Passengers on board a Swiss International Air Lines flight to Bilbao were left completely dumbfounded after their flight arrived at its destination without a single checked bag.
More than one hundred people were on board the Swiss plane from Zurich, but were met with shock and confusion when they arrived in Spain to find no luggage made the journey.
According to reports in The Blick, crew members waited over an hour for bags to be loaded in Switzerland before deciding to depart without them.
Ampalan credited the unfortunate incident to “a shortage of ground staff” and “operational reasons”.
In conversation with AFP, the firm noted: “We understand the situation is not favourable for the people involved, and of course we regret the inconvenience.”
Despite the apologies from Swiss Air Lines staff, people on board the aircraft were fiercely upset.
Carsten Redlich spoke out about his frustrations, claiming his vacation was seemingly “ruined” after finding out his bags were left behind in Zurich.
Swiss Air Lines told The Independent: “SWISS and the crew did everything possible to solve the problem. The crew initially postponed the departure, thereby accepting a delay, in the hope that the issue could be resolved. Since the situation with the baggage handling staff did not improve after more than 1 hour, the operational decision was made to depart without baggage.”
“This was to ensure that the subsequent return flight from Bilbao to Zurich would be able to land before the night flight ban at 23:00 (CEST) in Zurich,” they continued. “For SWISS, the situation is anything but satisfactory. That’s why we are currently reviewing our processes to prevent such cases from happening again. We are also in close contact with the company responsible for loading the aircraft and handling the baggage.”
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