There has been chaos at Heathrow Airport as passengers have been left waiting for hours before being sent home without luggage.
Delays caused by the knock-on effect of Storm Eunice meant British Airways was unable to get passengers’ bags to them meaning many were left waiting as long as three hours.
Inside arrivals and baggage collection, hundreds of bags lined the walkways unmanned as delays have meant the airline has been forced to send home passengers without their bags.
In the meantime, many customers have been left in the dark by the airline, saying they have not heard anything since and fear they may never see their bags again.
The airline said the delays were caused by the recent stormy weather across the UK, and they are trying to contact all customers affected and deal with the baggage backlog as soon as they can.
Sarah, from Norfolk, returned Friday evening from a holiday in Cairo with her husband and teenage son.
They were delayed in getting off their plane as another plane took their stand, but nothing could prepare them for the chaos inside the terminal.
She said: “The pilot came on and said another plane had come in because passengers had been on their plane for 40 minutes.
“We were really lucky, we were about 15 or 20 minutes, we then got off the plane and through passport control”
After that, they went to collect their luggage.
She added: "I have never seen so much luggage all over the floor.
"We realised that was passengers from previous flights who had been told to leave the airport, and now their luggage had come off the conveyors.
“But it was all stacked there, anyone can walk off with it.
“There are literally hundreds of suitcases just everywhere and at first we thought they might be ours, thinking that was quick.
“But there was just suitcases everywhere. There were a few there from Cairo from an earlier flight.
“I literally could have picked up any one of those suitcases and walked off with it.”
Sarah, who did not want to give her last name, and her family waited for an hour without any sign of their suitcases and then another passenger, not British Airways, told them that they had been asked to leave their luggage as they didn’t have the baggage handlers to get it off.
They were told that all of their bags would be sent to them, but nobody from BA or the airport told them.
She added: “Even that I felt ‘they’ve got a problem, unprecedented weather, okay I get it’, but then since then to have no message from them, nothing on their social media, not even a blanket message.
“We have nothing and I’ve got no means of communicating with them.
“It’s really stressful. I don’t know if I’ll ever see my luggage again.”
On top of that, Sarah, like many others arriving back, has work tomorrow and would have lost all her medication had she not kept spare at home, as well as being without makeup and deodorant.
And for holidaymakers coming to Britain, she said that their trips might be all but ruined.
Since then, despite the airline’s silence, Sarah and her family have spent their time trying to reach out to find out what’s going on, but to no avail.
“You feel like that’s it then, I literally left my luggage at the airport. I don’t know if I’ll see it again and no one’s communicating with me,” She said.
She added: “There’s nothing on their social media, it’s awful.
"You can easily put something on social media, you can easily send out an automated email.”
Fliers on other flights were lucky enough to get their bags but forced to wait up to three hours before being reunited with them.
Posting on social media, one unlucky flyer caught in the maelstrom said: “Shameful scene at Heathrow Terminal 5! No bags for over 3 hours with no update, no staff, no compensation!!”
Another flyer who saw their layover and second flight was thrown into chaos because of the delays, told BA: “You absolutely are not doing everything you can to help.
“Phone lines aren't answered. Airport staff say they can't help. The lost luggage courier service is a disaster.
“I'm currently 60h into a 12h journey, still not at my destination, and still have no luggage.”
A spokesperson for BA said: “We're operating the vast majority of our flights as planned but due to some operational issues as a result of the continuing bad weather conditions across the UK and Europe, we're still experiencing some disruption and have had to cancel or delay a number of flights.
“Customers due to travel on a short-haul service today who want to change their flight can rebook for free on ba.com.
"Those whose flights have been cancelled are being contacted to offer options including a full refund, and we're encouraging customers to check the latest flight information on ba.com before heading to the airport.
“We'd like to thank our customers for their patience while our teams continue to work hard in challenging conditions, and apologise for the inconvenience caused.”
