'Airlines need to stop blaming Brexit and Covid when they lose our bags'
An Australian couple spent two weeks touring Scotland without their belongings after an airline lost their bags.
Ross Dudgeon and his wife were left to buy clothes on the go and carry them around in shopping bags for a fortnight when their bags failed to appear at the end of a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Edinburgh Airport.
The school principal said he found himself in an infuriating mess of bureaucracy, unable to find anyone at the airport to talk to, failing to contact a human customer service representative and with no idea where their bags were.
Ross said he does not feel a similar situation would not arise at the major airports in Melbourne and Sydney before arguing Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic could not be used as excuses for such blunders.
Have you had issues with baggage handling? Email [email protected]
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Ross was unable to find his bag at the airport (stock photo) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)He was speaking a year after baggage handling fell into chaos in airports across the UK due primarily to a shortage of staff, and ahead of what is looking like it will be another hectic and cancellation strewn summer holiday period.
In a warning sign of things to come over the next two months, on Monday easyJet cancelled 1,700 flights between now and September, impacting 180,000 customers.
"My wife and I are from Australia and have spent the last two weeks travelling around this beautiful country carrying our basics in shopping bags," Ross told the Mirror.
"We've bought new clothes, but our dollar has taken an absolute pounding. We need to claim several hundred pounds.
"You can't keep blaming Brexit and Covid, this just ridiculous. How does that happen? If (bags were lost) at the airport at Melbourne or Sydney, there would be someone there.
"You expect a manager there on shift 24/7. If your plane's coming in well after midnight, the baggage office shouldn't be unattended. It wasn't a Sunday night. They just don't care about anything or anybody. Travellers are treated like they don't matter."
The Australian couple had been in Germany for several weeks before heading to Scotland via Amsterdam, flying on June 28 to the Scottish capital.
When they got into the airport terminal Ross and his wife found the baggage carousel moving with luggage on it, but no passengers there to take anything off. In the corner of the hall was a large cordoned off area where a pile of bags stood.
When they realised their bags weren't coming, the duo went in search of help - instead finding a employee who asked them to scan a QR code.
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Ross said they'd found Scotland to be 'beautiful' (Getty Images/iStockphoto)They've lodged details of their lost bags online and tried calling KLM and bag handlers Swissport, expecting to be told when and where they could collect their luggage. Two weeks on and soon to fly back to the Southern Hemisphere, they're no closer to being reunited with their bags.
"We've just been travelling with out clothes in shopping bags. It is terrible frustrating when there is no interaction from the company," Ross said.
"We just assumed someone would ring us and say pick them up. What a stupid thing to assume."
Shortly after the Mirror contacted KLM and Swissport the Melbourne couple were told their bags had been located and that they'd be delivered to their airport. A day on, there is no sight of the bags.
A number of passenger have raised concerned about the bag situation at Edinburgh Airport over the past week, with photos circulating online of large piles of belongings stacked in the arrivals terminal.
Swissport is having recruitment difficulties and is short of both staff and equipment such as luggage crates and trailers to move bags between the terminal and aircraft, the Scotsman reports.
Last summer - when one passenger became so annoyed at the bag situation they crawled into the guts of Manchester Airport along the carousel - issues were also blamed on staffing shortages.
Baggage firms working out of airports struggled to get their staffing numbers back to pre-Covid levels having let a lot of workers go during the coronavirus lockdowns.
A spokesperson for KLM said: "I have been informed that the suitcases have been located and the airport will contact the passenger to arrange delivery of the bags. In terms of the extra expenses, they will need to submit a claim online and provide receipts for their expenses to be reimbursed."
A spokesperson for Swissport said: “We’re sorry to hear about these passengers’ experiences and are looking into what’s happened here so that we can help reunite them with their luggage as quickly as possible.”
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