A passenger has been left furious after a little-known cabin bag rule was enforced whilst she was en-route to board an £11,000 Antarctic cruise.
Valerie Coleshaw was due to travel from Manchester to Amsterdam before changing onto a flight that would take her to Buenos Aires, from where she would travel to Ushuaia in Argentina and board a cruise operated by HX, formerly known as Hurtigruten.
However, before she got on the plane to travel to Amsterdam, she was told by airline KLM they needed to put her cabin baggage in the hold because the plane was very full.
She was reportedly informed that the bag, which had her asthma medication and cruise paperwork, would be returned to her before her flight to Buenos Aires.
Upon arriving in Amsterdam, she didn’t see her bag on carousel and neither did she see it at the boarding gate for her next flight.
After making further enquiries during which her bag was not immediately found, she was given vouchers for a hotel and information about a flight to Manchester the next day.
Speaking to the Independent about the experience, Ms Coleshaw said: “Having never experienced anything like this before, I felt humiliated and confused.
“I was left with a member of staff who said she would try to put me on another flight the next day. I realised that without my hand luggage, I would have the same problem.”
According to KLM, passengers are sometimes asked to put their hand luggage in the hold and when this happens they are told to remove items needed during the flights as well as valuables.
Ms Coleshaw denies that this is what she was told and said she was informed that her cabin luggage was going to be waiting for her in Amsterdam.
She added: “No one ever suggested to me to remove my medication, tickets, holiday reservation, emergency contact details and so on. Had they done so, I would have taken my hand luggage on board.”
Despite, KLM refunding Ms Coleshaw a refund for the flights plus a £500 voucher for future travel with the airline, this didn’t allow her to reclaim the thousands she had already spent on the cruise.
Following the incident, HX has reportedly offered Ms Coleshaw an alternative £8,500 as a goodwill gesture, one which Ms Coleshaw said was honourable “but not usable”.
In a statement, HX said they were disappointed that they had not been able to resolve the issue to date and that they had been “in direct contact” with Ms Coleshaw for months.
They added they had offered a Future Cruise Credit to the value of the sailing, an amount they claimed “exceeded” their “standard cancellation policy”.
They said they had also offered to extend the rebooking period and remained “fully committed” to making that option available to Ms Coleshaw.
Express.co.uk has approached KLM and HX for comment.
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