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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Iuliia Vlasova & Naina Bhardwaj

Scots carer on first holiday in a year 'devastated' after airline lost luggage on way home

A Scots woman who was finally able to travel after becoming a carer for her-mother-in law was left devastated when her luggage was lost on her way back home from a holiday in Italy.

Anna-Maria Grieve and husband David, of Bathgate, had been looking forward to their break in Florence after his mum had a stroke last year. Anna had dedicated all of her time and energy to looking after her, even having to resign from her work.

Anna-Maria told Edinburgh Live : "Finally, after over a year of not even being able to go for a night out, never mind a holiday, we found a good respite home, and were able to book a week's holiday to Florence.

"A week to relax and gather our thoughts. Everything went smoothly, departing from Edinburgh, with a long wait at check-in - but that was to be expected.

After enjoying their time in the sunny city, the couple returned to Edinburgh Airport on a British Airways flight on June 12 - only to discover that their two suitcases did not make it with them.

Recalling the day of their arrival, Anna-Maria said: "We get off the flight in Edinburgh and wait on our bags - only thee or four bags are going round, then maybe another ten. We wait for over an hour, all looking at each other. What is going on?"

After the wait, the couple - along with around 40 other passengers - were informed that their luggage had not been loaded in Florence and asked to fill in the relevant forms.

Following reassurance that their luggage would arrive on the next flight from Florence and be delivered to them, Anna-Maria went home only to realise that three days in, there was still no word of the bags.

Attempting to get any information on the bags' whereabouts, the woman called the British Airways support line.

She said: "The call centre for British Airways informs me that the "bags were wrongly tagged", to which I replied telling her she must be mistaken as there were 40 other passengers on that flight with missing luggage and I have the tag receipts which are correct."

Left with no assistance from the flight carrier, Anna-Maria and her husband spent days contacting the airline and the Florence airport in an attempt to locate their missing luggage and have it returned.

Anna-Maria said: "Surely British Airways knows where these cases are. They try to say it is not their responsibility. But it is. We checked our bags in with British Airways, and they left our bags in Florence. The only number they gave us to obtain information was the British Airways call centre.

"All the other passengers and we ask for is honesty. Are our bags still in Florence? When can we expect them back? We came back from a lovely holiday to find we are now more stressed out than before we left. People may think it's only stuff. Maybe it is, but there are things that can't be replaced in those cases, things with sentimental value."

One of the two hold bags Anna-Maria had reported as being lost were been returned on Sunday, June 26 - exactly two weeks since the couple's original flight home - with another bag still not being returned.

British Airways have been contacted for a comment. However, they have failed to reply.

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