After hours of technical problems, missed bags and canceled flights, “all hell broke loose” at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 and hundreds of furious passengers were told to go home.
Scores of holidaymakers and other British Airways (BA) passengers heading through Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 last night faced hours of frustrating delays before it was claimed the airline told them to “go home”. The chaotic scenes at Europe’s biggest airport were reportedly caused by a “technical problem”.
A failure of BA’s allocation system has resulted in flights landing without their luggage and long delays for passengers as they try to find their missing belongings. Disgruntled passengers queued at the terminal late Tuesday night and into the early hours of the next day, with many complaining of a lack of communication.
Many took to social media to vent their frustrations, with one disgruntled flyer saying: “Communication was so bad tonight, not great BA. I’m not holding out much hope of getting my luggage any time soon.” Following last night’s technical problems, BA said today’s flights from Terminal 5 will be scheduled as normal.
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In a statement to frustrated passengers, Heathrow Airport said: “We are supporting British Airways with a technical issue with their allocation system. We advise passengers to check with British Airways before traveling to the airport. British Airways passengers at Terminal 5 may be affected and are advised to contact British Airways at requests for help.
Another angry passenger said the chaotic scenes made him feel like he was flying from a third world country. They said: “Flight from Aberdeen to LHR tonight at 8pm. It’s after midnight now. Waiting for luggage at Heathrow that may never arrive. Third world airline third world country.”
Passengers reported that about 30 flights were crammed into the concourses, all scrambling to find out where their luggage was or where they were going. Meanwhile, many criticized the lack of staff to deal with the long lines of distraught flyers.
Another angry passenger wrote: “Heathrow mess no bags coming in. No info just to go home. but I need a bag for a wedding tomorrow and you’re telling me 48 hours for a bag.” According to the Mail, only 11 of the 174 flights scheduled to leave the airport ended up leaving on time, during a day full of chaos and canceled summer holidaymakers.
One furious traveler said “all hell broke loose”, their luggage went missing and they were told to come back at 5am. They said: “Heathrow airport basically broke down this afternoon, my flight home and four others were canceled at the same time. All hell broke loose, I was rebooked on a flight tomorrow morning (RIP my lay).
“They offered to put me up in a hotel at Gatwick, 26 miles away, and I had to get a bus back and forth at 5am tomorrow. Apparently my suitcase got lost.” [there is] no record of me bringing it home.”
British airways has not released a statement but is responding to tweets to customers saying: “I am sorry you have been affected by the disruption to LHR. If you wish to make a complaint, you can do so here: https://britishairways .com/en-gb/information/help-and-contacts/complaints-and-claims.”
A BA spokesman told the Mirror: “We have apologized to those customers who were unable to travel with their bags due to a temporary technical fault beyond our control. This issue has been resolved and we have called on other colleagues to support our teams in getting bags back to our customers as quickly as possible .”
A Heathrow spokesman said: “Previously British Airways experienced a technical issue with their allocation system which has now been resolved. Our teams are on the ground supporting BA with their recovery. We advise passengers to check with BA before traveling to the airport as BA passengers at Terminal 5 may still be affected. No other airlines are affected.”