Hundreds of passengers were left stranded without their luggage after a power outage at Manchester Airport on Sunday left travel plans in chaos.
While some airlines have canceled services, others have decided to maintain holiday flights and today it emerged that many flights departed without luggage. Since then, airlines have attempted to reunite the bags with their owners on alternative flights from Manchester and other airports.
But many holidaymakers today (Wednesday) were reportedly in the same clothes they wore on Sunday, while others spent a small fortune buying replacements – even from charity shops – while their bags remain missing.
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Bosses at Manchester Airport announced on Sunday night that it was “business as usual” and its security and baggage systems were back in operation after the power cut. However, the outage had a ripple effect for airlines and their ground handling agents.
Business manager David Edmonds, 59, from Denton, and his wife Julie splashed out £1,650 on a holiday to Spain to celebrate his 60th birthday.
But like many travellers, their plans were thrown into chaos when they arrived at Manchester Airport at 3am on Sunday morning to find it in the grip of a power cut which halted flights scheduled to depart Terminals 1 and 2.
Three hours later, their TUI flight finally left Manchester at 9am, but by the time it landed at Malaga Airport none of the luggage had made it on board, according to David.
Shortly before landing, the captain informed passengers that “most” of their luggage had not arrived, but moments after landing ALL passengers on board received a message confirming their luggage was still in Manchester, he said.
The apology text said the company had been unable to load their luggage and blamed a “major disruption beyond our control in Manchester”. It went on to say staff were “in the process of reuniting you with your luggage” and that they were entitled to compensation of £100 per bag.
“Everyone on the flight got the message at the same time. It was ping ping ping. It was an absolute catalog of disaster,” David said.
Today (Wednesday), the couple staying at the Riu Monica Hotel on the Costa Del Sol were still without their luggage, which includes prescription medication and other valuables.
David said: “We spent three or four hours shopping for clothes. It’s an absolute joke. I reckon we’ve spent about £400 so far. There are people who are still wearing the same clothes and people who go to charity shops.”
Chloe McLeod, from Bury, managed to fly to Menorca with TUI with her children on a £3,000 all-inclusive trip on Sunday, but her luggage missed the flight.
Speaking of the holiday island, she said: “When we landed in Menorca we went to collect our luggage and there were loads of TUI representatives saying no-one had any luggage there. The only thing that got through were the strollers.
“We were lucky because some people didn’t have their medicine or baby formula. At that point I wanted to go home, we had nothing.
“We only had the clothes on our backs, some snacks from the plane and the kids’ iPads. No basic toiletries or extra clothes.”
She said TUI had since offered those affected £100 compensation for the missing bag, but the form they had to fill out would take ‘up to 28 days’ before they were reimbursed.
“We’ve already spent about €500 on clothes and essentials to make it,” she said. “There is nowhere to buy underwear even for our children.
“We got word from TUI that the suitcases would arrive yesterday and we’re getting our hopes up. We can’t enjoy our vacation because we have nothing. I have a three-year-old, if she were to have an accident, I don’t have anything for her to change. There are so many of us affected that we all change our clothes and wash them by hand.
“There’s a joke that we know who doesn’t have luggage because they’re wearing ‘I love Menorca’ t-shirts. They keep telling us different things, I think Jet2 are having the same problems.
“I’m really stressed because there’s stuff in that suitcase, I had borrowed my mum’s Dyson airfoil from my friend and the suitcases, the compensation wouldn’t cover them or the contents of the suitcases if they were gone. It’s just frustrating.
“It’s a lesson in always putting extra in your carry-on – but you don’t think you will.”
She added that the family had spent £3,000 on all-inclusive so had not brought many euros with them. “We brought €500 and spent €490 – we didn’t think we’d need to use it and we were planning to go on a boat trip – we can’t do that now.”
A Manchester Airport spokesman said: “Ground handling teams have managed the baggage that did not make it onto the flights and always made sure it was absolutely safe and secure. Most of the baggage that didn’t make it onto the Sunday flights.” has either reached its owner or is getting there.
“We apologize for the inconvenience caused by Sunday’s power outage and are working closely with airlines, their designated ground handling teams and other partners to ensure all passengers are reunited with their luggage as soon as possible.”