Swiss Airlines passengers’ travel plans were seriously disrupted on Saturday. A plane coming from Zurich, Switzerland, arrived at Bilbao Airport, Spain, without a single piece of luggage on board. This resulted in a wait of over two hours before the bags finally appeared on the conveyor belt.
Passengers on board were reportedly not properly informed of the situation. Although the pilot apologized for the delay, no explanation was given for the missing luggage. Swiss Airlines staff at the destination in Bilbao were also unable to determine the whereabouts of the bags. Passengers had to wait for information from employees of the Spanish airline Iberia, who saw the plane landing without luggage on board.
Passenger Carsten Redlich expressed his disappointment and said his holiday was “ruined” because his bags were left behind. Redlich is part of a group of paragliders who traveled to Spain, and the lack of basic equipment greatly affected their plans.
Crew shortage
Swiss Airlines confirmed that the plane left Zurich without passengers’ luggage. Spokesman Kavin Ambalam pointed to the lack of staff as the cause of the problem. Despite waiting in Zurich in the hope that the situation would improve, it remained unchanged after “an hour and 16 minutes.” For operational reasons, it was then decided to fly to Bilbao without luggage.
Ambalam stated that the flight could not wait any longer because the passengers had to be disembarked in Bilbao on time, and the plane had to return to Zurich before the airport closed at 11 pm at night. Swissair was unable to confirm whether passengers had been informed of the decision to leave their luggage behind. However, they regretted the inconvenience it caused to customers. “We are still investigating the situation to find out exactly what happened,” Ambalam said. “This shouldn’t happen.”
Increase in lost baggage
This incident comes against the backdrop of an increase in the number of lost luggage in 2022, as the number of lost bags reaches its highest level in ten years. There were about 26 million. A report by SITA, an aviation IT supplier, identified the reasons for the shortage of skilled workforce, the rapid return to international travel after the pandemic and airport congestion. It also found that Europe was the worst continent for lost luggage, with major airports having the worst problems due to the large number of passengers.
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