EasyJet passenger says airline left gaping hole in his luggage

Peter Richardson was traveling from Manchester airport to Arrecife, Lanzarote, when he says EasyJet totally destroyed his suitcase. (istock)

An easyJet passenger was left fuming after the airline returned his checked luggage with a gaping hole in the middle.

Peter Richardson, from Warrington, claims the damage was worth $238 with his suitcase broken and clothes ruined.

Richardson was traveling from Manchester airport to Arrecife, Lanzarote [in Spain], when the airline totally destroyed his suitcase. Pictures show how his bag had a hole punched through it. The soles of a pair of shoes in the bag have been completely mangled and a pair of shorts totally destroyed.

The 51-year-old says that while the airline reimbursed the cost of his bag at $53, he was initially offered just $76, or a $93 easyJet voucher, to replace $185 worth of damaged clothing.

He has also accused the company of making it as "difficult as possible" to make a claim. A furious Richardson took to social media to complain to the airline.

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He posted the photos with the caption: "If you're ever asked to put your bag in the hold, don't bother. They did this to my bag and a month later all I've had back is the cost of a new bag and an offer of half the value of the damaged items. If I'd not followed it up vigorously I doubt anything would have happened as Sleazyjet are not interested in resolving this kind of issue. Policy is clearly to make it as difficult as possible to recover the cost of items I had to replace and leave me out of pocket. Would someone from easyJet like to discuss the matter?"

The airline has since performed a full U-turn after Richardson complained on social media about his treatment, and offered to fully reimburse his costs.

Speaking today, Richardson said: "We think it occurred at Arrecife as that's when the case was returned to us. They refunded the case which was $53. The shoes, flip flops and shorts cost $185 to replace and they offered me $76 or a $93 easyJet voucher. The offer was based on half the approximate value of the original goods. There has been a development today. They came back to me and offered a refund on the items I purchased, but I refused as I'd filed a claim with Aviation ADR. I stated that I also wanted the cost of the $81 flight refunded, due to the amount of time I've spent on this. This has now been agreed to."

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EasyJet has since apologized for the incident.

An easyJet spokeswoman said: "EasyJet has apologized to Mr. Richardson for the damage caused to his bag whilst in transit and at the time of the incident reimbursed him for the cost of his bag and offered compensation for the damage to his clothes.

“We understand how important it is that our customers are confident their luggage is well looked after and so we investigated this with our ground handling partners at Manchester and Arrecife airports."

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“EasyJet flies on average over 1500 flights per day across more than 30 countries and incidents of damaged luggage are extremely low. Our team has been in contact with Mr. Richardson to provide a further gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience caused."

This content originally appeared on The Sun.