Travel chaos continues at Birmingham airport with passengers sent home without luggage

One passenger was forced to wait over 12 hours at the airport as her flight was cancelled 10 hours after waiting, and was then forced to wait further for her luggage.

It comes as the airport prepares for almost 150,000 passengers booked to fly in and out over the upcoming Platinum Jubilee weekend.

Many people have reported complaints on social media about the baggage collection at the airport, with many people saying they had to go home without their belongings and told to wait for an update.

Twitter users have posted about "waiting hours for baggage", and one user said that "a friend waiting to pick us up had to pay £48 for parking."

Jenny Mokienko, 50, from Sutton Coldfield shared about not having her baggage after landing at BHX, she said: "I landed on a RyanAir flight from Bucharest just before midnight and did not get my baggage.

"I asked staff if I could go home and return to collect my suitcase, they were very helpful to me. At 1am this morning we were told to leave and that our luggage was still on the plane, and it would be sent to us via courier.

"But I have now received a text asking me to collect my luggage between 1pm and 8pm, and this contradicts the info given at the airport.

"The baggage hall had at least 1,500 people waiting around for luggage. Other passengers had to drive back to Leeds with no luggage, and then five minutes after they left, their flight began to unload bags.

"The communication at BHX was disjointed and disorganised."

Another passenger, Zoe Ursula, 29, from Birmingham, was forced to wait 10 hours to board a flight whilst with her one-year-old child.

She said: "I was supposed to board a flight from BHX to Bulgaria, but they waited 10 hours to cancel the flight. We were asked to go to the gate three times but had no update.

"There was no assistance. I understand issues happen but the lack of communication isn't good. I was there from 12pm and didn't get home till 1am, and whilst with a one-year-old.

"I waited for my luggage as we were told to come back tomorrow but I could not leave without it as my luggage also holds medication for my son.

"I just feel sorry for the staff working on the floor, as the staff at the top need to speak up. They get paid enough to do so."

Another social media user said: "On the flight last night Zante -> BHX. Waited for 3 hours for our bags then told to go home without. Still no communication or info - and no answer online/phone/messenger. Joke. Where are our bags?"

Holiday company TUI has been cancelling flights as the disruption continues to grow ahead of the Platinum Jubilee weekend.

The travel company said “various operational and supply chain issues” are to blame for the flight cancellations.

Travel chaos has been going on at airports all over the country in recent weeks with queues spilling out of airport terminals with people waiting to check-in and get through security ahead of their flights.

The travel industry is facing increasing pressures to cope with the amount of customers travelling away, and with summer holidays fast approaching, bosses will be hoping the issues are resolved.

BHX made nearly half of its staff redundant during the pandemic, and has faced number of issues since Covid-19 travel restrictions were lifted.

The airport – the UK’s third largest outside London and the UK’s seventh largest overall – was handling around 13 million passengers a year until the pandemic.

It is one of the West Midlands’ largest employers, creating jobs for 30,900 people across the West Midlands and adding £1.5 billion annually to the regional economy.

A Birmingham Airport representative said baggage issues are the responsibility of the handling agent or airline of the flights in question.

A spokesperson for Swissport, handling agent for Tui said: "In today’s aviation industry, an average passenger’s journey counts on several different organisations delivering a range of key services, including baggage handling among many others.

"Small impacts to one part of this journey – such as air traffic restrictions, pressure on airport infrastructure, security queues or last-minute flight schedule changes - can have knock-on effects that multiply delays and disruption elsewhere.

"While the return in flight volumes after the serious impact of the pandemic is undoubtedly a positive development, it is also exacerbating resource challenges across the aviation industry, including at Swissport, especially at a busy period of holiday travel.

"We are very sorry for our part in any delays and disruption passengers have experienced.

"We’re doing everything we can to address our role in meeting our resource challenges, welcoming over 2,000 new colleagues since the start of the year, and we continue to work with our partners to identify contingency measures and improve baggage and aircraft turnaround times.”