Heathrow T5 Baggage Issue – Were You Affected?

As many of you may be aware, last week Heathrow Terminal 5 experienced an IT fault which left many planes departing from T5 without any checked luggage. I was one of those unfortunate souls whose bag was left in London.

I was aboard British Airways flight 0265 from LHR to IAD.

Five minutes before we departed from the gate the captain came on and told us that most of the checked luggage did not make it to the plane due to a ‘Heathrow problem.’ No further information was available to us until hours into the flight.

A few hours later, the flight attendant came on the cabin’s loudspeaker and asked passengers to raise their hands if a check-in agent had made them aware of the situation prior to checking in a bag. According to flight attendants over 90% of the plane was not made aware of the IT fault when they checked in. This could be due to the fact that many of us were connecting or others checked in after the IT issue began.

Regardless, Twitter users began to complain to British Airways, who issued an apology on behalf of the airline and Heathrow.

Once we got to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), two KLM agents were assisting our flight with baggage claims because the plane actually landed without any bags. The agents were flustered because there were only two agents helping a flight with approximately 299 passengers.

Although I live in Washington, D.C., it was not my final destination. I left IAD without my bag, obviously, and so did my roommate who was traveling with me. I spent a total of five days without my bag. I received it yesterday via FedEx priority overnight. I was left with just a laptop, a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and sneakers. I was foolish enough to put my laptop charger in my checked bag, something I never do. I only did it because I had a lot of souvenirs to carry this time from Spain, Morocco and Egypt.

Anyway, today is day six and my roommate still has not received his luggage. We were on the same flight, checked in at the same time, and requested our bags to be sent to the same address. Sucks to be him, hah. To make matters worse, their online lost/delayed luggage system is not working properly.

I ended up buying some clothes and toiletries and a pair of shoes because the ones I was wearing on the flight were running shoes and not fit for going out. I think my total bill was around $125 USD, which I made a reimbursement claim for on BA’s website.

The Daily Mail posted an article with pictures of all the luggage left behind, see for yourself below:

Have you experienced baggage delays due to the Heathrow T5 IT fault? Please share your story in the comment section!