Icelandair passengers still missing luggage two weeks after Barcelona flight

Two Icelandair passengers have still not located their luggage nearly two weeks after flying from Keflavík to Barcelona, mbl.is reports. The bags were not delivered after the couple landed on August 6, reportedly because baggage handlers at Barcelona airport had gone on strike.

Doctor Ásgeir Theódórsson told mbl.is that he and his wife, Björg Kristjánsdóttir, waited for one and a half hours at the baggage carousel before learning from a Spanish-speaking couple that a strike was under way. The strike had reportedly been announced on August 4 and began on the day of their flight.

Ásgeir said Icelandair did not warn them about the impending strike before their departure. A few hours after landing, the airline sent an email saying passengers could face delays because of the strike, but it did not mention delays in baggage delivery.

The couple spent eight nights in Catalonia, four in Sitges and four in Barcelona, without their luggage. They eventually left the airport after being given a web address for reporting delayed baggage. Ásgeir said the link did not work, so hotel staff tried to help them contact Icelandair.

They did not reach the airline until the following Monday, two days later. Ásgeir said he was told that Icelandair would send him information by email, but no message arrived.

His daughter in Iceland later contacted the airline and obtained a baggage reference number, which Icelandair said it would send to Barcelona. On the sixth day of the trip, the couple received a notification that their bags were being searched for, but they have heard nothing since.

The luggage contained toiletries, medication, clothes and other belongings. The couple returned to Iceland on August 14 after travelling for the occasion of the wife’s 80th birthday.

“I have no idea where the luggage is,” Ásgeir said, adding that Icelandair had not contacted them by email or telephone. He said all the requested information had been submitted.