Pilots and cabin crew flying out of Heathrow airport in West London have been told to avoid checking-in any luggage on flights they are working on because there is too great a risk that their bags will go missing.
The dire warning from major Heathrow-based airlines including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic came as the airport operator continues to experience problems with its baggage handling system that is resulting in thousands of bags not making their flights.
On Monday, Heathrow airport admitted that “service levels have not been acceptable” and that passengers had been forced to endure “long queue times, delays for passengers with reduced mobility, bags not travelling with passengers or arriving late”.
“We want to apologise to any passengers who have been affected by this,” the airport said in a statement while insisting that the vast majority of passengers had received a “good level of service”.
The apology came just hours after Heathrow told airlines to cancel more than 60 flights at the last minute because the airport doesn’t have enough capacity to deal with the predicted number of passengers expected to pass through Heathrow on Monday.
A spokesperson said the cancellations only impacted airlines using Terminal 3 and Terminal 5. “We apologise for the impact to travel plans and we are working closely with airlines to get affected passengers rebooked onto other flights,” the airport said in an emailed statement.
Despite reports of massive queues for security screening that have frequently stretched outside terminal buildings, the airport insisted that it is on track to have as many security officers this summer as before the pandemic.
But a spokesperson said a lack of airline-employed ground handling staff “can pose a risk to the smooth running of operations”. British Airways is currently offering a £1,000 sign-on bonus for some ground handling roles in a bid to relieve severe staffing shortages.
