Heathrow Airport was left in chaos as British Airways passengers were left trapped on planes, with many having to take off without their luggage.
Travellers were forced to travel without their clothes and faced huge delays to try and get their possessions back due to a technical issue at Terminal 5.
Video from the Terminal on Tuesday night showed massive queues of travellers forming across the airport, as passengers struggled to find their luggage.
On Tuesday evening British Airways (BA) was reported to have 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. Stephen Rooney told the Standard a “short hop” home to Newcastle to celebrate his mother’s 70th birthday had become a “nightmare”.
The 37-year-old explained his flight was delayed by over three hours before the plane finally took off without carrying any passenger baggage.
He said: “The captain made another announcement apologising for the delay and saying that as we’d cross the three-hour mark he’d encourage us to apply for compensation directly with BA.
“He was very chatty and his banter hid the fact he knew we were flying without any baggage on board (something he failed to mention).” 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 that 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 Airport. 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.
She later claimed that “Heathrow had washed their hands off any answer” as she tried to reach out to the airport for support via social media.
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 my 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.”
