Passengers have slammed British Airways and vowed never to fly with what was once the ‘world’s favorite airline’ over its chaotic response to a baggage system breakdown at its flagship hub at Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport, on Friday, which is still being felt two days later.
Mountains of bags have been piling up wherever overworked staff could find space for them after the automated belts that feed bags from the check-in desks through to the baggage carts suffered a multi-hour malfunction on May 15.
Oh my @British_Airways that’s quite a mess…. Good luck pic.twitter.com/73pZiFYtAP
— Fursie (@FursieRS6) May 16, 2026
Unable to move bags via a complex network of belts and chutes, British Airways was forced to send planes to their destination without any suitcases loaded in the cargo hold, although passengers didn’t find out until after they had arrived.
Now, two days later, British Airways is still working through a massive backlog of delayed bags, although passengers are furious with the airline’s lack of communication on the issue, seemingly stonewalling irate customers who don’t know if or when they’ll get their belongings back.
The actual baggage system breakdown wasn’t the fault of British Airways. The root cause of the problem can be attributed to Heathrow Airport, which has repeatedly promised to invest in a more reliable baggage system but continues to suffer from these embarrassing malfunctions.
It is, however, the responsibility of British Airways to ultimately repatriate delayed bags with their owners and keep them updated on what is happening.
“Disgraceful service from British Airways,” wrote Andy Shaw on X. “My 80-year-old mother-in-law flew business from Glasgow to Heathrow on Friday, and you lost her bag with her medication. She’s distraught. We were told it was at LHR yesterday, but still nothing.”
Andy added: “Total lack of care or urgency. Terrible.”
Andy’s take on the situation was shared by many other passengers, some of whom did, at least, receive emails from British Airways saying that they may not have loaded their bags on the plane, but without any indication of when the situation would be resolved.
What rights do passengers have if their luggage is delayed?
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says that passengers have the right to buy and then reclaim the costs of “bare essentials” if their luggage is delayed, including things buying things like toiletries, underwear, or having laundry done.
It should be noted, however, that many airlines will only cover these costs if your baggage was delayed when you are away from home. If your baggage was delayed on a return trip, then airlines generally expect you to be able to cope without buying new toiletries or clothes.
What if medication was in the checked bag?
Airlines strongly advise passengers never to pack medications or anything very valuable in their checked luggage for exactly this kind of scenario.
It’s unlikely that an airline will prioritize finding one person’s bag over everyone else’s due to a report of essential medication being packed in the case.
Will an Apple AirTag help in this situation?
More and more passengers use Apple AirTags as baggage tracking devices, and, like a slew of other airlines, British Airways has built Apple’s ‘Find My’ functionality into its lost baggage reporting pipeline.
Unfortunately, an Apple AirTag isn’t going to be much help in this situation. When there are so many bags to sort through, agents will literally be going one bag at a time, scanning the luggage tag, sending it on the next flight to its intended destination, and then arranging repatriation at that point.
Having an Apple AirTag might give you some reassurance that your bag is on the move, but don’t expect an airline to act on the location information you provide it to help repatriate your luggage any faster.
