Heathrow passengers have been told that they may not be reunited with their bags for several days due to a “baggage system problem” due to a large amount of baggage being stored at the airport.
Stunning images show onlookers at one of the site’s terminals putting together hundreds of bags of what they described as a ‘luggage carpet’ – with Heathrow’s chief executive claiming that passengers only faced ‘minor’ delays was falling
The owners have apologized to customers, who were reportedly warned it could take up to two days to be reassembled with their luggage, and blamed the disruption on a ‘technical problem’ with the baggage system, which Says it has been resolved.
sky News Defense and Security Editor Deborah Haynes, who flew into the airport last night and witnessed the devastation, told the site: ‘When I stepped outside I saw this crazy mass of suitcases filling the sidewalk like a giant luggage carpet.
‘I’ve never seen anything like this. Although it looks like it was trying to settle the chaos.
‘The officers were trying to arrange the suitcases next to the poles, with the letters of the alphabet on them – perhaps it was to match the name of the owner of each bag. It looked like an epic act.’
It is the latest scene of chaos at British airports, which have been plagued by staff shortages and long queues for weeks.
And there are fears that the worst could still come when children are out of school for the summer, which will see millions of families looking to go abroad for the holidays.
A Heathrow spokesperson told MailOnline today: ‘Yesterday there was a technical issue with the Terminal 2 baggage system which has now been resolved.
‘Passengers are now able to check-in normally, but many passengers departing Terminal 2 tomorrow will have traveled without their luggage.
“We are working closely with airlines to connect passengers with their luggage at the earliest.
‘We regret that the travel of the passengers has been disrupted.’
Heathrow passengers were told today that due to a “baggage system problem” they could not be found with their bags for several days due to the large amount of baggage at the airport.
Stunning images show hundreds of bags being put together by onlookers at one of the site’s terminals, in what is described as a ‘luggage carpet’.
Passengers on a Heathrow flight were outraged today as their bags were reportedly left behind with pictures of a giant ‘luggage carpet’ circulating on social media after leaving the UK.
It comes as passengers who left UK airports last month canceled flights at the last minute, with luggage stuck hundreds of miles away and snakebites becoming the new norm.
Shocking scenes across the country have forced some holidaymakers to sleep on the floors of terminals amid long delays.
Passengers crossed the border instead of waiting for subsequent flights as they rushed to return to work and school after half term.
Many said they were forced to spend hundreds of pounds for new flights or other modes of transport such as Eurostar trains.
Among them were teachers who needed to go back to class and A-level students who were at risk of missing exams and even university places.
The aviation industry is grappling with a staff shortage after thousands of people were laid off during the coronavirus pandemic.
And Gatwick Express canceled all trains for three days the following week, and Eurostar removed dozens of services, as last-minute crunch talks with Network Rail continued.
Trade Minister Paul Scully told Sky News there are 1.3 million vacancies in various sectors across the country, but there are some who have ‘reorganized what they want to do while on furlough’.
He also said that he wants to make it possible that ‘people who can work longer – who want to work longer – can’.
It comes as Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye warned that it would take 12 to 18 months for the industry to get its capacity back to pre-pandemic levels.
Mr Holland-Kaye pointed out that skilled jobs are gone and it takes time to recruit and train people, while staffing issues around the world have an impact on UK airports as well.
He told Sky News that passengers at Heathrow suffered only minor delays, adding: ‘For two years most politicians and the public have been calling for the borders to be closed and this has had a devastating effect.’
He said: ‘It is very easy to put the brakes on the industry, there is huge job loss, but it is very difficult to revive it.’
Mr Holland-Kaye believes there will be enough workers to deal with the summer exodus because Heathrow’s ‘largest team of people are security officers and more people this summer than we will have before the pandemic’.
Ground handling companies, which provide services such as baggage checks and aircraft cleaning, have suffered huge job losses.
Gatwick said yesterday that it plans to limit its number of daily flights to 825 in July and 850 in August, compared with 900 daily flights reported during the same period in previous years.
Furious travelers took to social media to share videos and photos of the sea of luggage left on T2 on Friday
Hundreds of bags and personal belongings piled up at Terminal 2 of Britain’s busiest airport on Friday, as passengers suffered travel headaches after weeks of chaos.
Heathrow apologized to customers and explained that a sea of \u200b\u200bbaggage had formed after employees grappled with an ‘ongoing issue with the baggage system’.
That means 4,000 flights will be closed by September – meaning 800,000 people will have to find alternative travel arrangements – but owners hope it will help passengers ‘experience a more reliable and better service’.
And EasyJet, which canceled 40 flights per day in June, said: ‘Given the high frequencies of our services to and from Gatwick, we expect most customers to be able to re-adjust when their flight caps are affected. Will be should be able’.
A spokesman for TUI, who was so short-staffed that police had to tell customers waiting at the gate in Manchester that their half-term leave had been cancelled, declared: TUI Airways flights from Gatwick are well on the way. are closed. are ongoing and hence we are planning to operate all the flights planned this summer.