Welcome home, your luggage is still in Hurghada
HOLIDAY firm Thomas Cook abandoned luggage at an Egyptian airport blaming “heavy passenger loads”.
Sixty bags destined for Tyneside were left behind at the seaside resort of Hurghada leaving disgruntled passengers without their luggage.
The flight had experienced technical issues with loading passengers’ belongings before it returned to Tyneside on Monday night.
Although the airline knew the plane had taken off without dozens of bags, the holidaymakers only discovered this at the baggage carrousel.
Passengers were left gazing expectantly at the revolving belt back at Newcastle Airport, until it was announced there were no more bags to come.
Thomas Cook has now given a reason for the problem - blaming “a heavy passenger load and strong headwinds” - and revealed the bags should be delivered today. A spokeswoman for the airline said: “Due to a heavy passenger load and strong headwinds, we had to leave 60 bags behind on yesterday’s flight from Hurghada back to Newcastle. “The bags are already in transit and will be delivered to our passengers on Thursday. We are very sorry for the inconvenience this has caused.” Tony Szymansky and girlfriend Holly Hughes arrived home to find their luggage missing and, after joining the queue at the lost luggage desk, didn’t get home until gone 4am. Cyber security analyst Tony said: “We found out after landing that there was some sort of problem with the flight before it took off, but the first we knew of it was when about a third of the flight’s passengers’ luggage failed to turn up.” The couple had spent two weeks on holiday in Egypt and upon hearing Thomas Cook’s explanation for the blunder, Tony joked: “I know we’d been on an all-inclusive trip, but to blame heavy passengers can’t be right!” The 38-year-old from Whitley Bay welcomed the news their bags should be returned to them this week, adding: “Fingers crossed they do make it back.”
Due to heavy passenger load and strong headwinds, we had to leave behind 60 bags behind