British Airways apologies due to baggage chaos at Heathrow Airport

Tuesday, December 21, 2021

British Airways has apologised to customers who suffered chaos at Heathrow Airport as the airline battled staff shortages due to sickness and adverse weather conditions.

Some BA passengers claimed they were told to go home and return to Heathrow Airport on Monday to collect their bags as the travel company admitted it was struggling with “foggy conditions and staff sickness”.

It comes as the airport is facing one of its busiest times of the year, as thousands of people attempt to fly in and out of the UK to be with their families for Christmas, while also avoiding the disruption caused by the Omicron variant.

The video footage on social media showed a build-up of unclaimed baggage left next to the conveyor belts yesterday, suggesting many travellers had still not collected their luggage.

Other pictures taken by frustrated customers also showed people standing around as they waited for more information about their bags.

Jack Lawrence, who was trying to travel from London Heathrow to Zurich, in Switzerland, said: “The flight cancellation and baggage delay has ruined my Christmas plans. The communication from BA has been poor and it’s incredibly frustrating not being able to get hold of anyone at BA.

Another traveller wrote on Twitter: “Complete chaos at Heathrow. Massive delays with getting the luggage. No system in place. People are strongly advised to leave without their luggage. Christmas vibe!” A third person said: “More than three-hour delay. Then no baggage. And no information. Shameful.”

A spokesman for British Airways told the disruption on Sunday was caused by adverse weather conditions including fog, as well as staff sickness as well. He said that apologised to customers whose flights were cancelled due to operational constraints. Our teams are working extremely hard to get our customers rebooked and on their way as quickly as possible.

It comes as holidaymakers and airlines were hit by another blow as some European nations bring in restrictions against those arriving from the United Kingdom to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

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