British Airways passengers have reported losing bags at Heathrow - with some still waiting a week later to be reunited with their belongings.
Customers flying to destinations such as LA, Delhi, Manchester, Edinburgh, Dubai and Porto have been caught up in the chaos.
BA told us that the problems have been caused by bad weather across the UK and Europe.
Passengers left without medicine
One passenger, Penelope Hierons, told us that she had important medicine in her hand luggage - but that BA told her to check the bag into the hold on a flight from Heathrow to Manchester.
She was reassured that her bag would be among the first off the plane, so she removed her laptop but left her winter coat inside.
‘I was left in -7°C with the clothes I stood up in, no coat, clutching my laptop but with no laptop power cable.’
She added: ‘I asked someone at the airport what I was supposed to do about my medicine and he suggested a trip to A&E.’
A week later - still no luggage
Another BA passenger, Ivonne Hoeger, flew from Heathrow to Hamburg on Wednesday 14 December - but no luggage came off the plane. She then received a text from BA saying that her luggage would be on a later flight - but there was still no sign of it.
‘I can't get hold of anyone on the phone,’ she told us. ‘I spent about 25 minutes on hold trying BA's lost luggage number for Hamburg, but no one even answered. Looking at Twitter, it seems like BA is sending flights with no luggage all over the world.’
At the time of writing Ivonne still doesn’t have her bags, although BA told us that it had sent them to her. She says she’s been told it’s due to be delivered on Wednesday 21 December - a week after it was lost.
Others on Twitter and Facebook have reported waiting for over a week to be reunited with luggage.
Angry BA passengers bombard social media
British Airways Twitter feed and complaint pages on social media have been overwhelmed with dozens of complaints about missing luggage, just in the last few days.
One passenger says that they’ve lost the clothes and presents needed for a wedding in Delhi. Others mention Christmas presents for grandchildren and vital medicines.
Just on the first page of its Twitter feed there are complaints about flights from Heathrow to Manchester, LA, Seattle, Geneva, Edinburgh, Dubai, Porto and other destinations around the world.
BA’s complaints system failing
Both Penelope and Ivonne report trying to call BA and either being cut off or not being able to get through to an agent.
Penelope says she was given a form to report the bags missing online but ‘the system refused to accept the codes on my baggage labels as they were not in the correct format'. It wasn’t until the following day that she was able to make an official complaint.
She finally received her bags, mysteriously stained with dirt and dust, on Saturday 18 December.
Penelope's experience was particularly gruelling, as she had two BA flights cancelled before she was finally able to fly to see her family.
She said: 'In all, I have lost four days of work this week, three due to attempted flights and one due to the lack of a power cable for my laptop. I have had an extremely stressful and exhausting week and have missed out on vital time with my family. It has been one disaster after another. An utter disgrace.'
British Airways response
BA said: ‘We're doing everything we can to reunite our customers with their delayed baggage as soon as possible. We apologise for the delay and inconvenience caused.’
It also said that it would refund passengers who needed to buy essential items while they waited to be reunited with their luggage.
What can you do if your luggage goes missing?
The airline is responsible for bags after they are checked-in. It should reimburse you for any essential items such as clothes, underwear and toiletries that you need to buy - but you’re unlikely to receive compensation for the inconvenience.
For luggage lost with British Airways you can make a claim here.
You can see more advice on what to do about lost or damaged luggage here.
If you’re carrying important medicine with you on a flight you should keep it with you in your hand luggage, as you can never guarantee that hold luggage will arrive at the right place.
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