A mum left without luggage on a TUI family holiday spotted their suitcases 1,300 miles away.
Laura Simpson, 35, travelled to Menorca from Manchester with her family, but said they were left without clothes, toiletries and important medication after all seven of the group's suitcases were lost. Despite spending hours on the phone to TUI, she was still unaware of where their luggage was, or if they would see it again.
However, just two days into their trip, the Warrington mum read an article on local media showing dozens of suitcases lined up at Manchester Airport's baggage hall, where she spotted all of their luggage, MEN reports. But despite informing the travel firm, the mum-of-one said she was still not sent her luggage, instead being €25 a day provided by the travel operator to buy essential items.
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In a post on Facebook, Laura said: "When Manchester Evening News do a better job at finding your luggage than TUI... 43 seconds into the clip and there are all of our seven suitcases. Day five into the holiday with nothing and no communication." Laura and nine other members of her family were due to fly direct from Manchester Airport to Menorca on May 27, but the night before, they claim they were told they'd have to go via Ibiza due to ongoing "technical issues".
Despite checking in seven suitcases, which contained asthma and eczema medication, they were disappointed to not receive what they needed.
Laura said: "The flight took off about an hour-and-a-half late. When we got to Ibiza everyone got off and the 25 of us going to Menorca remained onboard. Passengers started getting on who were going back to Manchester, who were then told we’d be diverting via Menorca.
"It was all over the place. By this point we’d already waited for two hours on a hot plane. We finally got to Menorca and waited an hour for our luggage and then someone came out and said it hadn't arrived at the airport."
Since then, Laura claims she has received no contact from TUI, and has had to call them multiple times for updates. She claims they were told to go to Menorca airport to collect their luggage, only to find it hadn't arrived when they phoned the airport.
She added: "The person I spoke to yesterday said they had actually closed our investigation because our bags had been returned even though they hadn't so they had to reopen it.
"We are now on day six out of seven without the cases. They have given us €25 a day per suitcase, but a swimsuit here is €45 alone. Nowhere sells underwear so we’ve had to travel to a nearby town for that. We have nothing.
"We arrived at the airport in jeans and hoodies and it’s 27 degrees here. One of the children needs an inhaler and skin cream if he has a flare up. His parents took the bare minimum of what they needed in hand luggage but if he does have a flare up the stuff that would stop him needing to go to hospital is in the suitcase."
It comes after weeks of chaos in airports across the UK as long queues are pictured snaking around buildings and holidays ruined due to flight cancellations. Earlier this week, police officers were called by the captain of a TUI flight after passengers were "abandoned" on a plane.
One pilot was even branded a hero after hauling suitcases onto a delayed flight so it could finally take off. Manchester Airport previously spoke out a bout the delays on the check-in and baggage reclaim as the airport did apologise and said it is "not the experience" it wanted for passengers.
Laura, still without her luggage on day six of her week-long holiday, said: "We told TUI this and we've still had nothing from them. We are only here for a week and we are already on day six so if anything I want to make sure they stay in Manchester now for when we return.
"This holiday has been rearranged for the past three years because of the pandemic. There are bigger things happening in the world but you still don’t expect this to happen to you when you go on holiday."
A spokesperson for TUI added: "We’re aware that some customers have been impacted by baggage delays at Manchester Airport and we’d like to thank customers for their patience and understanding at this exceptionally busy time.
"We’re working closely with airport staff, baggage handlers and our teams in resort to ensure customers receive their luggage as soon as possible. We’ll be in direct contact with customers once we have more information to share."
