Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The UK-based travel company Thomson, has issued the following statement for passengers who lost their luggage when a small group of baggage handlers went on strike in Geneva 2 January. Thousands of bags were misplaced 2-3 January and many are still being returned, to Thomson customers but also those of some airlines.
“Customers returning from Geneva Airport (GVA) Saturday 2 January 2010
We regret that due to an unofficial handling strike by ramp agents at Geneva Airport (GVA) on Saturday 2 January 2010, ski baggage was not returned to the UK.
Update 12:30, 11 January 2010
We can confirm that all bags from the 2nd of January 2010 have been returned back to the UK from Geneva for onward processing by our Baggage Handling Teams. The remaining bags are currently being matched and tagged for onward delivery.
The company contracted to distribute all baggage will make contact when the baggage is ready for delivery. All communication will be with the contact named on the ‘PIR’ forms which were completed by passengers and baggage will be delivered to the address given on the form.
As you will hopefully appreciate, the recent extreme weather conditions may still impact on the delivery of baggage to some customer’s home addresses. We would assure you that every effort is being made to ensure that customers receive their baggage as soon as possible and deliveries are expected to continue throughout the coming week.
Customers can contact the Thomson Airways Baggage Call Centre on [from the UK, or +44 and no 0 if calling from elsewhere] 0871 288 7392 (for Thomson Ski, Crystal Ski, First Choice Ski) if they require any further information.
Please be assured that we will update you by way of the website or by email if any further information becomes available.
We apologise once again for the obvious inconvenience caused by this industrial action and, once again, may we thank all those affected for their continued patience.”
Thomson Customer Services
0208 939 5435
This all sounds very good however I have been trying all day to speak to the couriers that GBS say have been instructed ( RICO ) however as normal, the telephone number just rings and then hangs up after 10 minutes. All I want is to know is when delivery is planned so that I know whether I need to buy replacement items.
The Thomson 10p per minute number is even worse, this connects you and then puts you on hold racking up charges. Why is this not a freephone number given that it is their error? I even tried e-mailing them yesterday via their site but guess what – no reply.
Why is it not possible to just speak to someone to get some accurate information? I do not think that Thomsons have done a good job in winning repeat business – I certainly will not travel with them again.
no proper information, useless service, global packaging soultions cannot do their job pathetic they and thomsons need to get their act together, has any body got their luggage ? more than 2 weeks after the flight what is going on ? why have we got to put up with this you could predict that this was going to happen , no compensation thomsons and other opperators should get their usless board of directors down to the carriers and get it sorted
I see that Crystal ski have updated their website that now shows a contact email address for RICO – email just sent – lets see if they ignore that as well !!!
Agreed, 2 weeks is NOT acceptable. Still only got one bag back – 2 somewhere in the RICO triangle – 1 not found by GBS.
Why they cant set up a web tracer for the bags so you can enter your ref number to see whats going on !!!!
We flew on the Thomson flight (2/01/10)to Manchester minus our luggage, as an Inghams customer. Despite numerous phonecalls, no-one can give any accurate information, each blaming the others systems. It is a farce, have contacted Watchdog and have complained to Inghams, which has so far gone unacknowledged and have reviewed Inghams on Review website. If a package tour operator offers no more protection/help when things go wrong, then there is very little point in paying the premium and booking with them. This does not seem to bother them or galvanise them into any pro-active stance.
Also for those on the flight in which the captain blatantly lied about the status of luggage then complaints should be made to the airline concerned. A clear example of treating customers as incapable of making an informed choice.
jill, we were on your flight too.the captain was a disgrace for lying to us.we also have had one baf back,the only reason I was in when the couriers turned up was because they had dropped off a friends bag earlier that afternoon. this is a quite astonishing lack of customer care.what will happen if we are out?will they give us the same phone numbers to ring?I will never book through them again.we have checked our travel insurance and found it to be pretty poor,does anyone know whether we can also make a claim towards Thomsons? regards kit
After emailing the RICO mail address I have as yet been ignored – not surprising. It seems that RICO is the bottleneck. 2 bags have been with them since the 10th with no word on when they will deliver. I have also managed to get through to the Thomsons secondary handling number where I have been trying to trace my 4th bag which is as yet still not located. They say as of today there are STILL 1000’s of bags in a warehouse waiting sorting but wont get looked at until RICO clear the backlog they have to deliver.
I’m just glad RICO are not involved in shipping aid to Haiti – you are a waste of space !!!
My girlfriend has received her bag.. no telephone call prior to delivery and we weren’t in at the time so thankfully our neighbours were in to collect it. We provided a telephone number to call for a reason.. so we can make sure we are around and so that they can provide updates on what is happening. Where has the communication been?
As yet I still haven’t received my bag and our skis are also missing. I am moving house at the end of the month, I’m not even sure if emailing them my new address will result in the bags being delivered to the correct location as they have so far proved completely inept at simple bag delivery.
