Image source: X
Hounslow: London Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest, faced major problems this week after a fault in Terminal 5’s baggage system left luggage stuck and passengers frustrated. Terminal 5, mostly used by British Airways, handles thousands of flights daily, so the glitch caused significant delays and confusion for both travelers and staff.
On Monday, check-in had to be completely suspended for a short while. On Tuesday, the airport said that overnight repairs had not been able to identify the underlying source of the problem.
To cope with the situation, British Airways asked its staff not to check in their own bags and to carry essential items like uniforms in hand luggage instead. Heathrow also set up a temporary facility near the terminal where extra workers manually sorted through the backlog of luggage. Delivery services were used to reunite delayed bags with their owners as quickly as possible.
Although most of the travelers received their bags within a day or two, some are still awaiting their baggage.
They turned to their X account to voice their opinions and vent their frustrations.
One user wrote – “Well look what arrived – the day we return home. Thanks @British_Airways”
While the other one wrote “I travelled from Vegas to Mumbai on 10th dec. We took BA199 from Heathrow to Mumbai. After waiting for baggage to arrive at conveyor belt for 45 mins we were told by BA that all passenger bags from connecting flight not loaded at Heathrow”
Rebecca Mader, a British actress, posted, “Dear @British_Airways, please find my bag asap! 🙏✈️.”
This isn’t the first time Terminal 5 has faced such issues. A similar incident in June caused even bigger delays, forcing some flights to be postponed. While this time flights continued as planned, passengers still experienced long waits and disruption during what’s already a very busy travel period for the airport.
With December expected to be one of Heathrow’s busiest months of the year – over 6.5 million passengers passed through in November alone – the airport is under pressure to avoid further problems. Engineers have fixed the fault, and operations are now improving, but the issue raises questions about how well the airport can handle future breakdowns.
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