Fury after two-year-old Maiya’s medical suitcase taken off Jet2 flight following ‘technical issue’

A Teesside mum has hit out at Jet2 after her daughter’s important suitcase of medical supplies was unloaded from their plane.

Emily Runcieman was looking forward to a week-long holiday to Tenerife with her husband and two children when they arrived at Leeds Bradford Airport on April 28. Emily’s daughter Maiya, aged two, is allergic to all dairy and casein (baked milk) and the possibility of her getting anaphylaxis – a severe and potentially life-threatening allergic reaction – could be through contact, ingestion, or through the air.

Maiya travelled with an essential medical bag, which stayed with her in the cabin, as well as a medical suitcase in the hold containing supplies for the whole trip. However, they were left furious after a “technical issue” saw her medical bag, along with other passenger baggage, unloaded from the hold and onto another flight.

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Jet2 has since offered its “sincere apologies,” confirming her baggage was placed on another flight that was departing to Tenerife “imminently.” The airline has also refunded the cost of the taxi and provided her with a gesture of goodwill.

Maiya has suffered anaphylaxis four times in her short life, with her condition being known about since birth. The couple’s son, Leo, who was born on Christmas Day last year, is also on special milk due to the severity of his sister’s condition.

Speaking of the flight, Emily, 31, said: “Every time we have flown we have made it aware that she has anaphylaxis to any milk or dairy products, which is obviously quite hard to manage because it is in everything.

“They gave us priority boarding and she had her own suitcase and then a medical suitcase for medical supplies. Obviously, we carry initial medical supplies with us wherever we go but we obviously need extras in case she needs her epi-pens and they are used or she needs steroids, cream, or anti-inflammatories or other different things.”

The family, from Ingleby Barwick, said once on the flight, passengers were notified that there was an issue and reportedly received a text saying that the plane had to “distribute the load.” Emily continued: “I made the cabin crew aware because my husband watched them unloading the baggage from his seat and he could see they were taking my daughter’s medical case off.

“The [cabin crew] said that they spoke to the ground staff, they were really helpful, said they would get it back on board, and confirmed that it was back on board. But my husband said that nothing was back on because he was watching.”

‘It’s not just a case of – oh I want my River Island bikini.’

Emily said she would not be leaving the country until she knew her bag was on board – and contacted the cabin crew asking them for confirmation from the captain.

“It is not just a case of people wanting their clothes for the holiday, it’s life or death. If she has anaphylaxis over there then we have nothing that we can use,” she argued.

Emily said the family got confirmation after the cabin crew went to the captain and returned, confirming the bag was on board. However, when they touched down in Tenerife, the bag was nowhere to be found on the luggage carousel.

She said: “If we were delayed [or] if they were loading our luggage on our different flight, what is to say that flight is going to make it? They could have had a mid-air thing where they needed to land, it could have got onto the wrong plane.”

Emily claims Jet2 ground staff told her that she “should not be putting medical stuff in the hold bag” – but she told them she was told to do this.

In an email seen by Teesside Live, Jet2 granted Emily the additional baggage, which was to be “checked into the hold free of charge on the above flights for the carriage of medical supplies.”

Jet2 confirmed the additional baggage being checked into the hold was agreed with Emily. To make matters worse, Emily said the family – who were also travelling with three others – were told that if they wanted to wait for the bag to arrive, they would miss their transfer.

They didn’t want to take the risk of the bag going missing – so waited an hour and a half for it to arrive. “It’s not just a case of oh I want my River Island bikini. It’s my daughter’s well-being,” she said.

Jet2 offer ‘sincere apologies’ and refund taxi fee

A Jet2 spokesperson said: “We allow customers travelling with medical supplies to carry an additional 22kg of baggage to be checked into the hold, and this is what was agreed with Ms Runcieman.

“As the flight experienced a minor technical issue shortly before departure, some baggage had to be offloaded, however, we put this onto another flight which we knew was also departing to Tenerife imminently.

“Unfortunately, this included Ms Runcieman’s baggage, and we have been in touch with Ms Runcieman to offer our sincere apologies and refund her the cost of the taxi. We have also provided her with a gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience caused.”

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