They say there are 1000s of bags, if they are struggling to keep up then hire more people as this is unnacceptable. I have had bags that did not make a flight before with British Airways, I had my bags later that day as they came on the next flight and then a courier delivered them to me. I don’t care if they have to pay a taxi to deliver them, just send me my bags. Thomson should be breathing down RICO’s neck to make sure these bags are delivered NOW.
My boyfirend had his delivered friday morning, as mentioned no phone call given prior to this, but thankfully someone was there to take delivery, however I’m still waiting for my bag, which I need for another ski holiday leaving on friday. Getting very anxious as I had a bag delivered to me last week that wasn’t mine…! Its a shambles
was it a blue holdall ?? I too received a courier note to say that had called on Friday – I now have my bag and both our sets of skis and snowboard but my partners bag is still “missing” – this has been the worst experience of travel EVER !!!!
Thanks to this blog at least there has been some info sharing – thankyou Ellen
There needs to be a public forum on GB web site – I think something has started on snow heads so I’ll pop on there next. Gonna keep ringing GBS till they find our 4th bag. We have also now written to Thomsons to pursue claim as 21 days has been reached. Hopefully the letter wont get lost in the post !!!
We too have been affected by this terrible situation, we travelled in a group of 9, 2 familes (inc, 3 children (12,8 & 4) and 1 infant (9 mths)) and our nanny. During the course of the fiasco that has ensued since we returned to the uk….. We have received someone elses suitcase which was finally collected last week (they tried to redeliver it 2 days later and i kid you not it was clearly tagged with 2 luggage tags clearly stating the owners name and address, beyond belief)…. And have eventually last week had all but 2 of our suitcases delievered (they even managed to misdeliver 2 of those to the wrong family, how when there were also clearly labelled is beyond me)….. Our childrens christmas presents and many other precious things are in the 2 outstanding cases!! Please if any of you have had either a red rolley case or navy blue soft case delivered in error please can you let me know on here as the children are devastated as I am sure you can imagine….. A complete shambles for which Thomson Airways should be ashamed of….. How the tabloid newspapers haven’t got hold of this story I don’t know!!!! What a terrible end to a New Years Skiing Holiday…..
I bet watchdog will be interested !!!
The BBC have done stuff on baggage handling before !
I’m sure if they were directed to this site and saw the comments they might add some weight to it ???
I am tempted to write to them but not sure how that might affect us claiming if our 4th bag isnt found ?
I’m happy to be the person who contacts them since I’m the only one reading this regularly who hasn’t lost a bag, I suspect!
I have started a facebook group about this, i thought if we all joined maybe we could try and reunite our bags with ourselves!!!! This is the link! http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=275791602060
My final bag arrived monday afternoon. I spoke to someone at Thomson and at Rico on Monday morning, and they admitted there were still bags to be delivered & it was still going to take 3 days or more to finish the deliveries. My bag had not been labelled the same as my boyfriends, but had a separate instruction letter on it to deliver to my address & swap it with the bag delivered in error (which had already been picked up last week). I flew home on Thomson to Bristol and as my boyfirends took so long to turn up as well, I’m assuming all bags on this flight took some time to be delivered.
I managed to get through to Rico on this number:01215 444832.
Good luck!
Dont give up hope !
Our 4th bag has been missing for 4 weeks on GBS computer and was not located upto yesterday. BUT today, I received a phone call saying the bag was on its way. I have just got home and the bag had been left with my next door neighbour with ALL the labels on it showing it is our bag !!!
Now thats naughty ! 4 weeks to return a fully identifiable bag !!! There are some idiots working on this – I dont know who to blame but I would say they should all take a slice of it. Where is our apologies ???
Ellen, if you wouldnt mind contacting the BBC I am more than willing to provide a statement to who ever it may concern and I’m sure lots of other would too !!!
My partner has goine through a 4 week period feeling like a crime has been committed and suffered a level of anxiety from it. It definitely isnt right
Andy
Right, I’ll contact them and let you all know here the result of that. May more of those errant bags find their rightful owners!
Woo hoo we received our final suitcase today, how it has taken 4 weeks when it is clearly labelled with our name and address is staggering. The case is looking very worn and is filthy on the outside, it has someone elses reference attached to it along with a failed delivery sticker???? I wonder where it has been????
At least I have one exceptionally happy 8 year old who has been reunited with her Christmas presents and prized Olympia Hoodie!!!! That said the poor child has been distraught thinking she would never see her things again….
I am staggered at the chain of events that has happened since we left Geneva 4 weeks ago on saturday and why on Monday this week Thomson Airways e-mailed me to say that this suitcase was irritrievably lost, yet today miraculously it appears????
The other family we travelled with are still missing a case, so here is hoping that theirs arrive at some point very soon too…..
We would be more than happy to issue a statement if you would like, the past four weeks have caused a great deal of stress and anxiety and upset my children. Tottally unacceptable……
We were ‘lucky’ enough to receive our bags on the 22nd Jan….3 weeks after arrival into Manchester!
Does anyone know wether we would be due to compensation?? Like most people have been saying its the lack of communication which is the worst part.