'Ryanair left my life-saving luggage back in UK – I thought I'd die'

'Ryanair left my life-saving luggage back in UK – I thought I'd die' Ryanair had to fly out a passenger's critical piece of medical equipment after it was left behind in the UK late last month after they flew out from London Stansted A woman was left in tears after discovering Ryanair left her dialysis machine in the UK after landing on holiday – fearing without it she would die. Samantha Mitchell, 39, flew from London Stansted to Reggio Calabria in southern Italy for a two-week holiday on July 26. However, upon her arrival in the country, she realised her 43kg dialysis machine was missing. Samantha, an SEN teacher, requires dialysis five times a week because she has kidney failure. This means, without the machine, she could have been in serious trouble. She even started phoning local hospitals to see if they had a machine as she was due to have dialysis at 5pm that evening. Samantha was in tears as Ryanair staff contacted Stansted airport, fearing she could have a heart attack without the treatment, and was later told it would be sent the following day. The airline flew the machine out and sent it via taxi to her accommodation by the end of the following day, but by this point Samantha claims she was unwell and 'swelling up' from toxins. Ryanair said the machine wasn't loaded due to "an error made by the check-in agent" but as soon as they were alerted "rushed" it onto the next available flight. She explained: “I've travelled with it [the machine] many times. I don't think they realised how serious it was that they had done this, it was full on panic and anxiety [mode]. I had to stop drinking and eating because I didn't want any more toxins in my body. I had started to swell up because I didn't pass urine and felt a bit sickly.” Samantha, from Stoke-on-Trent, explained she risked a heart attack without the machine, she said: "Without it I would be very swollen and it would have become hard to breathe. I would start being sick and the worst thing would be a heart attack as the toxins in my blood would be too much. "I was literally fearing for my life. I was crying because I was panicking, my machine was all the way in London." Recounting her check-in experience she said she was told her 43kg machine would be too heavy to go in the cabin, but that when she asked it to go in the hold, they said it would be okay. She recalled: “I went to check-in my machine, [the agent] rang supervisors to make sure everything was okay and the documentation was okay. He said it was all fine and they'd take it through. "As soon as I got through security, they were asking for me to go back and speak to a supervisor about how heavy my machine was. It was 43kg, the supervisor said it was too heavy to go in the cabin with me but I wanted it in the hold. She said [that] was fine and it would go in the plane.” However, when she got to Italy, she received a phone call from her father who’d received an email saying the machine hadn’t gone in the plane because of its weight, at which point she and her family called Ryanair’s baggage team. Once Ryanair had been notified of the error they said they immediately sent the device onto the next flight out to the region and then delivered it by taxi to Samantha. They said the device had not been loaded due to an “error” by the check-in agent. Following the experience Samantha said it had been “traumatic”, that she was worried for the flight back, and admitted it had put her off travelling. She said: "It's been a very traumatic experience, a horrible start to the holiday. I am scared of the way back, it makes me not want to travel again in my life." Samantha’s worry was echoed by her mother Elaine who said they rang the baggage team only to be told the device was too heavy. She recounted: “This is not a case of clothes gone missing, this is a life-saving machine. It was traumatic for all of us. We immediately rang the baggage team [...]and they told us it's a matter of health and safety. “We were saying 'she's got a waiver, it's not a health and safety issue, it's a life and death issue.' If Sam doesn't have dialysis, she will be ill or worse. All [they] kept saying was that it was too heavy." A Ryanair spokesman said: "Due to an error made by the check-in agent at Stansted Airport, this passenger’s medical device was not loaded on this flight from Stansted to Reggio Calabria (26 Jul). "As soon this check-in agent’s error was realised, Ryanair rushed the device onto the next available flight to Reggio Calabria via Lamezia and arranged for a taxi to swiftly deliver the device directly to the passenger, which she received the following day (27 Jul)."