Heathrow Airport grappled with mountains of baggage covering its floors as airline officials strived to clear the backlog caused by severe weather conditions in Europe over the weekend.
Torrential rain and thunder led to air traffic control restrictions, affecting up to 10,000 travelers and forcing British Airways to cancel at least 60 flights, including those to Toulouse and Milan this weekend.
Other airports also experienced disruptions due to the adverse weather. London City Airport saw British Airways grounding flights to Palma, Glasgow, and Berlin, while Gatwick had cancellations for services to Agadir and Crete.
Pictures from Heathrow’s Terminal 5 revealed extensive piles of unclaimed luggage at both baggage claim and check-in areas, showcasing the extent of the backlog over the weekend.
Passengers have taken to social media to voice their frustrations over delays and missing luggage.
One passenger directed a post to British Airways, writing on X: “We are yet to find our missing luggage. We flew from Heathrow to Abuja yesterday. Arriving in Abuja this morning, we could not find one of our checked-in bags.
“The luggage was checked in by one of your officers yesterday at Heathrow Terminal 5. So we have traveled to Bangkok & Singapore, and our luggage is still at Terminal 5 at Heathrow”, another passenger shared on Saturday. “Exactly where it was on Thursday evening.
“Frustratingly, we knew it was just 20 meters from us when we tried to have it released from baggage at Terminal 5.”
“Like all airlines, we experienced disruption to our flights last week due to air traffic control restrictions resulting from adverse weather across the UK and Europe, which was outside of our control”, a British Airways spokesperson told MailOnline.
“Our teams have been working hard to sort, fly, and courier the bags of customers impacted by the disruption as quickly as possible.”
“The airport is operating as normal and passengers and their baggage have been travelling as planned throughout the weekend”, a spokesperson for Heathrow Airport told Express.co.uk.
The affected airlines have also been contacted for more information.