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British Airways travellers have arrived at holiday destinations without their luggage as a “technical issue” stopped up to 3,000 luggage items being loaded onto planes at Heathrow Airport.
A technical issue with baggage systems at Heathrow Terminal 5, the main hub for British Airways flights, on Thursday has left hundreds of holidaymakers without their bags and suitcases.
Heathrow and British Airways operators are scrambling to deliver baggage items to travellers across the world. An airport source said that there were around 3,000 items stuck at Heathrow.
Officials said the technical issue with baggage systems has been resolved. Passengers were only affected if they were departing from Terminal 5.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “We apologise to any passengers who have experienced delays in their baggage departing Terminal 5.
“The fault has now been resolved, and we are operating as normal. We will continue to work closely with airlines to reunite passengers with their bags as quickly as possible.”
The issue was due to Heathrow’s systems rather than British Airways, City AM understands.
A British Airways spokesman said: “While this issue was outside our control, we apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused.”
Travellers through Heathrow hit
Heathrow Terminal 5 is the busiest airport terminal in the UK, according to the consultancy Arup. It was reported in 2023 that an average of 100,000 passengers arrived or departed each day from the terminal.
Airports in the UK have faced a number of challenges in recent years over cyber threats and other technical issues causing mass disruptions.
Last year, a cyber attack across check in systems led to several flight cancellations and significant delays across several European airports.
Faulty software has also led to mass disruption, with one of the worst incidents coming in 2023 when a Crowdstrike software update grounded flights around the world.
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