Huge piles of bags built up at Heathrow Airport as issues with baggage handling and a computer glitch spelt misery for pre-Christmas travellers.
The festive rush became chaotic and miserable on Monday evening when passengers were left waiting hours to get their items from the baggage carousel.
Suitcases were piled four or five deep in places, a great carpet of bags completely filling one of the halls at Terminal 5.
The issue is understood to be due to a lack of manpower among baggage handlers - who are contracted by airline.
Other customers were unable to fly into the travel hub due to an IT issue at British Airways, which caused a number of the airline's flights to be grounded, predominantly on long-haul routes inbound to the UK.
Have you been caught up in the travel chaos? Email webtravel@reachplc.com
Passengers stuck waiting at the airport claim they were told that the bag issue was due to a lack of staff available to load items onto the carousels.
"We have just been informed that baggage delays are expected for more than 90 mins," one unhappy customer wrote shortly after 10pm last night.
"We also had delays when we landed. The pilot explained that there were no staff ready to assist them in parking the plane. No shuttle buses ready to take us to the terminal, either."
She added: "A huge section of the baggage hall has been blocked off....hundreds (if not thousands) of suitcases dumped in a pile, unattended, awaiting staff to load them onto the conveyer belts."
The unhappy customer was among "several flights’ worth of passengers waiting at baggage reclaim" to get hold of their bags and get home.
Another weary traveller said they waited three hours to drop their bag off ahead of their flight, only to spend another three hours sitting on the plane, stationary on the tarmac.
"One hour to get off the plane," they wrote on Twitter. "One hour waiting for the luggage that never came back because Heathrow workers are done for the day. Nine hours in this airport and right back where I started, minus one suitcase."
Another person posted a photo of the piles of bags and wrote on Twitter: "Heathrow Terminal 5 right now. Baggage nightmare for everyone last night.
"I hope they get them before Christmas! Just landed so let’s hope our bags arrive soon!"
The issues at Heathrow coincided with an IT glitch at BA, leading to at least 35 flights from North America and the Caribbean to London airports be cancelled or seriously delayed overnight.
The disruption will have a severe knock-on effects for other travellers in the days before Christmas.
Ten of Tuesday’s long-haul departures from London Heathrow were grounded as a result, with the inbound flights also cancelled.
The airport chaos may well get worse in the coming days as thousands of Border Force workers represented by the PCS union strike over pay and conditions.
The industrial action will take place on December 23, 24, 25 and 26, as well as 28, 29, 30 and 31 at Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester airports, as well as Newhaven port.
The Civil Aviation Authority has warned passengers that the walkouts could lead to long queues at the airports, as well as cancelled and delayed flights.
A Heathrow Airport spokesperson said: "Arriving luggage is the responsibility of airlines and this is dealt with by their ground handling crews who, among other duties, are responsible for unloading bags and delivering them to the reclaim halls.
"If passengers experienced an issue with this part of their journey they would need to speak to an airline or their ground handler about this, as it’s not operated by Heathrow."
