Edinburgh Airport passengers wait hours in heat to collect luggage

Edinburgh reached 30C at 15:00 GMT today

Edinburgh Airport passengers have waited for hours in the sweltering heat to collect their luggage.

This is the latest in a series of issues linked to baggage processing.

To deal with an ongoing backlog, international cargo handler Swissport opened a temporary outdoor facility on the day the UK saw its highest recorded temperatures.

Swissport apologised to passengers and said it hoped to reunite them with their luggage as soon as possible.

Edinburgh Airport said that passenger baggage is the responsibility of airlines and their handling agents.

Earlier this week airport officials suspended a lost and delayed luggage helpline to protect their staff from verbal abuse from frustrated callers.

Megan and her boyfriend Daniel were on holiday in Tenerife

Megan Percy flew in to Edinburgh 00:30 GMT on Tuesday and was told by staff that she would have a long wait for her bags or she could come back later in the day to pick them up.

She explained: "They told us to take a form of ID and my luggage tag.

"But nobody asked for anything when I got there. It was just a free for all. You could easily walk in and grab anyone's luggage."

When Ms Percy and her boyfriend returned at lunchtime to collect their belongings she said there were "hundreds" of people searching for their suitcases.

She said: "Nobody helped us find our luggage we just had to rummage around."

There was no cover from the sun as people searched for their belongings

The luggage was piled outside in direct sunlight and was not "easily marked out", she added.

And Ms Percy claimed she saw some people trying to get back into the baggage reclaim areas which are out of bounds once passengers have exited.

She said: "We were there for just over an hour roughly. It was a bit of a nightmare.

"We eventually got our luggage but it needs to be managed a lot more properly."

Swissport, Menzies and WFS handle baggage at the airport. There have been reports of problems with passengers reclaiming baggage with all three operators.

Swissport had previously acknowledged problems and is storing hundreds of unclaimed bags at a warehouse at Edinburgh Airport while it works through the backlog.

A spokesperson said: "We would like to sincerely apologise to the passengers who were not able to collect their baggage at our Edinburgh Airport holding area.

"Challenging conditions at this peak travel period led to a delay transferring the baggage from the airport terminal and this was not properly communicated.

"We're working closely with our partners to reunite passengers with their baggage as soon as possible."