Jasmijn and her husband Jeoffrey from Bunschoten-Spakenburg had just had a wonderful holiday on the Greek island of Rhodes. After all the reports about the chaos surrounding suitcases at Schiphol, they held their breath. But luck was on their side: after half an hour of waiting, their luggage appeared on the belt.
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While waiting, in the night from Wednesday to Thursday, they saw a mountain of ‘orphaned suitcases’. “It was really a lot of suitcases, in addition to the baggage belts,” Jasmijn told RTL Nieuws. “There were also bicycles and surfboards. Everything really, just like a flea market.”
“I had read a message online that it helps if you know exactly where your lost suitcase is,” Jasmijn continues. She was able to get to the mountain of luggage without any problems.
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“So we looked for contact details on the labels. Most of the suitcases had no address details, but there were also many suitcases with a telephone number on it.” Even though it was the middle of the night, Jasmine texted the phone numbers.
One of the telephone numbers – and suitcases – belonged to Linda Kamstra (29) from Groningen. She saw the message in the morning. “I immediately got goosebumps, and immediately jumped out of bed. That was my suitcase in the photo,” she says happily. “I absolutely loved Jasmijn’s initiative.”
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Linda lost her suitcase after a holiday of more than two weeks in Albania, together with her fiancé. “It went well on the way there. But when we returned to Schiphol on Monday afternoon, we quickly realized that our suitcases were not there.”
The Groningen couple went straight to the counter of the airline. There they had to wait an hour and a half, after which they were told that they had to fill in an online form. After that there was nothing left to do: go home without their belongings.
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“Unfortunately, there were quite a few important and valuable items in the suitcases, such as a camera, jewelry and medication.” That wasn’t the only bad thing about the missing luggage: “All my clothes were in the suitcase, so I had no underwear at all.”
Hours drive back to Schiphol
After Jasmijn’s message, Linda immediately left for Schiphol by car, a 2.5-hour drive from Groningen. En route, she called the airport to ask if she could go into the baggage claim area to pick up her property.
“Actually that was not the intention, they said, but exceptionally I was allowed to take a look because I had received the photo from Jasmijn.” After a while, she did indeed find her light pink suitcase. “But unfortunately my fiancé’s suitcase – with the camera and the jewelry – was not included.”
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Since Linda was so happy with the news about her suitcase, she decided to do the same. “I checked about 60 suitcases and found two with telephone numbers. I approached those people.”
Jasmijn’s action can count on a lot of approval. Hair Facebook post it has been viewed and shared thousands of times. “I’m hoping for a snowball effect,” she says. “So we can help each other find lost suitcases.”
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Schiphol: ‘Looking up telephone numbers is not the intention’
Schiphol confirms to RTL Nieuws that some people are allowed in the baggage hall to pick up their suitcase. Nevertheless, a spokesperson for the airport emphasizes that Jasmijn’s action is actually not desirable. “It is not the intention that someone will just use someone else’s private data,” a spokesperson said. “People have to take each other’s privacy into account.”
When asked how it is possible that someone can get to the luggage left behind unhindered, the spokesperson answers: “The suitcases are in principle behind customs in a secured area. We are busy every day to remove suitcases from there and transfer them to a hangar. We also have no reports of more thefts.”
According to the airport, the biggest problems with left behind suitcases have now been solved. “More than 10,000 suitcases have been left at Schiphol in recent months due to, among other things, a staff shortage at baggage handling and the airlines. The majority of these have now been returned to the owner.”
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