Baggage handler removed our safety gear

Mrs K.R. writes: I flew to Geneva for a ski trip. Back home I found an over-zealous baggage handler had removed gas canisters from my ski bag. My husband and I ski with avalanche bags and canisters are an integral part of the safety kit. We had checked on the Swiss International Air Lines website before we flew and it confirmed this was not a problem. The airline again said we were fine to fly with gas canisters and asked us to contact customer services. But weeks later, it stated we should not have been allowed to fly with the canisters and referred us to a new section of the website that says this needed prior approval. This is pretty underhand and we are out of pocket for £400 worth of ski gear.

SENDING you off-piste like this is just silly given the amount of business Swiss International Air Lines gets from skiers.

Whether or not it wants to change its mind on carrying gas, it has to abide by the rules that applied when you travelled and not small print introduced later.

I contacted the airline at Zurich Airport. It did not explain why it altered its rules or indeed whether it had changed them at all. It simply told me: ‘Obviously there was false information given to the guest [sic].’

The company offers its apologies and has assured me it will pay for the four missing gas canisters with a ‘generous’ goodwill payment on top.