3:08pm Thursday 1st May 2008
By Helen Crane
The curse of Heathrow's Terminal 5 struck young skiers from Kingswood House School in a never-to-be-forgotten holiday.
A party of 49 pupils and staff from the Epsom preparatory school set off for the airport full of energy and enthusiasm ready for their flight to the ski resort of Engelberg in Switzerland.
But they hadn't taken into account the ill-fated £3billion T5.
They got up early ready for a 7am flight only to find it had been delayed by 10 hours.
When they finally took off they discovered the flight had been diverted to another airport, adding another hour to the coach journey to their destination.
But the best was yet to come.
The party landed safely, but some of their luggage, caught up in the maelstrom that is T5, failed to arrive. A total of 19 bags went missing.
Kingswood House head of marketing Suzanne Warner said: "They pooled together all clothes and resources that had arrived and they also bought clothing and equipment out there. Everyone managed just about."
Some of the bags eventually turned up but even now, after pupils are back at school for the summer term after the Easter holiday skiing trip, two bags are still awol.
"In spite of it all, everyone had a good time," Mrs Warner added. "We are not yet sure if we are going to get compensation - our main concern was getting people there safely and getting people back again.
"We are still missing two bags. They have gradually been arriving but there are still two unaccounted for.
"Everyone had a great time once the bag situation had been sorted. The snow took over and everyone enjoyed it."
The pupils spent the days on the slopes and took part in ice skating, other sports and a quiz night during their stay.
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