Case study Travellers face race against time to find luggage

Roopa Ramaiya, 39, travelled from London Heathrow to Lisbon on Sunday, but her bag never arrived. She flew to Portugal on the 8am TAP Air service to start a new job.

“Hardly any bags made it through and I waited at the airport for hours in Lisbon to see if it would arrive on the following flight,” she said.

“But they never came. It was really not the start I wanted, but thankfully my new employer has been very understanding.”

Ms Ramaiya has since spent over £500 on new work clothing and essentials. She has no idea when she will be reunited with her luggage.

She says that she has filed a report, along with other passengers who were on the same flight, and a tracking system says her bag is “still being traced”.

But she said others had even worse stories.

“There was a couple I met at the airport getting married, who had none of their bags turn up,” she said.

“To be honest, I’ve lost hope of ever seeing that bag again.

“It’s just material stuff but there are also some sentimental items. I’m just sad to start a new job like this. I planned to see some sights and clear my mind in Lisbon, but instead I spent five hours at the airport and then a frantic few hours shopping for everything.

“My new colleagues have been really lovely – but I’ve warned them I might look a bit dishevelled for a few days.”

At Heathrow, other passengers also told of chaos inside the airport.

Ragya, 26, from London, said: “There were bags stacked up on a load of trollies, and a lot of bags on their own just lying around.”

She flew in from Dublin on Sunday and was due to fly to Saudi Arabia at 5.30pm on Monday. But her bag went missing on arrival, so she now has only a matter of hours to find her bag.

“The airport has been more helpful than the airline itself,” she said. “It’s been quite difficult to reach them.”