Heathrow baggage chaos 'to last for days'

Passengers told of their misery today after their baggage was left at Heathrow airport due to a technical fault with the conveyor belts at Terminal 5.

Airport bosses said the baggage system was working normally today but admitted it would take several more days to reunite thousands of air travellers with their luggage.

Passengers have been advised to put all essentials in hand luggage as a precaution against further breakdowns.

The problem struck on Thursday when the conveyor belts were paralysed by a computer glitch, forcing baggage handlers to load cases manually. However they failed to keep pace with flights and many suitcases were left behind.

Travellers today spoke of their anger. Niki Gianakaris, 36, from New Jersey, flew to Athens from Philadelphia via Heathrow on Friday to spend two weeks in Greece for her cousin’s wedding.

She arrived with her mother Polymnia, 69, and sister Chrisi, 40, but without bags or their dresses for the big day on Thursday.

She said: “The bags have disappeared and we’ve not been able to get any confirmation of when we will get them back. We have three bags somewhere in Heathrow. It affected about 40 passengers on our flight.”

Businessman Angus Winchester, 44, was flying from New York to Bangkok via London on Friday and arrived in Thailand with only his hand luggage.

He said: “I’m here for three days on business and I’m still wearing the same clothes as I had on Friday. My suitcase is probably at the bottom of a mountain of bags at Heathrow. The whole thing could have been handled a lot better.”

Passengers have complained about telephone calls to BA going unanswered and the luggage tracker service not working.

Customer service manager Alexandra Clayton, 27, from North London, flew to Qatar from Heathrow for a week’s holiday and was one of nine passengers to arrive without luggage. She said: “I know bad customer service when I see it.”

The problem will cause embarrassment both for BA and Europe’s busiest airport days after it proclaimed its “world-class” status as the Queen opened the new Terminal 2.

A BA spokeswoman said: “We are working round the clock to reunite customers with their bags. We are very sorry that this process is taking longer than anticipated, and we fully understand the frustration this is causing.