A holidaymaker has said that his holiday to Spain got off to a "nightmare" start after finding his bags dump across a terminal floor.
Phil Burke says that he had flown to Malaga to celebrate a friend's birthday from Manchester Airport. However on their arrival in Spain, passengers were apparently forced to sort their own baggage out on the floor of the hall after the conveyor belt broke.
To make things worse, he says that no staff were on hand to help, reports Manchester Evening News. Mr Burke, from Rochdale, said some holidaymakers were so desperate they even resorted to sticking their heads through the entrance to the conveyor belt to see if there was anyone who could help them
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He said: "It's been a bit of a nightmare. We were 20 minutes late with leaving, but we got through security alright. We went downstairs [at Malaga] and two conveyors had stopped. There were 60 or 70 bags all over the floor. People had to go through the bags themselves.
“There was no one around to ask for assistance. It only needed a key to turn it back on. It took 25 minutes to get a rep from TUI to come down — he said they were fixing the other one. People were sticking their heads through the gap to shout to get their bags sorted. They had connections [to catch].”
In the end, it took Mr Burke 25 minutes to find his bag and, fortunately, nothing was lost in the chaos. However, there was some more panic as another flight from Leeds Bradford Airport was set to land shortly afterwards, adding to the pile of luggage.
Phil continued: “What started out to be a nice break to celebrate someone’s birthday — we have been 20 minutes late and this. I just felt sorry for the people who have to make connections. There was no help whatsoever. It took about 25 minutes [to get my bag]. I have got it, I’m alright. There were still quite a few people after me.”
Despite flying out from Manchester, which has faced numerous issues over the past few weeks with queues, Phil said the terminals ‘ran like clockwork’ that morning. He added: “Check-in was alright, security was fine. I was there at 2am, four hours before my flight. I did not want to risk turning up two hours before getting stuck.
“There was quite a lot of people at 1.40am. It was a reasonable size queue. We went straight through security, that opened at 3am. It’s nice that it is another airport and not Manchester. We took it in our stride. The people were quite nice in making sure they got everyone their bag. That’s just Manchester people for you.”
Malaga Airport were contacted by the M.E.N. for comment.
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