A violent thunderstorm which shut down Heathrow airport for half an hour last week caused British Airways to lose 11,000 pieces of luggage, it emerged yesterday.
The airline still has a backlog of 7,000 bags to be delivered and is using lorries to shuttle them through the Channel tunnel to destinations such as Paris, Amsterdam and Lyon.
More than 100 staff have voluntarily joined baggage handlers to try to resolve the chaos, which is likely to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation.
BA is having a tough time with baggage - it came second bottom in rankings produced by the Association of European Airlines in May for losing 20 bags per 1,000 passengers.
Insiders say the suspension to departures last Tuesday threw the world's busiest international airport out of kilter. An airline source said Heathrow ran out of available aircraft stands and staff were unavailable to load and unload planes. Flights were waiting for as long as two hours to take off. By the time they were cleared, some had to collect more fuel.
"Every gate was full and every spare bit of concrete was full," said an insider.
BA, which accounts for 40% of Heathrow's traffic, cancelled 131 flights and many more were diverted. The airline made it a priority to get passengers on to connecting flights but bags were often left behind. A spokesman said: "It's been a very difficult time and all we can do is apologise."
Industry sources said yesterday that many of BA's ground staff, who are being balloted for strike action, have been effectively working to rule in protest at a pay offer of 8.5% over three years. "They don't declare it as a go-slow but it is basically a pre-strike strike," said an airline executive.
BA said its difficulties had been compounded by problems with baggage belts maintained by the airport operator, BAA.
But BAA denied this. A spokesman said there had been a "small technical fault" but denied this was responsible for the delayed bags.
By last night some travellers had waited almost a week for their luggage. Shona Beard, on holiday with three children in Ardèche, said she had been forced to shop for clothes and toiletries. "In a sense it has spoilt my holiday," she said.
