an error on the label' and so they were forced to return it to the sender.
Eagle Aviation, British Airways' courier that gave the parcel to DHL, claim they were unable to get hold of the passenger to query an issue with the address and so the case was returned to Heathrow on 21 December. A spokesperson for DHL Parcel UK said: "Delivery was attempted but the address could not be located, possibly due to an error on the address label.
"We tried to make contact with the recipient using the phone number provided and we also requested additional information from the sender. As we did not get any further information the parcel was returned to the sender."
A spokesperson for Eagle Aviation confirmed that they received the luggage on 8 December from JetBlue at Heathrow to be delivered via DHL but DHL informed them that there was an issue with the address. They claim that colleagues at Heathrow attempted to contact the passenger on the telephone number provided by the airline but there was no answer and so the luggage was returned to Heathrow on 21 December.
JetBlue were contacted repeatedly for comment. Melanie finally received her suitcase back on January 3.
