Aer Lingus customers hit by Heathrow luggage chaos urged not to call help desk

Aer Lingus has urged customers affected by the recent meltdown of London’s Heathrow’s baggage systems to resist calling the carrier’s help desk, as it will arrange to drop off their lost luggage to forwarding addresses.

Passengers who have not been able to get hold of their luggage on arriving at Heathrow in recent days will have filled out forms with addresses and can expect to get a text from Aer Lingus in advance of delivery.

It comes as the carrier on Sunday cancelled four each-way flights between Dublin and Heathrow as the UK’s busiest airport urged airlines to reduce capacity as it struggled to deal with the baggage problem.

“Affected passengers were accommodated on the same-day next available Aer Lingus service. Today’s services to and from London Heathrow are operating as planned, and we do not anticipate any changes to tomorrow’s schedule to London Heathrow,” a spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said on Monday evening.

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The Aer Lingus spokeswoman confirmed that some customers’ baggage has been impacted by the Heathrow system failure and inadequate staffing.

“We are working closely with London Heathrow to prioritise the speedy return of that baggage within the coming days,” she said. “Aer Lingus wishes to assure those waiting to have their baggage returned that it will be delivered to their forwarding address as soon as possible, and that it is not necessary to contact the service centre.”

Heathrow asked airlines to cut 10 per cent of flights at its terminals 2 and 3 on Monday, in a move that was expected to affect about 5,000 passengers on about 30 flights.

It comes after images emerged on Friday of a huge pile-up of passengers’ luggage.

A spokeswoman for the airport said: “We apologise unreservedly for the disruption passengers have faced over the course of this weekend.

“The technical issues affecting baggage systems have led to us making the decision to request airlines operating in terminals 2 and 3 to consolidate their schedules on Monday June 20th.

“This will enable us to minimise ongoing impact and we ask that all passengers check with their airlines for the latest information.”

Meanwhile, EasyJet announced it was cancelling summer flights in a bid to avoid last-minute cancellations and in response to caps introduced by London Gatwick and Amsterdam Schiphol airports.

It said it was “proactively consolidating a number of flights across affected airports”.

The aviation sector across Europe is experiencing “operational issues” including air traffic control delays, staff shortages in ground handling and at airports, and increased times for identity checks of new recruits, EasyJet said.

The airline has cancelled thousands of flights in recent months, particularly during school holidays at Easter and the half-term period, which coincided with the UK’s so-called Jubilee bank holiday weekend.

— Additional reporting Press Association