Gatwick Airport arrivals endure baggage delays

Passengers in the baggage hall at Gatwick Airport faced long waits

Passengers arriving on flights into Gatwick Airport have faced delays to collect their luggage.

Marc Ollington, from Tonbridge in Kent, said "everything nice" about his family holiday to Crete had been "obliterated" after they had to wait more than two hours on Tuesday for their bags from a British Airways flight.

Other airlines were also reportedly affected by delays. The airport's baggage retrieval systems are now flowing as normal.

British Airways, which said the issue was caused by the "late arrival" of several flights, apologised for the inconvenience to passengers.

Video footage showed large groups of people sitting on luggage carousels and lying on the floor at Gatwick's baggage collection point.

Gatwick Airport said responsibility for baggage was with individual airlines.

Mr Ollington, 48, who was travelling with his wife and their daughters, aged 11 and 13, said hundreds of people were waiting for their luggage.

He told the BBC that babies were crying while pensioners sat "uncomfortably" on the floor.

Mr Ollington said his family had been "lucky" as some people told him they had been waiting more than three hours for their cases.

"I don't normally get so irate on Twitter, but exactly the same thing happened to me last year," he added. "It's very common."

'Shambles'

Dozens of other people took to social media to vent their frustration, complaining they were left in the dark about the status of their luggage.

"Where is the duty of care to your passengers, this is travesty, people are sprawled all over the airport after a delayed flight," wrote Anthony Nnamani on X, formerly Twitter.

"This is a shambles," added X user Dave, who said he waited more than two hours for his bags following a flight from Greece.

British Airways said: "We're sorry for the delay some customers experienced while waiting for their baggage.

"Our teams worked hard to deal with the late arrival of multiple flights – caused by air traffic control restrictions outside of our control - which meant a slightly longer-than-usual wait for baggage."