Louis Maybury, 27, was flying from Madrid to Manchester Airport on July 11 when cabin crew woke him with an unusual request. With around 30 minutes until landing, they asked him to remain on board after other passengers had left. He was then escorted to the cockpit, where the pilot told him his luggage had been run over by the aircraft in Madrid.
Louis, from Manchester, said: "I was extremely upset by the situation. I had packed two full weeks' worth of belongings, including everything I needed for my trip. Unfortunately, all of my belongings were destroyed."
Wrecked suitcase on the carousel
Louis could only watch in disbelief as his wrecked suitcase emerged on the baggage carousel, with roughly £5,000 worth of belongings inside. His partner captured the moment the battered bag was returned to him in pieces.
The destroyed items included a Burberry bag worth just over £1,000, an Invisalign retainer costing £500, three Acne Studios shirts worth roughly £300 each, four pairs of shoes, expensive chargers and an Oral B Toothbrush.
Delay and compensation battle
Staff from easyJet told Louis his suitcase had been run over on the tarmac at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, causing a two-and-a-half-hour delay. He has since been locked in a back-and-forth with the airline over compensation for his belongings, which he valued at £5,000.
He said: "After months of back-and-forth communication and promises from easyJet's executive support team that I would be reimbursed for everything I had lost, I was eventually left with no choice but to accept the minimum compensation offered and try to recover the remaining losses through my own insurance."
Airline response
A spokesperson from easyJet said: "We're very sorry that Mr Maybury's luggage fell from a baggage cart and was damaged by an aircraft as it was coming onto stand. Safety is our highest priority and our engineers subsequently carried out an inspection of the aircraft and cleared it for departure.
"We know how important it is for customers to feel confident that their belongings are well cared for when travelling with us, so we investigated this with our ground handling providers in Madrid at the time and contacted Mr Maybury to apologise for his experience and provided him with the compensation he is due."
