Aer Lingus located the ashes of a man’s parents which went missing as he was flying them home.
Bob Gilmour arrived in Dublin on Saturday, having travelled from Australia via Milan.
However, the bag containing the remains did not come off the plane.
Last night Aer Lingus issued an apology as they revealed it had been found at Milan Malpensa Airport.
In a statement they said it had not been loaded onto the flight by baggage handlers but would be flown overnight to Dublin.
Mr Gilmour is planning to scatter his father Sam’s ashes at a ceremony this afternoon in his home town of Ballymena in Co Antrim, Northern Ireland. He will then take his mother Marjorie’s remains to Birmingham.
The couple met when they served together in the RAF during WW2.
Earlier yesterday Mr Gilmour told RTE’s Drivetime both had requested their ashes be placed on their family plots.
The 78-year-old, who left Ballymena for the Tasmanian capital Hobart at age 11, said: “My parents emigrated to Australia in the 60s. But mum always saw herself as an Englishwoman and dad always saw himself as an Irishman.
“They both indicated that when they died, they would like their ashes brought home to be scattered on their parents’ graves.
“The check-in in Milan was chaotic. Ours were the last four bags to go up the shoot. When we arrived into Dublin our bags were not on the aircraft and two of them have not been seen since.
“We filled in the paperwork we were asked to but what’s made it really, really tough is trying to deal with a call centre and a website.
“I don’t want to speak badly of the people who work at these things but the process is less than useless.
“The whole process seems to be that once you’ve filled out your paperwork, go away and don’t annoy us until you get your bags back.”
