Passengers have reported facing huge delays for baggage after the cold snap rocked Manchester Airport. Swissport, which handles baggage at the airport, admits travellers have been disrupted as a knock-on effect of the chaos brought by the recent freezing weather.
Holidaymakers have reported lengthy delays to collect baggage after arriving at the airport in recent days, with a shortage of staff available to help. It comes after planes were grounded following heavy snow on Saturday morning (December 10), while the cold snap is forecast to continue throughout this week.
Ellen Wang's mum, Yuanhua, and stepdad, Luming, flew to Manchester from Beijing on a delayed Hainan Airlines flight yesterday (Monday). The pair, both 73, arrived at Terminal 2 at 10.24am - before they were among '30 passengers' who were stuck waiting more than six hours to get their luggage from the flight.
"Everything was fine until they came through the customs and luggage was nowhere to be seen," Ellen said. "My mum sent me a message at first saying no one is working in the airport and it’s empty, and the belt was going around without any luggage."
Ellen says she spoke to someone from Swissport at Manchester Airport over the phone at 12.17pm, who suggested the luggage was still in Beijing. "He said it is strange but it is what it is," said Ellen.
She then spoke to someone from Hainan Airlines, who insisted the bags were on the plane but there was no one available to take the luggage off until after 1pm. But the family were still left waiting for the luggage throughout the afternoon before Ellen's husband travelled to pick Yuanhua and Luming up, with Ellen describing the situation as 'simply ridiculous'.
"No one was giving them any straight forward answers as to when they will get their luggage," said Ellen. "They had been travelling for over 17 hours plus the six hours they had been waiting in the airport.
"They weren’t offered any helpful advice nor any hot drinks. When my husband complained outside, the only reason given was due to some redirected flights [on Sunday], they were short staffed."
The passengers were finally reunited with their bags shortly before 5pm yesterday. They were not the only travellers to report long delays due to baggage issues.
Andy McAteer told the Manchester Evening News his parents took two grandchildren on a 10am flight to Finland, for a trip to see Father Christmas at Lapland - with other children also on the flight for the same reason. "It was due to take off at 10am and finally did at 3.38pm," he said.
"Passengers had been sat on the plane for all the delay. No baggage handlers to put bags on the plane apparently."
One passenger, who asked to remain anonymous, described 'chaos' at the airport on Sunday night after landing from a delayed Ryanair flight back from Treviso, in Italy. "When we arrived at Manchester Airport we saw a lot of luggage stranded by a carousel," he said.
"People standing at the carousel next to ours were going mad, they had been waiting for so long and the luggage coming out was not for their flight. Our carousel started to turn but nothing came out."
He said an airport worker told passengers: "It's been utter chaos tonight, we are short staffed." The passenger added: "Passengers were getting irate, it was just chaos, it was just shocking."
A spokesperson for Swissport said: "We apologise to passengers who experienced delays to their baggage. Unfortunately, the recent severe weather combined with the knock-on effects of other disruption, such as late flights, caused a delay.
"We understand this is a frustrating situation and we’re working closely with our airline and airport partners to mitigate these issues." A Manchester Airport spokesperson added: "We would like to apologise to any passengers who have experienced issues on their journey through the airport as a result of severe weather conditions this week, which caused disruption to normal operations.
“Manchester Airport is committed to working collaboratively with all onsite partners, including baggage handling agencies, to ensure passengers have the best possible experience.”
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