A reader called Avril had the opposite of a fairytale in New York in the run-up to last Christmas when she found herself on some of the city’s mean streets while she was supposed to be in the airport, and then in possession of the wrong hand luggage as she was about to board her plane home.
But her problems didn’t stay in JFK and she is still being given the runaround by FedEx, the delivery company that had the task of making everything right.
“Between 25th and 29th November 2025 I stayed in New York for Thanksgiving,” she writes. “On the day that I was leaving the hotel concierge handed me my suitcase together with my carry-on luggage but unknown to me until I reached the airport the carry-on luggage was not my bag.”
She says she had used the hotel’s limo service to bring her to JFK but this quickly turned into a disaster.
READ MORE
“We agreed a fare with the hotel in advance to include tips and tolls. I did not travel through any toll bridges but was taken through Brooklyn where we seemed to be making good progress until our driver got a flat tyre. He then pulled off the motorway and brought us to a repair shop. He left us in the car whilst he went into the repair shop for quite some time. At that stage it was pitch dark and we were in an unknown area. He came back and informed us that he could change the tyre himself but it would take very long or we could go to a tyre centre.”
They went to a tyre centre.
She says that when they got there they were met by “a very angry looking dog on a chain and there appeared to be a car ahead of us getting a wheel changed.
“The driver then demanded to be paid in advance and he asked what fee I had agreed with the hotel. I told him and rather than being thrown out of the car I decided to pay as he informed me ‘these guys (the tyre people) need to be paid and they need tips’. Rather than having a huge argument I handed over the agreed fee and decided to keep quiet and I would deal with him at the airport if he demanded a further payment,” she says.
The tyre was eventually fixed and eventually Avril got to the airport.
That was the end of her relationship with the driver and there no more issues on that score.
But her problems were only getting started.
“At check in I was asked would I like to check in my carry-on bag in addition to my luggage and I agreed. I then proceeded to security and passport control. When my travelling companion picked up his phone he discovered he had seven missed calls from the hotel so we phoned the hotel back and they informed us they had given us the incorrect carry-on bag.”
But it had been checked on, which was a bit of a headache.
Avril thought it would be “unwise to travel with a bag which was not mine as it could contain anything” so she went to security.
They were “extremely efficient and they brought me to the check-in area, gave them the bag details and they retrieved the bag which I then left for collection at the Aer Lingus desk having informed the hotel it was there. The hotel informed me they would then send my bag by FedEx.”
This is where her real story begins.
“The hotel contacted FedEx and Avril’s own bag was collected from the hotel on December 2nd and brought to Newark Airport. It was sent on to Memphis Airport and eventually sent on to Stansted Airport London where it arrived on December 4th.
More than a month later, her bag is still in Stanstead.
“The only contact I got from FedEx was could they have a copy of my passport and boarding pass which I duly sent on and I was given a delivery date of December 5th.
“Needless to say nothing arrived. I have contacted FedEx by email virtually every day since then to see when I might receive my bag. When I phone up or email FedEx I speak to a virtual agent who has preprogrammed answers and any questions I raise they cannot answer and I am told to contact customer support. I have tried that on a number of occasions and again it is a virtual agent who again has preprogrammed answers.”
[ Holiday problems for almost one in five Irish overseas travellers, research findsOpens in new window ]
Avril has a tracking number and when she inputs it into the FedEx system, it “appears to be still sitting at the FedEx hub at Stansted Airport one month later, which seems to be an extraordinary length of time for express delivery”.
We like a challenge on this page. There is little we can do about the scary dog in the tyre centre in Brooklyn or the man who demanded payment upfront so he could tip the tyre repair people before bringing her to JFK, but we figured we could at least help get her bag back.
We contacted FedEx and received the following statement: “We’re very sorry for the delay in reuniting [Avril] with her suitcase and for the frustration she experienced when initially trying to reach us. Our customer services team remains in direct contact with her while this investigation continues.”
