AIRPORT WATCH

Anne Comerford from Co Kildare e-mailed about her flight to Havana via Paris after reading John Moran's account last week of …

Anne Comerford from Co Kildare e-mailed about her flight to Havana via Paris after reading John Moran's account last week of his vexed journey.

"The pilot of our flight to Paris announced that, due to fog at Charles de Gaulle, flights were delayed. We told the attendant we had to catch a connecting flight to Havana. She assured us personnel would be waiting to get us on our flight.

"They were there, but the queues were long, and we stood for three hours while chaos reigned behind the desk. We missed our flight. We were given hotel accommodation for the night and a meal voucher.

"We were redirected to Heathrow the next day to catch a flight to Havana. But the airline made a mistake, because the flight was from Gatwick, and we were too late for it.

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"We were then given flights to Havana via Toronto. We were assured our luggage was in Heathrow and would go straight to Havana. But, in Toronto, airport staff told us to collect our luggage and check it in to Havana. The luggage did not arrive. We were told to fill in a missing-luggage form.

"We arrived in Havana but, sadly, our luggage did not. We arrived at our hotel 40 hours after we left Dublin, in the early hours of Sunday, still wearing the clothes we left Dublin in on Friday. It was impossible to buy clothes in Havana. The shops were almost bare. We were on a tour of Cuba for two weeks and spent much time and money trying to trace our bags.

"Neither of the two airlines, nor the airport, would accept responsibility, though family in the UK and Ireland were on the case. One piece of luggage was returned to us the day before we left Cuba. The other arrived at home in Ireland three weeks after it was originally checked in.

"Despite form-filling and e-mails to the airline, we have received no compensation seven months after our ruined and disastrous holiday."