A teacher has told how she booked a €20 Ryanair flight to Kerry to get airside at Dublin Airport and hunt down two missing suitcases containing her lifelong possessions.
The 25-year-old from Co Louth, who doesn’t want to be named, returned to Ireland three weeks ago to start a new job after teaching for a year in northern Sweden.
Her two suitcases were filled with everything she owned - including priceless personal jewellery.
Read More: Passenger buys airline ticket to get lost luggage back at Dublin Airport
But her baggage never appeared after the SAS flight from Stockholm to Dublin landed.
She waited for three hours but the bags never came out on the conveyor belt.
She said: “It was just so annoying, everything I owned was in those two cases. It wasn’t as if they were packed with holiday clothes I might never wear again.
“I was absolutely furious and there was a queue of people at the airport with the same problem.
“To make matters worse, I haven’t seen my boyfriend in months and he had to wait outside in arrivals while I went looking for my luggage.
“Eventually I gave up and went home convinced I’d never see my stuff again. I was devastated.”
But two weeks later her partner had to go abroad on business.
On his way back he persuaded one of the airport staff to let him into the baggage hall and together they found one of the bags.
She then decided to book a €20 return flight to Kerry to get airside and see if she could gain access the baggage hall.
She said: “They were only allowing six people a day for security reasons into the baggage hall to see if they could find their bags. There were thousands of bags there and at this stage they were starting to move some of the lost unclaimed luggage to a warehouse in Swords.
“I gave an Oscar-winning performance. I told Ryanair I was too sick to fly and could they let me back out through the arrivals hall which they did. Once I got down there I persuaded someone to let me into the baggage hall so I could go searching.
“A wonderful man from the Baggage Service Desk helped me and eventually after a few hours searching we found the second bag.
“I cannot tell you how relieved I am. There was so much sentimental stuff in my suitcases, a huge amount of personal valuables.
“There were over 3,000 bags there and people only have 21 days to reclaim their luggage.
“I then learned that my bags landed in Ireland three to four hours after my flight did. It is just not right, there is something seriously wrong.
“The fact is the baggage handling providers didn’t have enough staff on to deal with the volume of luggage.
“So if anyone out there wants to get their bags back, buy a plane ticket and get airside. It might take a few weeks but it is well worth the wait.”
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