A senior travel industry executive who flew into Manchester from Casablanca says she was told that her bag couldn’t be offloaded from the plane because of a cockroach infestation.
Karen Gee, who has held many senior roles in the travel industry including at Kuoni, First Choice and Shearings, said all the passengers from Royal Air Maroc flight AT818 were told baggage handlers couldn’t touch their cases for health and safety reasons.
After waiting for two hours at the airport on Thursday, they were told to go home and the situation would be ‘sorted later’.
Today, Karen said she can see from the AirTag tracking device she placed in her bag that it was flown back to Casablanca, where it remains.
“I’m not in a rush to get it back as I’m very worried about contamination or eggs hatching out,” Karen told Travel Gossip.
However, she said she’s concerned about what to do next since the bag isn’t actually missing yet she hasn’t been told by the airline when to expect it back – or if it might contain cockroaches if returned.
Manchester Airport declined to comment, saying only that Royal Air Maroc flights are handled by Swissport, who would be responsible for offloading the bags.
Swissport has not yet provided Travel Gossip with an update. We are also waiting for a comment from the airline.
In January 2016, a video was posted online which appeared to show cockroaches crawling round a Royal Air Maroc flight from Casablanca to Montreal in Canada.
Royal Air Maroc relaunched direct flights between Manchester and Casablanca in June 2024, operating three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays with a Boeing 737-800.
The post Travel industry exec claims cockroach infestation meant bags were left on plane at Manchester appeared first on Travel Gossip.
Continue reading...
Karen Gee, who has held many senior roles in the travel industry including at Kuoni, First Choice and Shearings, said all the passengers from Royal Air Maroc flight AT818 were told baggage handlers couldn’t touch their cases for health and safety reasons.
After waiting for two hours at the airport on Thursday, they were told to go home and the situation would be ‘sorted later’.
Today, Karen said she can see from the AirTag tracking device she placed in her bag that it was flown back to Casablanca, where it remains.
“I’m not in a rush to get it back as I’m very worried about contamination or eggs hatching out,” Karen told Travel Gossip.
However, she said she’s concerned about what to do next since the bag isn’t actually missing yet she hasn’t been told by the airline when to expect it back – or if it might contain cockroaches if returned.
Manchester Airport declined to comment, saying only that Royal Air Maroc flights are handled by Swissport, who would be responsible for offloading the bags.
Swissport has not yet provided Travel Gossip with an update. We are also waiting for a comment from the airline.
In January 2016, a video was posted online which appeared to show cockroaches crawling round a Royal Air Maroc flight from Casablanca to Montreal in Canada.
Royal Air Maroc relaunched direct flights between Manchester and Casablanca in June 2024, operating three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays with a Boeing 737-800.
The post Travel industry exec claims cockroach infestation meant bags were left on plane at Manchester appeared first on Travel Gossip.
Continue reading...
