To Customer Service Department Virgin Australia. I am writing on behalf of my partner Annette Shone who along with five other family members traveled on the following flights from Canberra, Australia to Queenstown, New Zealand on 04 October 2018: VA633 - CBR to SYD VA163 SYD to ZQN All family members travelled to attend our daughter's wedding. Annette, being the mother of the bride. The reason I am writing this is because at 12:30am on 06 October (NZ time) I received a phone call from Annette who was almost in hysterics. To back track a bit, Annette and other family members arrived in Queenstown at 5:10pm, 04 October minus their checked-in luggage. Immediately after exiting Queenstown airport, all party members had to go and purchase toiletries, underwear and other essential items as these were all contained within the checked-in luggage and there was no indication from Virgin staff at Queenstown airport as to when all luggage would arrive. Just before 12:30am on 06 October, all luggage arrived by courier. Some of the suitcases are made of a soft material and those suitcases were all soaking wet. I am not speaking on behalf of other members of the party, however I have been advised they are all in the same situation that my partner is in. Upon Annette opening the suitcase it was apparent that water (perhaps rain) had seeped through the suitcase. Every item of clothing in that suitcase which included a brand new wedding outfit/shoes/clutch bag etc. has been soaked and damaged. Not only that, the smell of wet clothes that have probably been wet and contained within the case for up to 30 hours is unbelievable. To say Annette is inconsolable is to put it mildly. She is ropeable. A brand new wedding outfit and wedding attire along with everything else in the case is ruined. This incident has already added to the stress she is under with trying to assist with our daughter's wedding, which is today 06 October. It is not possible for her to purchase new wedding attire in the time-frame prior to the wedding. The best she can hope for is that the wedding dress is able to be dry-cleaned first thing in the morning. However, her new shoes and other wedding accessories are ruined. I will be seeking compensation from Virgin and whether we have travel insurance or not, is not relevant. My partner's suitcase and all the contents was dry when she checked it in at Canberra airport and it is expected to be in the same condition when she receives the luggage upon arriving in Queenstown. Not only did the luggage arrive more than 31 hours after she arrived in Queenstown, there was no statement of apology from Virgin or airport baggage staff accompanying the luggage. I find this difficult to comprehend as it would have been impossible for anyone to not see that the suitcase and more than likely the contents of the suitcase was saturated. We will be completing an itemised inventory of every damaged/destroyed item and furthermore, we are not willing to pay an insurance excess when the damage caused to our belongings was through no fault of Annette's, but the fault of airport baggage staff/Virgin for not keeping them dry. I work at airports and I know that the procedure with loading and unloading luggage when it's raining, is that it does not happen until the rain has ceased. We are a long term loyal customer of Virgin Airlines. However, this incident has left a sour taste in our mouths especially given the importance of what was in the suitcase. Frankly I am puzzled that a company of your standing could allow this to happen, without so much as an acknowledgement or apology that the suitcase was potentially damaged due to being subject to rain. This has placed an undue stress on Annette and if compensation is not forthcoming once the compensation form is submitted we will have no choice but to take legal action. I have attached images of the water damaged clothing. However, it is not possible to see from these images how wet and bad the clothing is, not too mention how bad they smell. Regards Mark Short on behalf of Annette Shone.