A technical failure at Heathrow Airport‘s Terminal 5 has left up to 3,000 luggage items stranded on the ground, leaving British Airways passengers without bags at their destinations.
The disruption struck on Thursday, affecting travellers departing from Terminal 5, which serves as the main hub for British Airways flights in and out of London.
An airport source confirmed that approximately 3,000 individual items were stuck at Heathrow as a direct result of the baggage system fault.
Heathrow and British Airways operators have been working urgently to arrange the delivery of luggage to affected passengers scattered across destinations worldwide.
Officials confirmed the technical issue has since been resolved, with the fault understood to have originated within Heathrow’s own systems rather than those operated by British Airways.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “We apologise to any passengers who have experienced delays in their baggage departing Terminal 5.”
The spokesperson added: “The fault has now been resolved, and we are operating as normal. We will continue to work closely with airlines to reunite passengers with their bags as quickly as possible.”
A British Airways spokesman said: “While this issue was outside our control, we apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused.”
Terminal 5 is the busiest airport terminal in the United Kingdom, according to consultancy Arup, with an average of 100,000 passengers arriving or departing each day as of 2023.
The incident adds to a growing list of technical disruptions that have rattled UK and European airports in recent years, raising fresh questions about infrastructure resilience.
A cyber attack targeting check-in systems last year resulted in multiple flight cancellations and widespread delays across several European airports, highlighting the sector’s vulnerability.
One of the most damaging incidents in recent memory came in 2023, when a CrowdStrike software update caused global flight disruptions, grounding aircraft at airports around the world.
British Airways is operated by International Airlines Group (LON: IAG), whose shares will be watched closely as passengers and travel insurers assess the cost of the latest disruption.