Bristol Airport has explained why passengers have faced disruption and delays over the weekend. People travelling through the airport have complained of waiting up to three hours to retrieve their luggage both today (June 6) and yesterday, while this is not the first time in recent weeks that the issue has been complained about.
And passengers have also been faced with long security and check-in queues at airports which have previously been blamed on staff shortages and post-pandemic demand. But a spokesperson for Bristol Airport has explained that the problem over the weekend was continent-wide and was due to airline slot delays.
In a statement to Bristol Live, the airport spokesperson said: "We apologise to customers impacted by above average baggage delays experienced on overnight. Bristol Airport like all airports across Europe were impacted by airline slot delays over the weekend due to Euro Control slot restrictions being in place meaning aircraft were arriving off schedule and customers were experiencing delays.
Read more: Bristol Airport LIVE: Baggage reclaim 'nightmare' as passengers report three-hour luggage waits
"We work closely with all business partners and airline handling agents to ensure staffing levels are sufficient to provide a good service to passengers. However, aircraft arriving off-schedule and staff shortages can impact on waiting times and service standards.
"We constantly review resourcing across all areas and adapt plans to meet demand and build in resilience where possible. We appreciate the frustration experienced by customers currently and please be reassured our teams are working exceptionally hard to assist customers throughout the airport journey.”
Passengers have taken to social media to complain of long baggage reclaim delays in the last 24 hours.
Twitter user Simon Williams wrote at 3.31am (June 6): "@BristolAirport never fail to disappoint at baggage reclaim. S*** in February hundred times worse in June………not getting any better god help what the summer holidays bring…….#pathetic"
And a user named Debbie wrote at 10.58pm last night: "If you are going on holiday in the next few weeks from @BristolAirport with @TUIUK then I beg you to change it. Had a nightmare trip home with two little ones.
"Don’t fly from that airport ! They haven’t got it together at all! Three hour wait for our bags".
Meanwhile, Bristol Airport's website shows three flights which were due to depart today have been cancelled, while the website Flightradar24 shows 14 flights were cancelled from the airport yesterday.
However, some passengers have not had such a bad experience. Bristol Live's engagement producer Saskia Bahadur says that queues to get through security lasted around 20 minutes this morning. And on Twitter, Rob McCullough praised his airport experience. "@BristolAirport running smoothly this morning, everyone working flat out to speed it all along," he wrote.
