A family say their dream holiday was 'ruined' after they were left with no clean clothes for days.
Jaymeleigh McCarroll, who jetted off to Barcelona with husband Will and their six-year-old son, Walker, on Sunday, June 4. The family couldn't wait to spend 10 days in the sun but were hit with stress after arriving at Manchester Airport, reports Manchester Evening News.
They say they were met with problems ahead of the trip, with "huge queues" to drop off luggage as a conveyer belt had broken - leaving them fearing they would miss their flight. The family were allegedly told to leave their luggage and the bags would be loaded onto the next flight to Barcelona if it missed theirs.
Once they boarded the aircraft, the flight was delayed by an hour, leading them to believe the luggage was being loaded onto the aircraft after all. But as they waited at the baggage carousel at Barcelona airport, it became apparent all of their suitcases were still in the UK.
Jaymeleigh, 35, said: “It’s just a disaster. My six-year-old had an operation on his wrist before we left and his medication is in his luggage. We don’t know where it is and there’s no clue on when we’re going to get this luggage. We thought the medication would be safe in there – we don’t know when it’s going to come.”
The family frantically called Ryanair and Manchester Airport in a bid to trace the lost bags and were told they would be sent on a flight at 9pm that evening. They camped out at Barcelona Airport in the hopes the bags would eventually show up – but they never did.
Thankfully, the luggage eventually arrived late on Tuesday evening.
“We’re here for 10 days and it ruined the first day,” retail manager Jaymeleigh added. “We’re just massively stressed. It’s just been one thing after another.
“We’re trying to entertain four kids and we don’t know what to do for the best. We’re all mega stressed. This is our annual holiday and we’ve got nothing but the clothes we’re stood up in. Everyone looked forward to these 10 days and it’s ruined.”
The flight delay meant the families also missed their paid-for airport transfer and had to fork out £200 for a taxi to their hotel.
“It’s extremely difficult when we have to use our spending money on necessary items,” Jaymeleigh said. “So the kids have to be told no when asking for something on their holiday. It’s nothing short of disgusting.”
In a statement, Ryanair said: “Due to a baggage belt failure at Manchester Airport (4 June) some passengers’ luggage was not loaded on to this flight from Manchester to Barcelona. To ensure that these passengers receive their luggage as quickly as possible, it was sent on the next Barcelona flight and has now been delivered to Barcelona Airport.
“We sincerely apologise to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused as a result of this baggage belt failure at Manchester Airport, which was entirely beyond Ryanair’s control.”
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport said: “We experienced a technical issue with the Terminal 3 baggage system for a brief period on Sunday, and although this was quickly rectified, it disrupted some airlines’ check-in processes, which in turn caused longer waits for passengers at check-in and security at some points on Sunday morning.
“While we are glad these passengers made their flight, we are sorry to hear of a delay in reuniting them with their bags, which is a process managed by airlines and their handling agents.
“We would like to apologise to any customer impacted by this incident on Sunday and thank our colleagues for their hard work returning operations to normal.”
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