A COUPLE have been left livid after being left without their luggage for at least ten days out of their two-week holiday to Scotland.
Luke McDonnell and his wife Nikki, who is originally from Cumbernauld, flew to Edinburgh from their home in Muscat in Oman on July 6.
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The couple, both 33, are only here for two weeks visiting family, however have been left frustrated after baggage chaos left them without most of their belongings for ten days.
The pair even had to resort to raking through thousands of bags at a warehouse in Edinburgh – to little success.
Luke told The Scottish Sun : “We’re completely in the dark.
“The bottom line is we don’t know where are bags are and neither do they.
“I don’t think they realise the trauma it causes.
“We’ve spent our time filling out forms and making lists as per the airline request.
“But we haven’t had any response.”
The pair have been getting through the trip by buying clothes and borrowing items from relatives and friends while waiting for news on their lost bags.
Their travel chaos began in Muscat with a delayed flight to Istanbul, leaving the couple with just a 30 minute layover to catch their flight to the Scottish capital.
Edinburgh Airport has been struggling with demand in recent weeks, with many bags not being ready for collection when passengers land at baggage reclaim.
Furthermore, Edinburgh Airport has suspended it helpline due to increase staff being verbally abused.
The airport said they are receiving a large number of queries and ‘around 90% are related to the baggage process which is under the control of airlines and handling agents, not the airport.’
But passengers can still get in touch through email or through the chat function on the airports website.
Such was the case for Luke and Nikki, who were forced to leave the airport without their belongings – before being directed days later to the Swissport desk for more information.
However, pictures sent in by Luke show the desk is unmanned, with signs pointing disrupted passengers to a temporary baggage facility within the airport campus.
When the couple arrived to look for their bag they were met with thousands of lost bags and very few staff.
He said: “Staff are not interested and unhelpful.
“You have to search for your baggage yourself and it’s just luck if you find it.”
Luke said he was frustrated when he got his bag back because his contact details were still on the tag.
He said: “Surely if they look at the bags with tags they can reduce the number of bags there by at least 30 to 40%.”
“They didn’t even ask me for any ID or anything, so you could just take a bag even if it isn’t yours.
“You just rummage through them yourself.
“There needs to be a better system.”
While still on the hunt for the remainder of their baggage, the couple next went to the Swissport office.
On a sign on the wall it states: “Please ring the bell for baggage enquiries relating to Swissport and the airlines it serves.”
However, when Luke went to ring the bell, he found it had been removed and there was no way for him to get assistance.
Frustrated, Luke says he has still had no contact with Turkish Airlines or Swissport.
The couple are due to fly back to Muscat on Monday, with or without their bags.
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He said: “We don’t know what’s going to happen when we go back to Oman but the bottom line is we don’t know where our bags are and neither do the airline.
“We need to go back Monday because we’ve got work on Tuesday.”
Swissport and Turkish Airlines have been approached for comment.
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