This is the kind of unforeseen event that can seriously compromise a vacation plan. Saturday September 9, 2023, some 111 passengers on a flight from the Swiss company Swiss landed in Spain with unpleasant news. And for good reason, upon their arrival on Spanish territory in Bilbao, the travelers were welcomed by learning that following a logistical incident, the luggage they had initially checked in to be placed in the hold, had not made the journey and remained at Zurich airport in Switzerland. Our colleagues from the information site Blick report that this information was only brought to them after having waited nearly two hours near the conveyor belts where their suitcases should have been delivered. For its part, the airline reacted. Kavin Ampalam, spokesperson for Swiss, immediately confirmed that the aircraft operated on this route by Edelweiss had indeed left Swiss soil with the hundred passengers. but with an empty hold. According to passengers’ testimonies, the pilot apologized before taking off for the delay in departure from Zurich due to“a lack of qualified personnel”. They specify that at that time, no abandoned baggage had been mentioned.
“We regret the inconvenience caused”
More than an hour after making this observation,“the situation was still unchanged and, for operational reasons, we decided to carry out the flight to Bilbao without luggage”, explained Kavin Ampalam to our colleagues from the Swiss daily. According to him, the plane was forced to make this return flight in order to pick up other passengers in Bilbao and then bring the plane back to Zurich before the airport closed in the evening. He adds : “We regret the inconvenience caused” stipulating that for the moment, he could not confirm the information according to which the passengers had not been warned of the company’s decision to leave their luggage in Zurich. “We are still analyzing the situation to find out what exactly happened. This should not happen.”he concluded.