How to avoid baggage disruption

Iwas astounded to hear Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar telling the hub’s advisory group he had “very low confidence levels” the baggage problems which have plagued the airport over the past two summers would be fixed this year.

While I learned plenty about the airport and its future plans at the consultative committee meeting, the last thing I was expecting was such a gloomy assessment of what’s become a notorious problem that’s associated with the airport, albeit not of its own making.

I found it particularly surprising because Mr Dewar had said in August last year the past disruption, which led to mislaid luggage piling up in terminal corridors, “should have been avoidable" – so that there was no repeat of the 2022 trouble that came as part of post-covid staff shortages across the aviation industry.

However, since the airport had expressed confidence a year ago it would not happen again, it was perhaps wise not to again raise expectations that everything would be fine, especially with record passenger numbers predicted this summer.

Edinburgh Airport is in a difficult position. Its reputation has been tarnished by the baggage problems – officials dispute descriptions such as “chaos” and “fiasco”, but the thousands of unfortunate passengers can judge.

However, it’s largely in the hands of the airlines and their baggage handling agents, both at the airport and elsewhere, since Mr Dewar said the problem lay with delays in baggage getting through hub airports such as Heathrow and Amsterdam onto connecting flights to Edinburgh.

The airport has weighed in to limit the anguish to arriving passengers – a dedicated team reunites them with late bags and bills the airlines. But what can passengers do to avoid being caught up in the nightmare, perhaps for a third summer?

The best bet would appear to be to fly direct into Edinburgh and avoid risking your luggage being caught up between connecting flights elsewhere. There’s also the option of switching to another airport, but that might involve longer onward travel by road or rail. The least that affected passengers can hope for is Edinburgh’s new strategy works and they are speedily reunited with their bags – and no repeat of those luggage trollies lining the terminal.