A traveller went off on Auckland Airport after discovering heaps of lost luggage, while her own bag had been missing for weeks.
Losing your luggage during a flight is a nightmare. What’s worse, however, is not finding your bag for almost three weeks and then discovering that the airport has been stacking it – and other lost luggage – in a pile of mishandled, overlooked luggage.
A passenger by the name of Debi Flutter has called out Auckland Airport for mishandling travellers’ missing luggage in an ‘outrageous’ picture showing heaps of unclaimed baggage collecting dust on the premises. Flutter claims the video was taken by her daughter Samantha earlier in December, when the latter was looking for her bag which went missing on a flight from Istanbul to Melbourne.
Samantha was informed that her luggage would be waiting for her at the airport, but three weeks later, the bag was still a no-show. When she showed up at the airport to ask about the whereabouts of her bag, she was greeted with a long line of unclaimed luggage instead.
“The room was just stacked with hundreds, if not thousands of things belonging to people,” Flutter told Stuff.co.nz. “There were suitcases, surfboards, kite-surfers … things that are vitally important to people and that cost huge amounts of money. It’s an outrageous amount.”
Airport authorities explained to her that her luggage had not been processed due to a staff shortage. “We understand there’s a shortage but surely it’s the responsibility of airlines that charge huge amounts of money to get that personal property returned,” she said.
Flutter isn’t the only passenger who’s been worried about their luggage being stuck at the airport. Other passengers have reported similar issues. One alleged that her bags had been stuck at the airport without any movement since December 15th, while another alleged that they’d been on call with customer representatives for six hours and tried to hunt for their luggage at the airport for another four – all to no avail.
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In a statement, Auckland Airport acknowledged the report and revealed that they’re working to deal with the staff shortage. “It’s an issue Auckland Airport continues to be concerned about, recognising how frustrating it can be for customers to lose their bags. We are working with airlines and their ground handlers to see what can be done to resolve it.” a spokesperson for the airline said.
