Over 500 bags a day are being lost at Dublin Airport with mounting problems causing the normal level of loss to increase by 900%, it is claimed.
Angry passengers are waiting several hours for luggage and it is spiralling out of control with bar code readers not working, travel experts say.
One said yesterday on RTE Radio One that 50 bags a day would be lost normally, but the figure now tops 500 – meaning an increase of 900%.
With today being the first day of the army going on standby to assist at the airport, exhausted workers say they are doing everything they can, but claim that luggage mountains build up again as soon as they are cleared.
Passengers complain it is a nightmare and means tourists suffer holiday hell in Ireland due to lost luggage with hotels dealing with daily deliveries of delayed luggage, disrupting golfing holidays and weddings.
It adds to the chaos with Aer Lingus cancelling eight more flights on Monday due to crews’ Covid-19 infections, while European strikes loom for Ryanair passengers over the coming month.
Travel expert Eoghan Corry, editor of Air and Travel magazine, said: “Covid is causing reduced staffing, while staff numbers, which were reduced during Covid, haven’t been scaled up fast enough to meet the rise in travel.
“There have also been breakdowns with bar code readers. Nearly everything is done by bar code in baggage, so when things go wrong, there are few humans to step in.
“We have had major breakdowns at Heathrow’s Terminal 2, which is used by Aer Lingus, and a lot of the lost bags are from Aer Lingus flights.
“We always have bags lost, about 50 bags a day normally, but that went to about 400 and now it’s beyond 500.
“Some planes arrived without any bags loaded because there weren’t the personnel available to load them.
“Bags are mounting at the airport, but there are also baggage mountains all through Europe.
“What is Dublin doing about it? The teams in Dublin are under pressure and understaffed, but Dublin Airport personnel cleared the mountains of luggage that happened twice last week, but it mounts up again very quickly.
“Extra deliveries are being made to hotels to deliver these lost bags.
Baggage vans are arriving every day. It’s a huge drama.
“People are arriving without golf clubs and even someone was waiting 10 days for a wedding dress. It’s causing havoc.”
Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), which operates the airport on behalf of the State, told the Irish Mirror/ The Star that it is aware of the baggage problem, but explained that it is not responsible for luggage issues.
A DAA spokesperson said: “We are aware of the issues that some arriving passengers are facing regarding baggage return.
“This is looked after by their airline and their chosen handling partner.
DAA, as the airport management company, does not handle any baggage for any airline at Dublin Airport.
“We empathise with those affected and regret that these issues are impacting their passenger experience.
“We are liaising very closely with both the airlines and their ground handling companies in relation to these issues, the root of which lies in the significant staff hiring challenges that are facing all companies operating in the aviation sector currently.”
Passengers are advised that it is their airlines or third-party ground handling agents who are responsible for check-in, bag drop and baggage delivery.
Contact details for airline’ ground handling agents and lost property services are available on the dublinairport.com website.
Industry figures have tallied 88 cancelled flights to and from Dublin Airport in the last five days, affecting an estimated 13,000 people.
Commenting on the latest cancellations by Aer Lingus, an airline spokesperson said: “Aer Lingus wishes to apologise to those impacted, and teams at the airline are working to re-accommodate impacted passengers.”
Ryanair cabin crew in Spain are threatening 12 days of industrial action in July, but the airline claimed it expects “minimal disruption, if any”.
Around 50,000 people have been departing from Dublin every day since last Friday, according to DAA figures.
The authority’s figures also show that security times have been less than 45 minutes, while passengers are being asked to arrive a minimum of 2.5 hours before short-haul departures.
Meanwhile, the DAA has stated it did not make 1,000 employees redundant during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It posted on social media: “DAA did not make 1000 people redundant during Covid-19. DAA introduced a voluntary severance scheme during summer 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 crisis as part of cost-cutting measures to secure the continued viability of the company.”
READ NEXT:
Dublin Airport hits out at Virgin Media's Tonight Show over redundancy comments
Met Eireann forecasts huge temperature upswing on Wednesday as summer returns
Santina Cauley's dad can't accept she's gone three years on from murder
Vicky Phelan shares update after break away in favourite hotel with friends
Cut in VAT on gas and electricity 'to be extended past October'
