In the latest crash at a major airport in the UK, Heathrow has asked airlines flying from Terminals 2 and 3 to cancel 10% of their schedules for Monday due to growing baggage handling problems.
Approximately 15,000 passengers on 90 flights will be affected. Ground departures range from the Loganair ATR72 passenger plane serving the Isle of Man to the Emirates Airbus A380 with almost 500 passengers to Dubai.
Virgin Atlantic has canceled at least three transatlantic flights, including flights to New York and Los Angeles.
British Airways, which operates some flights from Terminal 3 as well as its main hub at Terminal 5, said it had made “a small number of cancellations”.
All three departures that BA originally planned to Toulouse have been postponed, along with two of the four flights to Marseille.
An airline spokesman said: “We are in contact with affected customers to apologize, inform them of their consumer rights and offer them alternative options, including refund or rebooking.
Other cancellations identified by The Independent include:
- Aegean Sea: Athens
- Aer Lingus: Dublin
- Air Canada: Toronto
- Air France: Paris
- Air India: Ahmedabad
- Eurowings: Cologne
- ITA: Rome
- KLM: Amsterdam
- Lufthansa: Frankfurt
- SAS: Copenhagen
- Switzerland: Zurich
- TAP Portugal: Lisbon
The request came at the end of the weekend, when the airport was plagued by luggage problems.
The complex luggage system at Terminal 2 failed on Friday, leading to the accumulation of what became known as the “mountain of luggage” outside the building.
The collection of hundreds of luggage was finally dismantled Sunday night as a team of workers loaded their bags into vehicles. It is assumed that part of the luggage can be sent by truck to Europe to be distributed to its owners.
Many arriving passengers face long waits for their luggage after exhausting long-haul flights. Chelsea Alison, who arrived from San Francisco with her husband and 10-month-old baby, waited for hours for the bags to be unloaded and taken to the package.
She told The Independent: “Our flight from San Francisco was delayed by nearly two hours due to problems in London. [affecting the outbound flight].
“Getting off the plane was delayed due to staffing problems. We sat in the luggage room for three and a half hours.
Virgin Atlantic told her she could send the bags to her home in Essex, but warned that it could take up to a week.
A Heathrow spokesman said: “We apologize unreservedly for the disturbances encountered by passengers this weekend.
“The technical problems affecting the luggage systems led us to the decision to ask the airlines operating in Terminals 2 and 3 to consolidate their schedules on Monday, June 20.
“This will allow us to minimize the current impact and we ask all passengers to check with their airlines for the latest information.
The reason for the cancellation is considered an “extraordinary circumstance” – which means that passengers are not entitled to monetary compensation from their airline. But carriers must take passengers to their destination as soon as possible, even if it means paying to fly with a competing airline.
Hotels and food must also be provided.
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