A dad has told of his holiday nightmare after his luggage never arrived on his 'trip of a lifetime', leaving him with just one set of clothes for a week. Instead Peter Mowbray found his suitcase on a truck as he landed back in Manchester Airport, LancsLive reports.
The 55-year-old, from Blackpool, flew from Manchester Airport to Marrakech on August 1. The 'holiday of a lifetime' was to celebrate his 30th wedding anniversary with his wife and son and saw the trio take on unforgettable experiences like a hot air balloon ride across the deserts of Morocco and visiting the second highest waterfalls in Africa.
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Peter says the trip was quickly tarnished after his luggage, containing all of his clothes and a number of items belonging to his wife and son, never arrived. For the week-long holiday, Peter washed his one pair of underpants daily and says he was left "abandoned in Morocco with nothing" by the airline.
Peter told LancsLive he intentionally uses a pink polka-dot suitcase so that should it ever go missing, it is easy to identify. After landing in Morocco though, he says it was the only bag on the flight not to arrive.
Peter explained: "So basically, my wife booked a holiday. It's our 30th wedding anniversary this year and it was a holiday full of surprises that I didn't know about. She spent a great deal of time of organising it."
The experiences like the hot air balloon ride and the 100-miles round trip to the second highest waterfalls had been surprises in celebration of the couple's milestone anniversary, gifted to Peter in sealed envelopes to deliver the surprise.
"So this was supposed to be a holiday of a lifetime, really, with my son, Bradley, who's 21. So we booked into the Manchester lounge and we had a lovely time in Manchester and we waved our cases goodbye and went and had a nice experience in the Manchester airport lounge," he said.
After landing in Marrakech, the family went to collect their luggage. Peter says 'everything' but his pink polka dot case arrived which included his wife's dresses, clothes for events and dinners, as well as Peter's essential day-to-day holiday clothes. At the time, Peter was wearing a tie-dye t-shirt and a pair of denim shorts, both of which were all he had for the remaining holiday.
"That's all I had and the case didn't come out, the case hadn't come out, there was no one to talk to with answers, the coach had gone. Over the week, I was constantly washing I did I did get a couple of T shirts but they weren't the T shirts that I would normally buy.
"It got a bit desperate every day. I was asking the reps and the resort but their hands were tied," he added. Peter asked TUI when his luggage would be sent to him and he was told it would be sent over on the next available flight. As the week passed, his case never surfaced.
"There's only so much washing of the same clothes you can do and being being creative. I had to wear the same shirt every night, I washed it by hand and hung it out to dry. I was embarrassed, it was a really nice hotel and I didn't want to seem to wear the same clothes every day."
A kind holidaymaker offered Peter his Adidas sliders when he was due to depart the resort. Out of desperation, Peter accepted the pair which were too small. Peter, a size 14, made attempts to fit into the size 7 flip flops.
Peter also explained that due to the family's stay in an all-inclusive resort, a budget on what they would spend was set. Using the budget to buy a new wardrobe, rather than using it for his family, didn't feel the appropriate option.
"So every day, I was washing my clothes and my one pair of underpants, it wasn't acceptable and TUI, the communication from the United Kingdom was shocking," he added. Despite assurances that his case would be located and returned to him while in Marrakech, Peter landed back in the UK in the early hours of this morning (August 9).
At Manchester Airport he says he saw a man with a trolley which had his pink polka dot suitcase on and it was a moment he described as being a kid at Christmas. "I ran over to it excitedly and said 'that's my case'. It looked like it had been dragged in the field by a tractor.
Peter says while the contents of his bag all remain sealed up inside, it was without a security tag and there was no sign of it having been searched ahead of his departing flight. "It had stayed in Manchester, despite them telling me they could not find it. All I ask from people is that they're honest.
"We paid a lot of money for this holiday and it was meant to be a holiday of our dreams. It was severely tarnished," he said.
Since arriving back in the UK, TUI have offered £75 in compensation to Peter equating to £25 per day for the missing bag. It will be paid into his account within 14 days.
He added: "We're not after compensation, we wanted people to know that TUI had told us lies while we were on holiday. They told us they couldn't find the bag and when they do, it will be on the next available flight. They did tell me several things, just the things I wanted to hear. I had multiple communications from the UK from various TUI agents. Not one took ownership of it.
"I want them to explain why they lied to me and why they left me on holiday in a resort that my wife spent thousands of pounds on with no clothes. Its easy for them to say, he's reunited with his case everyone is happy, we trusted them with our personal belongings. When we put the bags on the weighing scales at Manchester Airport and waved goodbye to it, I was trusting TUI with my suitcase.
"They are responsible for my luggage from the moment that happens. I am more angry at the sense that they told me lies. I thought they were an honest company and we fly away quite a lot. And I've never had this problem with any other airline."
TUI have been approached for comment.
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