Jet2 apologises after Ingleby Barwick toddler's medical supplies taken off flight
An airline has apologised to the mother of a two-year-old girl with life-threatening allergies after her medical supplies were removed from their flight.
Maiya, aged two, from Teesside, is allergic to all dairy and casein (baked milk) and can go into anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction, through contact, ingestion, or through the air.
Due to the seriousness of the condition, her family travels with an "essential" medical bag, which was in the cabin, as well as a medical suitcase, with supplies for the whole holiday, which was placed in the hold.
However, when the family were travelling to Tenerife for a week-long holiday, the hold suitcase was taken off the plane.
Mum Emily Runcieman, 31, from Ingleby Barwick, 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.
"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."
Maiya, whose condition has been known from birth, has suffered anaphylaxis four times in her life. Her brother, Leo, is also on special milk due to the severity of his sister's condition.
Once on the flight at Leeds-Bradford Airport, passengers were notified that there was an issue with baggage and reportedly received a text saying that the plane had to "distribute the load."
Ms Runcieman said: "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."
She added: "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."
Ms Runcieman 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.
She received 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.
The family - who were travelling with three other people, were told that if they wanted to wait for the bag to arrive, they would miss their transfer.
However, they did not want to risk 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," Ms Runcieman said.
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.
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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