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Date

30/09/2003

Complaint

entered by

Pat.Baxter@subsea7.com

Mishandled/Lost

Lugggage

I have just visited your web site and found a letter of recommendation from a satisfied customer. Well I’m afraid mine is a different story. I have been waiting for a reply from Mr. Alf Berry, Station Manager at Glasgow Airport as you will see for quite a while now and look forward with interest to your comments.

I attach the relevant correspondence.

On 14th May, 2003 my husband and I along with our 11 year old daughter travelled by Air Transat from Glasgow to Vancouver (via Calgary) on a supposed 3 week “trip of a lifetime”. My husband and I were celebrating our Silver Wedding Anniversary and it was the first time we had every flown overseas so you can imagine how excited we were at the prospect of visiting a new country.

On arriving at Glasgow Airport at 07.30 hrs. for a 10.30 departure we found two massive queues of people waiting to check in. Eventually at 09.30 hrs. we got through the check-in desk and were told to board the plane immediately, not even getting the chance to have a cup of coffee. We had been unable to obtain any refreshments at our hotel having left before breakfast was served. We were told at check-in the hold up was due to a breakdown of the baggage carousel.

When we arrived in Vancouver and went to pick up our luggage we discovered our daughter’s case had not arrived. After checking every carousel in the airport we reported the incident to the Baggage section and were given the attached Report 41296. We were told we would be contacted the next day once they had checked to see if the case had mistakenly been taken off at Calgary.

My daughter was very distraught by this time as you can imagine, in fact we were all feeling stressed by the whole episode. Due to the delay we missed our ferry to Vancouver Island and had to contact our friends who were meeting us at the ferry terminal at Swartz Bay.

The case contained my daughter’s bagpipes as she had planned to play at the Victoria Highland Games as well as for our friends and family. She had also saved up her pocket money to buy her favourite clothes which of course meant we had to buy her sufficient clothing to last our trip. The case also contained clothing for myself which had to be replaced.

As we had heard nothing by Friday (16th) we telephoned the Baggage Dept. but were told nothing had been found and that it was now possible the case could have missed the flight, due to the problems in Glasgow and could arrive the following Wednesday (21st) from Glasgow, and if so, they would contact us at our present address in Victoria and arrange for the case to be delivered.

We now had no option but to stay with our friends for longer than planned, missing out on the chance to take a trip up Island, so that if the case arrived at least we could proceed with the rest of our holiday with an easy mind.

As we heard nothing further from the Baggage Dept. on 22nd May we contacted them again so see if in fact the case had arrived. What a surprise – it had not!! That made my daughter even more upset as we thought it the most likely scenario.

When we arrived back in Glasgow on Wednesday 4th June I checked with your Baggage Dept. to find out whether the case had been found. I spoke to a very nice lady who assured me that she was aware of the missing case and everything was being done to find it!!

Amazingly on Thursday (5th) we received a telephone call from Aberdeen Airport to inform us that they had received a suitcase matching our description from Glasgow Airport. Upon receipt of the case we checked the contents and found them to be intact. Unfortunately the case was rendered totally unsuitable for unattended travel as the zip locking bar had been cut off by whoever required access to check the contents, despite a key being provided to those investigating its loss.

We have since discovered that the case had never even left Glasgow Airport despite several telephone calls, faxes etc. sent to you by Air Transat and subsequently ignored. What we would like to know is why the case did not go on the flight and why it lay unnoticed for three weeks and then miraculously turned up the day after we returned home. Some serious questions require answering here!!

Our dream holiday turned out to be a nightmare, causing us to make unnecessary expensive phones calls trying to locate the suitcase, plus the stress to my daughter not having the clothes she had saved up for and the family missing out on part of our planned trip.

No explanation or apology was ever received from you, when in fact the fault lay firmly with yourselves.

We look forward, with interest, to your comments in the matter.

Mrs. Baxter wrote to BAA at Glasgow airport and in reply to that letter then wrote Alf Berry - Station Manager-Servisair UK Ltd-Glasgow Airport as follows:

Please find enclosed a copy of a letter dated 28th July 2003 received from Maggie McAlister, Service Delivery Manager at BAA Glasgow. You will note that a copy of our letter to them should have been forwarded to you by them but as no reply has been received please find enclosed a copy for your perusal.

We look forward, with interest, to your comments in the matter.

At the time of contacting us she had no reply from Servisair.

After an initial misunderstanding we established that Mrs. Baxter had received the basic compensation for mishandled baggage from Air Transat but she clearly was not happy that she had been totally ignored by Servisair - whose slogan is

In her case they clearly did not care and they did not even have the common courtesy to reply to her letter. We gave Mrs. Baxter the name and the address of the Head Office of Servisair and advised her to write to their CEO Bernard Mercier

Update: 13/01/2004

Mrs. Baxter has just informed us that she has now written twice to Bernard Mercier and regretfully has not even received an acknowledgement. They clearly should change their logo as they have proved now beyond any doubt that they certainly 'Don't' care.

Complaint Status: ongoing


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