A British holidaymaker has spoken of his shock after discovering that the plane he was travelling on had run over his suitcase, completely destroying the bag and its contents. Louis Maybury, 27, was flying home to Manchester Airport from Madrid with his partner after a two-week holiday when cabin crew woke him with an unexpected request.
Around 30 minutes before touchdown, he was asked to remain on board after the other passengers had disembarked. He was then escorted to the cockpit, where the pilot told him his luggage had been run over by the aircraft back in Madrid.
Passenger watches in disbelief as damaged bag appears on carousel
Louis could only watch in disbelief as his mangled suitcase appeared on the baggage carousel, containing what he claims was roughly £5,000 worth of belongings. His partner filmed the moment the battered bag was handed back to him in tatters on 11 July.
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."
Dispute over compensation for destroyed possessions
EasyJet staff told Louis that his suitcase had been run over on the tarmac at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, resulting in a two-and-a-half-hour delay. Since then, he has been in dispute with the airline over compensation for his possessions, which he valued at £5,000.
Among the damaged items were a Burberry bag worth just over £1,000, an Invisalign retainer costing £500, and three Acne Studios shirts valued at roughly £300 each. He said: "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. Everything was destroyed, including a designer bag, four pairs of shoes, expensive chargers and an Oral B Toothbrush."
Airline apologises and confirms inspection
An easyJet spokesperson 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."
The spokesperson added: "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."
