Heathrow hit by chaos again after baggage systems failure

Many passengers travelling from Heathrow on Thursday were forced to set off with only their hand luggage after the airport suffered a baggage systems failure.

Heathrow was thrown into chaos again, just a couple of weeks after the British Airways IT debacle that left thousands of passengers facing long check-in queues, cancellations and delays. The problem affected departures from Terminals 3 and 5, with passengers advised to take only essential items in their hand luggage.

By mid-morning, Heathrow, which apologised for the disruption, said bag drop desks are now operating normally and it continues to monitor the situation. Any passengers who have already departed on flights without their luggage were advised to contact their airline for further updates.

The failure affected Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines and Emirates, but with the majority of its flights operating from Terminals 3 and 5, British Airways was hit the hardest.