A Swiss flight connecting Zurich-Bilbao arrived at its destination in Spain on Saturday without a single bag in its hold, much to the surprise of passengers, media reported Sunday. The Swiss airline blamed the inconvenience on a lack of ground staff.
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Passengers on a Swiss flight bound for this northern Spanish city waited in vain for more than two hours on Saturday evening in front of the conveyor belt for their luggage to arrive, daily newspaper Blick reported.
Swiss spokesman Kevin Ambalam confirmed that the plane, which operated for Edelweiss Airlines, took off with 111 passengers on board, but no luggage.
“There was a shortage of ground staff,” he told AFP, adding that the crew had initially been waiting for the situation to be sorted out.
But after more than an hour, “the situation remained the same, and for practical reasons, we decided to make the trip to Bilbao without luggage.”
France Press agency
He explained that the reason was the need to collect other passengers in Bilbao and return the plane to Zurich before the airport closed for the night.
“We regret the inconvenience caused,” he added.
Blake quoted the passengers as saying that the pilot had apologized for the delay in take-off in Zurich, blaming a “lack of qualified personnel”, but without mentioning the decision to give up their luggage.
The passengers claimed that there were no Swiss staff on the ground in Bilbao, and that they then waited more than two hours to collect their luggage before being told by Spanish airline Iberia staff that the plane had landed without luggage on board.
“It ruined our vacation,” passenger Carsten Redlich told Blake.
The Swiss spokesman said he could not confirm that the passengers were not informed of the decision to leave their luggage in Zurich.
He added, “We are still analyzing the situation to find out exactly what happened. “This should not happen,” he said.
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