Heathrow woe as families forced to leave bags behind
FURIOUS holidaymakers branded Heathrow a ‘shambles’ after an IT meltdown forced thousands to fly without their baggage.
Travellers were greeted with chaos as baggage systems at check-in desks failed early yesterday morning.
The problem hit British Airways, Iberia and American Airlines flights in Terminals 3 and 5.
Huge queues formed at check-in desks and travellers were told to pack essential items in their hand luggage before leaving their bags in cordoned-off areas to be sorted manually by airport staff.
Holidaymakers were told to ask their airline when they would be reunited with their luggage.
Heathrow alerted passengers to the problem with a post on Twit-
‘Another day, another fiasco’
ter at 6.45am. Bag drop desks reopened shortly after 9am.
Travellers vented their fury on social media. Alongside pictures of piles of luggage, Tariq Panja tweeted: ‘Another day another Heathrow baggage fiasco.’
Ryan Wooldridge said: ‘Bags won’t be making it on to flights – absolute shambles.’
A similar problem occurred at Gatwick last month, and the debacle comes weeks after BA’s IT systems crashed over the Bank Holiday weekend, grounding 726 flights and leaving more than 75,000 passengers stranded.
Yesterday BA’s parent company IAG told a shareholders meeting the shutdown could cost it £80mil- lion as it faces compensation claims for flight costs, train and hotel expenses, replacement clothes and toiletries.
Heathrow said last night it was still investigating the cause of the IT problem that paralysed the baggage system. The airport apologised to passengers but refused to say how many people boarded a flight without their luggage.
Many holidaymakers did not know their luggage had been left behind. Style director Mark Burley, from New York, was on a BA flight from London to Palermo when the captain ‘casually dropped in that there was no checked baggage on the flight’.
He added: ‘We were all fuming to say the least.’
BA said: ‘The vast majority of bags are now on their way back to their owners.’