British Airways' Heathrow Airport baggage breakdown labelled a 'shambles' by unhappy passengers

Many travellers on flights departing from the west London airport did not have their checked-in luggage put on the plane, while some of those on arriving flights faced long delays to retrieve their baggage.

The PA news agency understands the issue – which also caused many flights to be delayed by several hours – began on Tuesday afternoon and was resolved towards the end of the day.

A British Airways spokesman said: “We’ve apologised to those customers who were unable to travel with their luggage due to a temporary technical fault that was outside of our control. This issue has been resolved and we’ve brought in additional colleagues to support our teams in getting bags back to our customers as quickly as possible.”

A Heathrow spokesperson said: “British Airways experienced a technical issue with their allocation system. This has now been resolved. Our teams are on site supporting BA with their recovery. We advise passengers to check with BA before travelling to the airport as BA passengers in Terminal 5 may still be impacted. No other airline is impacted.”

Writing on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, one passenger who flew into Heathrow described the situation as a “shambles”.

He added: “No info told just to go home. But need the bag for a wedding tomorrow and you’re telling me 48 hours for my bag!!!”

Another wrote: “Flew to Newcastle from Heathrow last night with @British_Airways. No updates or info provided by BA – flight arrived 3 hours late & without baggage. One staff member stood in baggage reclaim with a laminated piece of paper with a QR code to a portal that doesn’t work. Disgraceful.”