Heathrow Airport has apologised to passengers who were separated from their luggage and left stranded on planes for hours due to a technical fault.
Holidaymakers travelling with British Airways (BA) were forced to travel without their bags and faced huge delays waiting for their possessions.
Video from Terminal 5 taken on Tuesday night showed massive queues of travellers forming as BA passengers struggle to find their luggage.
British Airways was reported to texted passengers: “We’re sorry to inform you that, due to a technical issue with our baggage allocation system at Heathrow, we can’t guarantee that your bags will have travelled with you on your flight today.”
A Heathrow spokesperson said BA had experienced a technical issue with their allocation system and the issue has now been resolved, although issues may still continue into Wednesday at the UK’s busiest airport.
Passengers described how “all hell broke loose” at the airport as their luggage went missing, with one traveller claiming they were told to “go home” by BA.
Freddy Rogers told the Standard his flight from Heathrow to Nice was delayed by around three-and-a-half hours, with passengers forced to wait on the plane.
He said: “We ended up boarding the plane at around 8pm. Locked inside unable to leave until 11pm when passengers were given the option to leave the plane or stay on... We finally took off at 11.48pm.
“Every single passenger on my flight that checked in a bag has lost their luggage. You can imagine the mayhem as the majority of the plane, once we landed at Nice, wanted answers as to the whereabouts of their belongings.
“All we are able to do is report it missing but still no update from BA.”
Stephen Rooney told the Standard a “short hop” home to Newcastle to celebrate his mother’s 70th birthday had become a “nightmare”.
Utter chaos at @HeathrowAirport @British_Airways terminal 5 arrivals pic.twitter.com/klidATa3Pw
— Emily Wilson (@ecewr) June 25, 2024
The 37-year-old explained his flight was delayed by over three hours before the plane finally took off without carrying any passenger’s baggage.
A second traveller told the Standard they faced a three-hour wait for their luggage once they had landed at Heathrow.
Jennifer Macey, 73, said a member of staff at the airport explained that BA’s IT system “had been down all day” and passengers were warned they faced long waits for their luggage.
She said: “A woman came round with sheets of paper. There was a problem and you could wait three hours on average or you could go without your luggage and use the PIN on the sheet to claim for lost luggage and have it delivered.
“In the end we decided to go because it was after 6pm and we had been travelling since 8am and a taxi driver was waiting.”
Indian actress Aditi Rao Hydari was also held up by the disruption at Heathrow. The Bollywood star complained on Instagram that she had been stuck at an empty conveyor belt at the airport for hours after her luggage went missing.
Another angry traveller wrote on social media: “Shambles at Heathrow Airport, no bags arriving. No info just told to go home. but need the bag for a wedding tomorrow and you’re telling me 48 hours for by bag.”
Another passenger said their child was having an anxiety attack because of having to wait around for so long.
He said on social media: “My family have been stuck on a plane that landed from Madrid 90mins ago. Absolute disgrace.
“My daughter is having a panic attack and the pilot is not being given any updates.”
A BA spokesperson said: “We’ve apologised to those customers who were unable to travel with their luggage due to a temporary technical fault that was outside of our control.
“This issue has been resolved and we’ve brought in additional colleagues to support our teams in getting bags back to our customers as quickly as possible.”
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “British Airways experienced a technical issue with their allocation system. This has now been resolved.
“Our teams are on site supporting BA with their recovery.
“We advise passengers to check with BA before travelling to the airport as BA passengers in Terminal 5 may still be impacted. No other airline is impacted.”
Have you been affected by the disruption? Email jacob.phillips@standard.co.uk
