Passengers on a BA flight were shocked to find 'items missing' and 'presents unwrapped' after their lost luggage was returned to them.
Jamie Skorczewski was among hundreds of passengers whose luggage went missing over the festive period, following a BA flight into Manchester Airport.
He said he got his belongings back a week later - but claimed they came with presents unwrapped, wine gone and one suitcase damaged beyond repair, reported Manchester Evening News.
READ MORE: Family-of-six stranded at airport with 'no choice of food' after 12 hour flight delay
Leading to a Christmas without clothes, presents or medication for the Skorcezewski family, the six-day wait for the return of their bags led to further dismay when they claim they found it had been tampered with.
The saga began with a two-hour delay in the Heathrow-Manchester leg of their flight from San Diego for a long-awaited reunion with family on December 21.
On arrival, they say they were met by an empty carousel - yet claimed they could see piles of luggage belonging to passengers on earlier flights.
Jamie said he and 200 fellow passengers, including babies and the elderly, were left waiting for nearly two hours at Manchester before a member of BA staff came to hand out forms for them to report their baggage.
For the next six days, forced to buy clothes and unable to give their son the presents on his Christmas list, the family say they chased BA every day for updates.
When they were finally reunited with their bags, said Jamie, all the gifts were unwrapped, two bottles of wine stolen and one suitcase totally destroyed.
Jamie said: “We had no clothes except for those we had travelled in for that period of time and eventually had to buy some.
“My son was left very disappointed on Christmas Day. Like every little boy at Christmas Day he wrote a list.
“We, his parents, were the only members of the family to buy him items on his list and they were all in our suitcases.
“So Christmas day was not the best for him and the magic of Christmas finally ruined as we had to explain everything to him.”
Jamie says the fiasco was complicated by the involvement of four companies in tracking their bags.
BA had contracted Global Baggage Solutions to fly the bags from Heathrow to Manchester, but despite what he says were many calls and messages, Jamie claims they did not receive a response at that stage.
Jamie travelled back to the airport on December 22 and found the only way to contact them was through the customer telephone at the information desk in Terminal One.
During that call, Jamie says he was informed they didn’t have the bags - but then found out 30 minutes later from BA that they did.
Despite this breakthrough, the firm then held on to them for two days before passing them on to another contractor. Jamie was told they would be delivered to his home address but they didn’t arrive.
So Jamie returned to the airport on Christmas Eve and tried the terminal phone again.
Passed on to the new firm, he managed to get through after repeated calls.
Jamie added: “I begged them to let me come and collect my baggage. I was informed that it was not possible as they had closed.
“I explained that all my son’s Christmas presents were in there and all my son’s clothes. They didn’t care.”
On December 27, the third-party firm contracted a courier firm to deliver the luggage - but there was no way to contact them to arrange a time more suitable than 3.30pm so Jamie had to leave his father’s 80th birthday event to wait for the luggage at home.
Each airline appoints its own baggage handler and Manchester Airport have said they are not involved in luggage logistics.
Global Baggage Solutions referred the Manchester Evening News to BA for comment.
As background, BA said customers can be reimbursed for the cost of essential items when they were without their baggage and claim for any damaged or missing contents.
A spokesman said: "We apologise unreservedly to customers who had their baggage delayed over the Christmas period after arriving in Manchester.
"It’s clear that our service and communications fell short on this occasion and we’re taking the necessary steps with our third party handlers and couriers to ensure we avoid a similar situation in future."
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