French Alps, view leaving Geneva airport
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.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Travelers’ woes in Geneva continued Sunday 10 January, when Cointrin Airport closed for six hours, the longest closure in 25 years, thanks to snow. The airport is now open again, after 10cm of snow was removed.
Geneva airport, vacation week
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A very small number of Geneva airport’s Swissport baggage handlers remain on strike after lengthy negotiations with cantonal officials failed to bring about a settlement by 8 January. Airline passengers took little interest in the striket, faced with their own concerns about lost bags and missed flights: bags misplaced a week ago have still not all been found and UK weather forced scores of flights to be canceled.
GenevaLunch has been flooded with e-mails and comments on our articles about the chaos at the airport 2-3 January, which resulted in thousands of bags going missing for most of the week.
For those who have still not received their bags, or who were bumped from canceled flights to the UK, due to weather, this week, Swiss law provides the same compensation as European Union law. Details are available in German, French and Italian, the national languages, on a federal government site. Key points include:
A couple in a western suburb of Phoenix, Arizona were detained Tuesday, 3 November by police who found more than a thousand of items of luggage on their property. All the luggage was apparently taken from carrousels at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor international airport. None of the bags had identification tags on them. One of the arresting officers said in a court document: “The amount of luggage being stored inside of the residence was almost surreal”.
Police stopped Keith Wilson King at the airport three weeks ago with a piece of luggage that did not belong to him and became suspicious when they saw him again. They then followed him home and discovered pieces of luggage throughout his home.
Neighbors say that King and his wife, Stacy-Lynn Legg, had frequent garage sales. CNN, Sydney Morning Herald
