Suitcase's bogus Afghanistan trip

Staff wrongly believed the FAH code meant the case had been sent to Farah

A family whose suitcase was lost as they flew to Paris were wrongly told it it had been sent to Afghanistan.

Air France told David and Marie Bennett that their bag had gone missing after their flight from Southampton Airport.

On returning to Southampton after their Parisian break, the couple were wrongly informed by airport staff that the case had spent Christmas in Afghanistan.

The confusion arose because "FAH" - the code for a city in Afghanistan called Farah - was attached to the suitcase.

It is thought staff believed FAH stood for the Afghan city, when the letters actually indicated that a missing baggage report had been filed.

A statement from Southampton Airport said: "The bag left Southampton Airport on Christmas Eve on an Air France flight and arrived in Paris as planned.

"The owner reported his bag missing in Paris.

"We do not know why the bag was not reunited with its owner at that time.

"It seems that some confusion arose resulting in the passenger believing that the bag had spent several days in Afghanistan."

'It's vanished'

The label attached to Mr Bennett's suitcase showed FAH to SOUAF.

The airport said it had started an investigation.

The Bennetts, from Brockenhurst in Hampshire, had taken two suitcases - one for themselves and one for their children, Francoise, 13, and 10-year-old Remi.

The Bennett family still enjoyed their Paris trip and visited Disneyland

But the children's bag, which contained all their clothes and their Christmas presents, never arrived on the carousel.

Mr Bennett said: "We went to see Air France and normally they can trace these things, and they said: 'It's vanished'.

"It's almost like a pantomime, it's gone out of the system.

"That was all we knew throughout Christmas. We had to quickly run out a buy clothes at four o'clock on Christmas Eve in sub-zero temperatures."

He said the bag was waiting for them when they arrived back at Southampton and he asked a woman on the desk where it had been.

Mr Bennett said: "On the label there was an airport code, which shows what its destination was, and she said: 'Well, it's nowhere Southampton serves'.

"But she made a phone call, looked it up and said: 'You're not going to believe this. Your suitcase has been to Afghanistan this Christmas and found its way back to you here after seven days.'"