An entire flight was left without their luggage after waiting for three hours at Manchester Airport. Fed-up passengers on the Tenerife flight were told a staff shortage stopped them from taking bags off the plane.
TUI holidaymakers on the Tenerife plane were hit by huge delays after landing in Manchester at 5.50pm on Tuesday - before leaving empty-handed. Passenger Andy Sokill, 70, branded their ordeal a "shambles" and said passengers were kept in the dark over the delays.
It wasn't until 8.45pm, almost three hours after they landed, when they were given a form to fill out to have their luggage sent on.
Retired Mr Sokill, of Mellor, near Marple, said: "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."
Eventually, Mr Sokill left the airport and headed home to wait for his baggage, but was left frustrated by the lack of clarity from staff about what when it might be resolved. The plane was due to be used for a flight to Rhodes at 6.45pm, with cabin crew changing over when Mr Sokill's flight landed, and they were told the flight was unable to leave until their baggage had been unloaded.
.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.”
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT :
Mum-of-eight's heartbreak as dream home destroyed just hours before family were due to move in
Crying face of woman who was caught trying to flee country after 'Rolex ripper' gang crime wave
Man killed friend with single punch after finding out he had fling with ex
Shocking image of knifeman sex offender slashing 17-year-old's throat on bus in random attack
