A SCOTS woman travelling home from Singapore for Christmas has had to wait FIVE WEEKS for her lost luggage to be returned – made all the worse by the fact it contained festive presents for all her family.
Claire McDonald, 36, and her husband, Colin McDonald, 37, flew from Singapore on December 18 into Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris to catch a connecting flight home to Edinburgh to be with family.
But because of the snow the Air France flight was cancelled and the couple, from Dalgety Bay in Fife, had to be put up in a hotel overnight.
After a few delays and cancellations the next day, the couple were eventually on their way to Edinburgh.
Yet when they landed there was no sign of their luggage.
Claire, a senior destination consultant, waited five weeks for her luggage to be delivered to her home in Singapore and although being pleased about finally getting her belongings she said that the damage has already been done and the fight for compensation begins.
She said: “After five weeks and one day my bag was finally delivered via Fedex.
“Pleased is an understatement.
“I missed all my luggage – but the pain for me was not being able to give loved ones gifts on Christmas Day.
“Now another battle commences with Air France re compensation. The airline and customer service is a disgrace.”
Claire and her husband had to buy new clothes and cases and have a mad dash around the shops to buy loved ones gifts in time for Christmas Day.
She said: “We were coming from a warm country to a cold country so we didn’t have on the right clothes.”
“You can’t not give your family something at Christmas so I had to go out and buy new stuff.”
Claire added: “We heard apparently that there was a backlog of about 50,000 cases that were being kept in a container in Charles de Gaulle Airport.”
She said that online bag tracking systems were not being updated and that phones were constantly jammed and added that it was “complete havoc”.
She added: “The customer service from Air France has been the worst experience.”
A spokesperson for AIR FRANCE KLM said: “As a result of the cancellations and delays to flights in December following the severe weather conditions experienced in the UK and Europe, an unusually high number of passengers were separated from their baggage.
“AIR FRANCE KLM is currently working in conjunction with airports and luggage services to re-unite luggage with passengers as quickly as possible.
“This is a rare situation but has unfortunately arisen from disruption to normal services due to the severe weather conditions continuing over a number of weeks.
“AIR FRANCE KLM is working to resolve cases on an individual basis.”
