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Taken 24 August 2007 from Dublin to Catania, Sicily (Fontanarossa) - CTA

Hi folks,

Just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience to me below and if so what course of action did you take?

I returned from Sicily on Friday last, 31st Aug with my girlfriend and neither have received our bags yet and it's now Tuesday! We were on a package holiday with Sunworld and had a super week of sunshine and great food, and although the hotel was a little Faulty Towers-esque, we were not going to let it spoil our holiday!

The day we were due to fly home was a disaster however. Catania airport was utter chaos. I realise it's a busy time of year etc etc but some basic organisational skills were severely lacking: free-for-all check-in desk; free-for-all queues for security..I could go on but this was nothing compared to what was ahead.

After the usual delay waiting for the aircraft, which was operated by Aviajet (out of the UK - legal implications here), we were taken by bus to the aircraft and were left on the bus for 30 mins in the searing heat (40 celsius) - not allowed get off or board the aircraft. People were understandably getting extremely uncomfortable and angry, needless to say!

We were brought back to the terminal and some time later boarded what can only be described as an oven with wings - we had no air and found it difficult to breath - so much so that during the oxygen-mask emergency demo I suggested it might be a good time to use them now! It was no joke believe me!

Anyway, the flight arrived in Dublin some 4 hours after our scheduled landing time. I was relieved to be back home after an awful day, but then the air stewart announced that we ALL needed to go to the Sky Handing desk as there was a problem with our bags. (Sky Handling are contracted by Aviajet as baggage handlers etc.) In short not one bag was loaded on the aircraft, but Aviajet omitted to tell us this information before we took-off and instead let Sky Handling take the brunt of their cowardly decision NOT to tell all passengers on board that they, Aviajet were not taking the bags due to fuel on board and weight limitations for take-off etc... blah blah blah...

The operator Sunway have nothing to answer for as the disclaim all liability (which I agreed to by signing the contract so I could have a holiday - no more packaged products from Sunway or any other similar operator for us!!)

Sky Handling are bearing the brunt of Aviajet's incompetence and are getting away with so much:

- being in a different jurisdiction I can't take them to the Small Claims Count here (the EU version is due in Jan 09). I spoke with the Sale Manager at Aviajet yesterday who was so rude to me, didn't answer my one simple question, and took exception to the fact that I took issue that we were not told our bags were being left behind in Sicily!

- The Montreal Convention does not cover any of this as the aviation industry is so self-regulated, and 21 days in the bench-mark for irrecoverable baggage!

So four days later we still have no bags and no one seems to be culpable/liable....

In this day and age and era of European federal laws, I would have thought this treatment of people and their property would be unlawful in some way, shape or form...

Anyone related to this or have similar experience with this shower of unprofessional, careless and inept muppets at Aviajet?