A young woman has said she will never fly with Aer Lingus again after tracing her missing luggage to Dublin Airport.
Sorcha Ní Chonghaile was travelling from Brussels to Dublin with a stop-over in London when she lost her bag. She feared that her essential items may get lost in transit and placed an air tag on her luggage.
Sorcha told Dublin Live that her worst fears came true when she was left for days without medication that was in her suitcase.
Read more: Leona Maguire thanks 'legend' who found golf clubs after bag went missing at Dublin Airport
She said: "There was a security breach at Heathrow so it took two and a half hours to take off. We had to go through security again.
At some point our bags from the connecting flight didn't make it onto the plane because there was a security breach. There were just loads of errors going on.
"Once I knew we were flying through Heathrow, I knew something was going to go wrong. I bought an air tag in Brussels. I wanted to make sure that my bag made it home.
"It was 35 euro but they connect to your phone. If there's any sort of device with Bluetooth around it, it can pick up on it. Anyone in the airport who has a phone or a laptop can pick up on that Bluetooth service.
"When we landed in Dublin last Tuesday night, my bag never came through the carousel so immediately I looked on the app. I could see that my tag was still in Heathrow.
"I gave up and went home, made a complaint. I was told that my bag would be flying in the next morning. I had medication in the bag that you can't bring in the carry-on. I asked them to hold my bag in Dublin Airport so I could collect it.
"I heard nothing. I could see that it was in Dublin Airport. It was pinging that it was 9km away from me in Santry.
"I tried to ring them 19 times to no luck."
However, Sorcha's bag was handed over to a delivery service by mistake.
She said: "They told me that my bag would be delivered to me in the coming days or weeks. I explained that I needed the bag ASAP because of my medication and because I was travelling again quite soon. I didn't want to have to purchase everything again.
"Eventually, a lady explained that the bag was handed over to a delivery service even though it was on the note not to do that. I could still see that my bag was in Dublin Airport.
"I am frustrated. I can replace what's in my bag. There were other people on the flight waiting in the airport on Tuesday night with no wheelchairs and no buggies. There were families that were totally stranded.
"There were no staff in the airport at all. I wouldn't fly with Aer Lingus again. This year I've taken about 50 flights. Each Aer Lingus flight I've taken has had problems. It's been horrendous."
Sorcha's bag was returned to her on Friday 15 July, three days after landing back in Dublin.
Dublin Live have contacted Aer Lingus for comment.
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