Chaos at Manchester airport as passengers abandon luggage

Passengers at Manchester airport have been abandoning their luggage amid the long wait to collect baggage

Manchester Airport is reported to be in total chaos this afternoon, Sunday, April 3, after fed-up passengers simply gave up waiting for their luggage and left the facility. With reported waiting times of up to two hours for baggage to appear, Terminal 3 is said to be awash with abandoned luggage.

Manchester Evening News had reported similar mayhem a few days ago when flight delays and long security checks had occurred. As a result of these ongoing delays, luggage from yesterday, Saturday 2, is apparently still sitting uncollected, a problem being blamed mainly on a shortage of baggage handlers.

One passenger who arrived on a Ryanair flight from Tenerife yesterday, informed M.E.N that the terminal was packed full of unclaimed luggage. 60-year-old Alison Unwin revealed how she arrived at 5.16pm with her husband Paul, and son Ben. By 7.30pm there was still no sign of their baggage.

“There are bags everywhere from days before. It really is unacceptable. They’ve got tickets on them dated yesterday. If I wanted to, I could just walk off with one of those bags”, she told M.E.N, while speaking from the baggage reclaim.

Adding, “There are abandoned pushchairs, car seats, golf clubs, and suitcases strewn around from yesterday. Nobody has taken charge of them. They are just left there”.

A spokesman for Manchester airport re-iterated a previous statement that had been made regarding the situation. “We apologise to passengers whose experience today at Manchester Airport has fallen short of the standards they expected”.

“As we recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, our whole industry is facing staff shortages and recruitment challenges. As a result, we are advising customers that security queues may be longer than usual, and we encourage them to arrive at the earliest time recommended by their airline”.

“Due to the security checks and training associated with these roles, it takes time for people to be able to start work in our operation. That is why we are exploring a number of short-term measures to deliver the best possible service we can, such as the use of agency staff, and different ways in which existing colleagues can support our operation”.

“We are aware that similar challenges are being faced by airlines and third parties, such as baggage handling agents, operating on our site. Together, we are working hard to deliver the best possible service we can in the circumstances, and to resolve these issues as quickly as possible”, they concluded, as reported by mirror.co.uk.