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Bag's mysterious Afghanistan trip Suitcase's bogus Afghanistan trip
(1 day later)
A Hampshire family of four spending Christmas in Paris were left without clothes and presents when their suitcase was sent to Afghanistan. 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, from Brockenhurst, that their bag had vanished following the flight from Southampton to the French capital. Air France told David and Marie Bennett that their bag had gone missing after their flight from Southampton Airport.
The suitcase was later found in the city of Farah and it was returned to Southampton airport within a week. On returning to Southampton after their Parisian break, the couple were wrongly informed by airport staff that the case had spent Christmas in Afghanistan.
Mr Bennett said it is a mystery how the bag ended up in Afghanistan. The confusion arose because "FAH" - the code for a city in Afghanistan called Farah - was attached to the suitcase.
There are no flights there from either Southampton or Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport. It is thought staff believed FAH stood for the Afghan city, when the letters actually indicated that a missing baggage report had been filed.
The Bennetts had brought two suitcases - one for themselves and one for their children, Françoise, 13, and 10-year-old Remi. 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.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'.The Bennett family still enjoyed their Paris trip and visited Disneyland 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."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. "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.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'. 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. "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.'"
"It's quite amazing, that it got all of that way and that someone in Afghanistan had the honesty to look at the suitcase, realise that someone was missing it and sending it back.
"There were things in there that children in Afghanistan can only dream of."