Mum 'couldn't take baby anywhere' after holiday operator TUI lost buggies for a week
A mother says she was left housebound after waiting a week for a holiday operator to return her buggies.
Racheal McDermott, a civil servant from Daw End Lane in Rushall, Walsall, went on a week-long family holiday to Tenerife earlier this month with her two young children, parents, her two sisters and their partners and their children.
The family travelled to and from Manchester Airport on a holiday organised by TUI. However, since returning on July 12, she has spent most of the time without the buggies she took for her children, five-year-old Sophie-Ann and one-year-old Jake, which had been placed in the hold of the plane before departing the Spanish island.
One of the buggies has since been returned.
Mrs McDermott described the situation as "horrific", saying that as her one-year-old is not yet walking, she hasn't been able to take him out over the past week.
The 35-year-old said that after landing at 5.40pm last Tuesday she was left holding her baby for two hours at baggage reclaim, alongside all the other passengers, before being told their belongings would not be coming off the plane that evening. However, they were told it would be returned to their homes within 48 hours.
"Nobody had anything apart from hand luggage," she said.
"48 hours went by, no luggage."
As well as two buggies, the family also had four suitcases which included phone chargers, summer sleeping bags for Jake, and sentimental items such as a teddy and comfort blanket belonging to Sophie-Ann.
"She was was asking 'when are they coming back'," Mrs McDermott said.
The first suitcase was delivered on Friday, but Mrs McDermott said she had not received any notice or tracking number so was out when it turned up. As she was not in, the suitcase went back to the delivery depot before returning the next day with the others.
One buggy was eventually returned on Wednesday, eight days after Mrs McDermott returned from holiday.
"I'm the one trying to contact TUI," she said. "It's been left up to me to contact Swissport, who deal with baggage. But you can't contact Swissport," alleging that phone lines to the baggage handler are not accepting calls.
"It shouldn't be down to me to chase," said Mrs McDermott, who said someone at TUI told her to 'keep badgering' Swissport. "I'm a working mum, I haven't got time to be badgering them."
Mrs McDermott says she feels hung out to dry, adding: "Since we got back I can't take him [Jake] anywhere. My travel insurance won't cover me either as it was lost by a third party.
"I'm having to purchase two new buggies out of my own pocket.
"I find it galling. They take £2,500 and as soon as something goes wrong they don't want to know.
She said other passengers who have complained about similar issues have been offered TUI vouchers, but said she 'doesn't want to book with them in the foreseeable future".
A spokeswoman for TUI apologised for the issues Mrs McDermott has had since returning from holiday.
"We’re speaking with our baggage handler as a matter of urgency to investigate where her children’s buggies are and how they went missing," she said.
"We’ll do everything we can to get these back to her as soon as possible.
"In the meantime, we’ll be in touch with Mc McDermott directly to apologise and help resolve her issue."
A spokesperson for Swissport also apologised, saying the firm was "looking into what has happened here".
In a statement they said: "Airlines, airports, and aviation services all work together to deliver different elements of a single passenger journey, and in busy periods such as the current peak travel time, the knock-on effects of delays across the travel process, such as air traffic issues, security queues and late changes to flight schedules, can create challenging conditions for baggage handlers.
"We understand this is a frustrating situation for passengers and we’re working closely with our airline and airport partners to manage these issues and improve turnaround times for passengers."
