EASYJET have apologised to a customer after they caused £180 worth of damage to his suitcase which was left with a gaping hole through the middle.
The airline which was branded “Sleazyjet” by disgruntled passenger Peter Richardson from Warrington, Cheshire are now investigating how the damage was caused.
Peter was travelling from Manchester airport to Arrecife, Lanzarote when the airline totally destroyed his baggage, ruining the clothes inside.
The 51-year-old says, despite reimbursing the cost of his bag at £40, he was offered just £57.50, or a £70 easyJet voucher to replace £140 worth of damaged clothing.
However, the airline has since performed a full U-turn after Peter complained on social media about his treatment, and offered to fully reimburse his costs.
Pictures show how 51-year-old Peter’s bag has had a hole punched right the way through it.
The soles of a pair of shoes contained in the bag have been completely mangled and a pair of shorts totally destroyed.
He has also accused the company of making it as “difficult as possible” to make a claim.
A furious Peter took to social media to complain to the airline.
He posted the photos with the caption: “If you’re ever asked to put your bag in the hold, don’t bother.
“They did this to my bag and a month later all I’ve had back is the cost of a new bag and an offer of half the value of the damaged items.
“If I’d not followed it up vigorously I doubt anything would have happened as Sleazyjet are not interested in resolving this kind of issue.
“Policy is clearly to make it as difficult as possible to recover the cost of items I had to replace and leave me out of pocket.
“Would someone from easyJet like to discuss the matter?”
Speaking today, Peter said: “We think it occurred at Arrecife as that’s when the case was returned to us.
“They refunded the case which was £40.
“The shoes, flip flops and shorts cost £140 to replace and they offered me £57.50 or a £70 easyjet voucher.
“The offer was based on half the approximate value of the original goods.
“There has been a development today. They came back to me and offered a refund on the items I purchased, but I refused as I’d filed a claim with Aviation ADR.
“I stated that I also wanted the cost of the £60.99 flight refunding, due to the amount of time I’ve spent on this. This has now been agreed to.”
EasyJet have since apologised for the incident.
An easyJet spokeswoman said: “easyJet has apologised to Mr Richardson for the damage caused to his bag whilst in transit and at the time of the incident reimbursed him for the cost of his bag and offered compensation for the damage to his clothes.
“We understand how important it is that our customers are confident their luggage is well looked after and so we investigated this with our ground handling partners at Manchester and Arrecife airports.
“easyJet flies on average over 1500 flights per day across more than 30 countries and incidents of damaged luggage are extremely low.
“Our team has been in contact with Mr Richardson to provide a further gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience caused.”
It’s not the first time the airline have been accused of mishandling luggage.
In September, Eloise Walsh complained after her Samsonite suitcase was lost and then returned to her with the bag and contents destroyed.
In 2018, University of Exeter student Jiwon Choi also complained that her baggage was so damaged by the airline, it looked like it had “exploded”.
