A woman’s suitcase was returned to her ‘half burnt’ following being put in the hold on a recent flight.
22-year-old Debbie Jean from Bordeaux, France, was travelling to London Stansted for a long weekend away on September 19 on the Ryanair flight FR1783.
Due to recent luggage policy changes, Ryanair put Debbie’s suitcase in the hold as she was told she couldn’t have carry-on cabin baggage due to not being a priority customer.
Speaking to UNILAD, Debbie revealed upon arrival at Stansted she had to wait ‘approximately 30 minutes’ longer than everyone else for her luggage to arrive.
When it did eventually appear on the carousel, according to Debbie the suitcase was very damaged appearing to have been ‘burnt’ with her clothes torn, dangling from it.
Debbie added she had to buy a new suitcase, clothes and other items in London due to the damage:
When I took it was half burnt and my clothes were ripped and hanging out from it. To be honest I was laughing because I just thought it was a joke and then I was just shocked.
Within the days I was away I started crying and really panicking because I was on holiday for four days and I had to pay for all my clothes, shoes and a suitcase as I didn’t have anything left – the ones that kind of survived all smelt of fresh burning.
I’ve got a scarf that burned and it was my mum’s one who sadly passed away, it was like one of my last memory from her.
I was supposed to do so much on holiday but I was really sad and anxious that I didn’t do much. Thank god I was staying at a friend’s place so I had some company but I literally didn’t do much for four days that they won’t give any compensation or pay back.
When Debbie received her suitcase back, she immediately went to report it at Stansted where she was directed to fill out an online complaint with Ryanair.
Hearing back about her complaint yesterday (September 27), Debbie has been informed to provide receipts for the damaged items and still hasn’t been given an explanation as to what happened.
She said she is disappointed with the way the incident has been handled by Ryanair:
I have to give proof of all the items that have been damaged, like where and when I bought them with receipt. But there’s stuff I don’t have the receipt from because I bought it like years and years ago.
They’ve been really rude to me, didn’t give me any compensation or any good treatment. Like on my way back, I’ve nicely showed the picture and asked if they could be nice enough to put my suitcase on the cabin and the manager just yelled at me and said it wasn’t his problem my luggage burned…
They don’t understand how it happened…. Like they basically said it got stuck somewhere. But like if you look at my burnt panties you can see it has been stopped by someone. So basically someone saw it was on fire and didn’t call my name to let me know what happened and apologised.
With Debbie unable to provide receipts for all the items, a document Ryanair provided informed her ‘if you cannot support your claim with proof of purchase, our Insurance Loss Adjustors will assess your claim settlement amount based on the standard weight of each item within the claim’.
The complaint is ongoing.
A spokesperson for Ryanair provided UNILAD with the following statement:
As per our website, damage to checked baggage must be reported at the arrival airport and in addition a claim should be submitted to Ryanair (via the form online) within 7 days from the date of bag damage occurring.
This customer submitted a claim online on 20 Sep and we responded to her on 27 Sep asking her submit receipts for the damaged item(s). Claims are processed within 15 days of receipt. A member of our customer service team will be in contact with this customer in the coming days.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via stories@unilad.co.uk. To license this article contact licensing@unilad.co.uk
