A crisis in one of the world’s largest airports, Heathrow Airport in London, due to a catastrophic failure of the baggage system, which led to the accumulation of bags in a horrific view.
People arriving from their flights at Heathrow have been told they may not have their baggage in for several days, as the massive baggage backlog continues to grow due to a “baggage system problem”.
The stunning images show how hundreds of bags are stacked together in what onlookers describe as a ‘carpet baggage’, just hours after the chief executive of Heathrow Airport claimed passengers were experiencing only ‘slight’ delays.
Suddenly a slight wait for my luggage to arrive at @HeathrowAirport is even more of an irrelevance – at least it came on the same flight and is leaving with me… pic.twitter.com/h42BfCe0mo
— Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) June 17, 2022
Will it ever stop?
This is from today at Heathrow Terminal 2#aviation #Avgeeks pic.twitter.com/IZUtAAnfTr
— M Zulqarnain B (@MZulqarnainBut1) June 17, 2022
Officials apologized to travelers, who were said to have been warned it could take two days before they were reunited with their belongings, and blamed the disruption on a “technical problem” with the baggage system, which they say has since been resolved.
This comes at a time when airport passengers also complained of long queues, crowded buses, and long waits to transfer between terminals.
“When I walked out, I saw this crazy mass of bags filling the sidewalk like a huge carpet of luggage,” said Sky News Defense and Security Editor Deborah Hines, who flew into Heathrow airport last night and saw the chaos.
According to the British newspaper “Daily Mail”, this is the latest chaos in British airports, which have been plagued by a shortage of staff and annoying long queues for several weeks.
There are fears that the worst is yet to come, when the children’s summer term ends, which will see millions of families looking to travel abroad for the holidays.
A Heathrow spokesperson told the Daily Mail: “Yesterday there was a technical issue with the baggage system in Terminal 2 which has now been resolved.”
“Passengers can now check-in as normal, but a number of passengers who left Terminal 2 yesterday may have traveled without their luggage,” he added.