Brett Bunce had to spend $4,000 for a round-trip ticket to the US and Italy to find three suitcases lost by the airline on a previous trip.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, Brett Bunce decided to fly from Miami to Florence, Italy, to find three suitcases that British Airways had lost three weeks earlier. The bags contained several important family heirlooms that he wanted to retrieve.
In mid-June, Brett Bunce, his wife and daughter traveled to Italy for eight days, transiting in London, England. When they arrived in Florence, the family received notice that their checked baggage had been lost.
Brett with his wife and daughter on a trip to Italy this summer. Photo: CNN
During their stay in Italy, the Bunce family regularly logged into the lost-and-found system to check for information. Every time they checked, they only saw the message: luggage being searched.
While visiting Naples, Brett received an email from a stranger named Anne Johnson, from Colorado, USA. Anne said that while searching for her lost bags at the Florence airport, she saw his family's suitcase, so she sent an email to let them know.
Brett contacted the airline again and was told that the bag had not been found, but they had more leads. Brett was also concerned that Anne's letter might be a hoax. So when the holiday ended, they flew home instead of going to Florence to find the suitcase.
Three weeks later, with no news of the missing suitcases, the family began to consider declaring the contents of their luggage for compensation. However, they discovered that there were also heirlooms with sentimental value in them. So Brett decided to fly to Florence to find them.
Brett's family's lost suitcase was found by him. Photo: CNN
Brett flew during peak season, so the ticket price was high, $4,000 round trip. Also, flying to Florence was risky because they weren't sure if they would find the bag. But Brett decided to go anyway because "if we found it, it would be worth it."
After 36 hours of travel, including flights and trains, Brett arrived at Florence's airport at 3 p.m. His return flight was two days later. "The countdown to finding my bag began," Brett said.
He was then taken to the lost-and-found counter, where there was a line of about 20 other travelers. Brett waited another three hours for his turn. He was taken to the lost-and-found area at the back of the airport. After waiting another 45 minutes and going through a metal detector, he was allowed inside to search for his belongings. There was a sea of suitcases, piled everywhere, Brett said.
After searching each bag for the third time, the male tourist found his wife's and daughter's bags. These two suitcases contained souvenir jewelry that Brett's mother-in-law had given his daughter. These were the important things that made him fly to Italy to find them, and the mission was accomplished.
But Brett had flown nearly 9,000 kilometers to find his suitcase, so he wanted to find his bag too. So Brett continued his adventure.
At the end of the journey, he and four others who were also searching for their luggage were escorted by staff to the parking area. There was a large storage room filled with suitcases. But Brett could not find his belongings there either.
Lost luggage storage area at the airport in Florence. Photo: CNN
They took him to another hangar, which was the last area where lost luggage was stored. There were about 1,000 of them, and Brett finally found them. The most amazing thing, according to Brett, was that none of the family's suitcases were damaged or opened. Everything inside was intact. After 17 days, the American family finally found what was theirs.
Of the four other people who searched for Brett's belongings that day, three also found the suitcase. "I believe if I hadn't gone to the airport, we would never have seen our suitcase again. There are about 2,000 suitcases lost in this place," he said.
A British Airways representative confirmed that the Bretts’ bags were not on the flight. They flew to Florence the following day and were handed over to a courier for delivery to customers. However, because the Bretts had changed their delivery address, the suitcases were returned to the airport. They will be sorted and sent back to customers at their home addresses.
Florence airport denied the airline's claims. They said the three suitcases were not sent to the courier because "if they were, we would have known about it."
"We had a disappointing trip," Brett said of his experience with British Airways.
Brett's family is now waiting for their travel insurance to refund the personal items they bought during their vacation because their luggage was lost. However, they have not been refunded the $4,000 they spent on a plane ticket to Italy to find their belongings. Brett "vowed" he would never use the airline again, not because they lost their belongings, but because of the unprofessional way they handled it afterwards.
Anh Minh (According to CNN )
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