Passengers landing at Manchester Airport went home without their luggage as there was no staff available to unload it off the plane.
Frustrated passengers returning from Tenerife were told a staff shortage stopped them from taking bags of the plane. The TUI holidaymakers were hit by huge delays after landing in Manchester just before 6pm on Tuesday, July 12 before leaving empty-handed.
Passengers were not told where their luggage was and it wasn't until 8.45pm when they were given a form to fill out to have their luggage sent to their addresses. Passenger Andy Sokill, 70, branded their ordeal as a "shambles".
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Mr Sokill, of Mellor, near Marple, told the Manchester Evening News : "People were getting really frustrated, there were families there with one-year-olds, elderly people, people in wheelchairs. Eventually they told us it'd be another half hour and at 8.45pm they said our luggage was still on the plane and there's no one to unload them so they told us we might as well go home and gave us a form to fill in.
"What's really annoyed me is that no one will accept responsibility, nobody wants to know, you're almost expected to just accept the issues. There was no one there to apologise, they couldn't even tell us if we would get the bags even if you waited any longer.
"Nobody is prepared to hold their hands up and apologise or be there on the night to give information. Even if things go wrong just have someone there to tell you the information, this is supposed to be a superior airport but it's a shambles.
"The whole thing really is a disaster. You wait that long and still not get your bags. I don't understand why they couldn't tell people."
Mr Sokill left the airport and went home to wait for his luggage. The plane that landed in Manchester was due to be used for a flight to Rhodes at 6.45pm. Cabin crew began to change over when Mr Sokill's flight landed but were told the flight was unable to leave on time because of the baggage.
.A spokesperson for TUI said: "We’re sorry to hear these customers experienced baggage delays at Manchester Airport. We are urgently investigating this with our baggage handler and the airport to find out exactly what happened and we’ll be in touch with customers as soon as possible to resolve the issue."
A spokesperson for Swissport, who manage the baggage handling for TUI, said: "We would like apologise to passengers who experienced baggage delays at Manchester Airport. Although the post-pandemic return in travel demand is positive news, peak periods – which can be stretching even in normal times – are exacerbating resource challenges across the recovering aviation industry. We are working hard to address our resource challenges, with over 2,500 additional employees since the start of the year and will continue to work with our partners to find solutions for this industry-wide issue.”
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