East Midlands Airport luggage chaos enters third day as holidaymakers left without suitcases

luggage on a carousel at an airport
-Credit: (Image: Getty)


A baggage system fault at East Midlands Airport (EMA), in Leicestershire, has left scores of holidaymakers without their luggage for more than 48 hours, causing widespread disruption and frustration for travellers. The incident, which affected 17 flights on Sunday, has left many tourists with only the clothes they travelled in.

Flights to Girona, Alicante, Arrecife, Faro, Enfidha, Palma, Benidorm, Dubrovnik, Lanzarote, Skiathos, Dalaman, Malaga, Luga and Krakow were affected. Yesterday (September 16), a spokesperson for East Midlands Airport told LeicestershireLive that passengers were "expected" to be reunited with their baggage within 24 hours.

However, some passengers have said this afternoon (Tuesday, September 17) that they are still without their luggage, and claim they have been "left in the dark" about what is happening.

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Tracey Ross, who flew to Tunisia with TUI, said she initially thought the announcement about missing baggage was a joke. The 47-year-old, from Grantham, Lincolnshire, said she was now stranded abroad without essential medication.

"We are 48 hours in and still no luggage," she told Leicestershire Live. "Our rep says we might be lucky and get it on Wednesday, but she doesn't know."

Mrs Ross claimed staff were heard talking about luggage conveyor belts "not working" before "the check-ins were open". She claimed: "They were aware that the conveyor belts were not working but still allowed this incident to happen." LeicestershireLive put that specific claim to EMA, but it had not commented on it at the time of publication.

She described the moment passengers learned of the issue: "When they told us on the plane, we all actually thought they were joking. The pilot announced over the Tannoy that they only had 28 suitcases on board and had to leave 127 behind." The situation has left Mrs Ross without medication she must take for a blood disorder.

Passengers have criticised the handling of the situation by both TUI and East Midlands Airport. "The communication from TUI has been nothing but generic, like it's from a pre-written script," said Mrs Ross, who is on holiday with her 45-year-old husband. "The airport has flatly put it into the hands of the holiday company," she claimed.

Mrs Ross said TUI had offered her £100 compensation per case for essential items, with an additional £150 if luggage is not returned by Wednesday. However, Mrs Ross said: "You then have to go and buy the stuff, rather than being able to relax. We came on our one holiday for my birthday, not to go shopping for essential items."

"This is causing us undue stress," Mrs Ross added. "Mentally, all you're thinking about is your luggage. You can't enjoy yourself and relax because it's always there on your mind."

"I would like to know why [the luggage is] not here," she said. "It's a three-hour flight from the UK. Surely it would be cheaper for TUI to fly a plane out here with everyone's luggage than have to compensate everyone."

In a statement to LeicestershireLive, East Midlands Airport’s operations director Simon Hinchley said: “In the early hours of September 15th we became aware of a fault with one of two baggage belt systems, with the second acting as a contingency in situations like this. Unfortunately, the second also developed a fault, which is a very rare occurrence. We had engineers on site attempting to fix the whole system, with a view to baggage rejoining flights that had been delayed.

“Ultimately, the decision was taken to allow flights to depart and arrangements made for baggage to follow on, which is normal procedure in circumstances like this.

“While a rare incident, we apologise for the inconvenience and will be reviewing our response to learn any lessons. We have worked alongside the airlines to reunite customers with their baggage and the advice remains for customers to deal with their airlines who are responsible for making the arrangements. Baggage for all the affected flights has now left the airport.”

We have approached TUI for comment.

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