We arrived home on 26th august and out of four bags, one had its leg missing, one a lock and zip broken and the third had been slashed open. Fortunately I never put anything other than clothes, shoes etc in the hold. I always carry my Jewellery, camera, money etc on my person. So the only thing the baggage handlers had was a smell of dirty socks! Now the airline has given me three new bags, delivered within a week.

Went to Burgas airport from Manchester 8th September with First Choice arriving at Burgas at 00.30 Tuesday morning read about the tampering with suitcases so had some sturdy luminous green padlocks on our new suitcases, first suitcase come through ok then there was a big gap with no suitcases it took about 20 minutes for the 2nd case to come through along with the others, noticed straight away the padlock wasn't on upon close inspection you could see that the padlock had been forced off ripping the zip clasps off my wife had gone outside to have a cig with the first case, of course the case I was waiting for was hers I went straight to a lady in a room (lost property / security) and showed the lady the evidence I hadn't still opened the case at this stage but opened it in front of her, on top was one my wifes bags she takes away which was spreadeagled and every zip / compartment open but nothing there also her cosmetic bag was also wide open with everything still in, I explaind to the lady that my wife was outside waiting for me so wasn't sure if there was any money jewellery in the case, I genuinely didn't know, the woman was very abrupt as she said money / jewellery is not covered and couldn't be claimed as stolen it should not be packed, as luck as it after getting my wife back inside after pleading with security there was nothing in the purse but she also was very upset at the knowledge that all her garments had been rummaged through, when she checked she found the green padlock buried inside the case with the eyelets off the zip still intact it must have taken some force to have done this. We had to have some forms filled in by the Bulgarian lady for our insurance if anything had been stolen, later found out she'd had some very expensive hair straightners taken but nothing else. The suitcase is ruined. I explained to the Bulgarian lady that I was on this forum and this is constantly happening at Burgas airport, her reply was it happens frequently with First Choice airways and arrives like this from Manchester. With all this mither with security etc surley there should be cctv in both airport baggage areas, like someone has already mentioned what if someone had put drugs in and I opened it not knowing, I would be locked up now with people saying we've heard that before! Makes you think doesn't it. On returning we purchased a large strap to cover what was left of the zip catch and it got back ok, another man had his case done exactly the same has ours we found out on exiting the plane. I will be getting in touch with First Choice regarding this matter but I expect nothing will be done, just telling everyone how it is and don't put anything valuable in your case and don't bother with a padlock. What also made things worse was that we had a private transfer waiting for us with 5 other passsengers waiting wondering why we were being so long, I tried to speak to a First Choice rep but she was only interested in getting money out of other passengers for a bus transfer, I waited patiently for her to sort people out but in the end I had to interupt her because of missing our transfer when she said I was being very rude by breaking her conversation I explained my situation to the guys speaking to her and they fully understood but she was not interested and did not want to know. I was furious to say the least it was not the way to start a holiday at all. I've had to write this to get it off my chest we holiday 3 or 4 times a year and never had a problem before so hopefully it won't happen again we went on to have a great week at a great hotel in Sunny Beach but this was nagging at me all week and more so my wife not knowing who'd done this and who had got her expensive straightners. Please be warned.

This is a common complaint in bourgas it has been happening for years and nobody seems to care or take responsability.I totally agree with you somebody could put something in you case and you would be held responsible, and not only that you would serve the punishment. This has got to be stopped.

Been going to Bulgaria for 10 years and no problems until this year. We flew from Manchester on 5th September with Thomsons and had the same problem. They were not interested in Bourgas airport but did manage to get two different report forms. I have written to Thomsons and my insurance company and will update you on any result.

Hi H, Hope you got sorted with case problem.

We flew into Bourgas on the 1st Sep from Birmingham and were off the plane and out of the airport in 25 mins without any problems.
Came back on the 15th and once again we personally had no problems, however, at Birmingham noticed that one of the cases was in a shoddy state so could have been tampered with. ( took about 30 mins for 1st case to appear so it was impossible to say where it had happened )

Toonman

Hi G
Let you know the outcome! dont intend to let things lay! Got photos on e.mail today from garner TA.....OMG!!! dont remember....senior moment or what?xx

Hi H, Don't forget you'd had a long day. And despite the long delays you appeared on time like a trooper. Garner certainly enjoyed himself.

Toonman