Holidaymakers at Heathrow Airport were faced with “chaos” last night as they waited hours for luggage to arrive.
Many claim that after waiting for more than three hours they were told to go home and file a lost luggage report.
Lots of passengers also claimed they’d been left to wait for several hours on their planes after landing at the London airport, reports MyLondon.
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Impacted customers tweeted angrily about the situation. Many said that they were on British Airways flights when they experienced the delays and hold ups.
One frustrated passenger tweeted: "@HeathrowAirport is in absolute shambles. No ground staff available to dock the plane so passengers (including us) are sitting for hours on the plane after landing.
"No baggage handlers either. Hundreds of people waiting for their suitcases for hours. What on earth is going on?"
Another said: "@British_Airways @HeathrowAirport after 3 hours of waiting for our suitcases at baggage reclaim we have now been told to go home and submit a lost luggage report while our bags are still sat on the plane. Absolute shambles."
A third wrote: "@britishairways @HeathrowAirport absolutely ridiculous customer service from British airways today!
"No luggage and no answers given to all British airways passengers as to when luggage will be given! I had my toddler sleeping on a trolley!"
To make matters worse, some holidaymakers had packed Christmas gifts in their suitcases to bring home to family members.
One disgruntled passenger said: "Chaos at @HeathrowAirport tonight, zero ground staff to get us off the plane & no baggage handlers so all sent home without our cases.
"Off to see my friends and family with one outfit & zero Xmas presents. MERRYYY CHRISTMAS."
A spokesperson for Heathrow stated: "Luggage and turning around aircraft is the responsibility of airlines and this is dealt with by their ground handling crews who, among other duties, are responsible for preparing inbound aircraft and unloading bags and delivering them to the reclaim halls.
"If passengers experienced an issue with this part of their journey you would need to speak to an airline or their ground handler about this, as it’s not operated by Heathrow."
A spokesperson from BA said: "We're doing everything we can to reunite our customers with their delayed baggage as soon as possible. We apologise for the delay and inconvenience caused."
Currently, reports state that high winds made it difficult to offload bags last night, and that bags were being sent to passengers at addressed provided when filling out lost baggage forms.
Officials have already warned that Brits trying to fly during the Christmas period may be affected by delays due to strikes.
Over 1000 member of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union employed by the Home Office plan to take part in walk outs.
The industrial action will affect Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow from December 23 to 26 and December 28 to New Year’s Eve, reports the Telegraph.
With fewer staff members on the ground to man passport control desks passengers should expect to be held on planes or face long queues.
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