A family not only experienced a suitcase chaos at Nuremberg Airport, but also missed their entire flight. Sabine Dunaew actually wanted to fly to Rhodes on vacation with her husband and son on Whit Saturday. But what happened at Nuremberg Airport, according to her, is like a nightmare – with no end in sight.
The Dunaew family arrived at Nuremberg Airport at 2.15 a.m. so as not to be too late for their journey. “Since the flight left at 5 a.m., we wanted to be there as early as possible,” reports Sabine Dunaew to “inFranken.de”. “There were already quite a few queues when checking in.” She goes on to explain: “Four counters were open, the employees told us that they had only been working there for a maximum of two months.” According to airport press spokesman Christian Albrecht, this is due to a lack of staff. “We currently have a tense personnel situation,” he reports.
According to Dunaew, when the family arrived at their gate, there were already other passengers who are said to have confirmed that flights had already taken off without luggage. “Actually, boarding was scheduled for 4:30 a.m., but we didn’t get to the plane until a little after 6 a.m.,” says Dunaew.
According to Sabine Dunaew, the pilot of the machine on SmartLynx flight ART4412 spoke up. “He apologized for the delay and informed that our tour operator TUI had decided that we would fly without luggage. Of course we were all uneasy, the stewardesses couldn’t answer our questions,” she reports. “He added that the suitcases would then arrive in Rhodes tomorrow or the day after.”
“The pilot also gave us another option. Travelers who absolutely need their suitcase can hop off and collect it. A TUI employee would wait for us in the hall and take care of us,” explains Dunaew.
“He further promised that we could take another flight and that if we didn’t get one that day, we would also get accommodation.” According to Dunaew, the pilot of the plane put the travelers under massive time pressure because “he needs a decision ASAP (as soon as possible) because he has to leave in a short time,” says Sabine Dunaew. Incomprehensible to them, since according to statements from families who flew with them, “the plane took off more than an hour later”.
“So a total of five families, including us, decided to get out to pick up our suitcases,” reports Dunaew. “Arrived in the airport hall, but nobody was there to help us”. Since the TUI travel center only opened at 10 a.m., the families decided to wait, according to her.
“When the TUI travel center opened at 10 a.m., we couldn’t be helped either. We were told to call TUI directly. On the phone, we were accused of going on a “no show” trip, as if we hadn’t gotten on in the first place,” she reports. The pilot is said to have assured TUI that the five families got out “of their own volition”. “We were then accused of having cut short our trip.” As a result, “we would have no legal claim,” Dunaew continued. “We were speechless and stunned”.
“But the pilot had made us promises. We were even willing to give up one of our vacation days to wait for another flight,” Dunaev continued. Other passengers on the plane to Rhodes could “confirm that the pilot said so”.
The chaos at Nuremberg Airport did not end there for the Dunaew family. “There was also the problem with our suitcases. We are hourly to Lost
Around 4 p.m. the families’ patience finally burst. “After waiting 14 hours at the airport, we drove home. Of course we still had to pay the 91 euro parking fee,” the annoyed mother continued. Sabine Dunaew reports that families who flew to Rhodes had not received their luggage for several days. “We haven’t received our luggage yet either. Yesterday we got a call from our hotel that two of our three suitcases had arrived in Rhodes,” Dunaew said on June 10, 2022.
“Of course we wanted to deliver the luggage as soon as possible, it’s a regrettable situation, of course that’s not our claim,” said airport spokesman Albrecht. As he further explains, Nuremberg Airport is not solely to blame for this situation. “There were 1700 pieces of luggage that had to be redelivered. Since the connecting flights were all full, we sometimes had to deliver luggage to other airports in order to send them”. “In some cases, that won’t be possible in a day or two.” “Of course we take responsibility for this and will be in talks with the airlines in a timely manner and tour operators,” continues Albrecht.
According to her, Sabine Dunaew’s third suitcase was also found: at Nuremberg Airport. “It’s complete chaos,” she says. She does not know what will become of a reimbursement of the costs. “The money has already been transferred to TUI, I don’t know if we’ll get it back,” she explains. She and the other families who were harmed had obtained a lawyer in this regard. According to her, the costs for the seven-day vacation amounted to around 3700 euros. “That’s a lot of money for us, we’ve saved it for years and now we can’t even go on vacation.”
TUI itself is “not in contact with the pilots of airlines that fly our guests on vacation,” said the tour operator at the request of “inFranken.de”. “TUI also has no staff at Nuremberg Airport. We will now have it investigated why these statements could come about, ”says a written answer. However, TUI promises that together with Nuremberg Airport “a fair solution will be organized for the guests of the Smartlynx machine who did not take off due to the baggage carousel failure at Nuremberg Airport”.
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The original of this article “Holiday nightmare at the airport: the entire journey bursts due to the chaos of suitcases” comes from inFranken.de.
