Heathrow airport's week of chaos continues with delays and queues

Passengers who landed on Friday morning had to wait more than an hour for their luggage

Heathrow Airport has been hit by a week of delays and setbacks for passengers. (Photo by Hollie Adams/Getty Images)

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Heathrow Airport on Friday was hit by a morning of chaos, capping a week of delays at check-in and arrival areas that prompted a slew of complaints and widespread criticism.

Passengers who landed at the west London airport on Friday morning reported being held on planes on the runway while others had to wait for ore than an hour for their bags to be unloaded from aircraft.

There were also delays at passport control in several terminals, where some e-gates appeared to be out of operation.

Richard Slaughter tweeted a video showing people queueing to check in at British Airways and Qatar Airways desks, and claimed they had been standing in line for more than an hour. He said "things are getting heated" as passengers, some with young children, appeared to be growing weary of the long wait.

"Why is it that we've been said in a queue for more than an hour that hasn't moved at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5, having been advised by you to get here at least 4 hours early? Asking us to get here extra early to make us stand around doing nothing is frankly cruel."

Earlier this week Heathrow was hit by a series of delays that prompted a backlash on Twitter. Passengers reported having to join a queue a quarter of a mile long after they disembarked their flight.

Paul Brand on Friday said the airport “unrest is brewing” as he and other passengers had to wait more than an hour for their bags.

“Heathrow Airport please sort your self-service passport control booths,” he tweeted. “Massive queue and only 7 of 25 were open. Why? Bad management? As for reclaim??? Crazy.

“Major issue getting bags from plane to reclaim hall,” he aid. “People waiting over an hour. Unrest is brewing.”

Jane Archer was among the travellers who demanded answers from Heathrow over the number of e-gates at Terminal 3’s immigration checks that were out of action.

“Heathrow Airport has anyone in power noticed the chaos at T3?” she tweeted. “Electronic gates not working. Hundreds seeking assistance and just two people on duty. Surely you can do better than this.”

Andy Bond vented his anger over the delay in baggage handling. “Heathrow Airport, what’s the deal with baggage today?” he said.

“My whole flight has been waiting over 55 minutes for our baggage to turn up in Terminal 3. Not ideal after 12 hours of travel already and another three to go.”

Helen Owen, another traveller forced to wait around for her bags slammed the “shocking service” at Heathrow’s Terminal 3. “Over an hour waiting for luggage in baggage claim. At what point do you provide water and refreshments? Beyond tedious now.”

And Michael Keane said he was being prevented from disembarking his British Airways flight 40 minutes after it landed. He said he and his fellow passengers had been told that all flights heading out of Terminal 5 had been delayed.

“What is going on?” he said.

Heathrow Airport through the years

Heathrow Airport in London, the UK's busiest, has been a travel hub for decades. Here The National takes a look back at Heathrow through the years. All photos: Getty Images

An Airco De Havilland biplane of the British airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, about to leave on the company’s inaugural flight from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, later known as Heathrow, to Le Bourget, Paris, in August 1919

Waterlogged runways at London Airport - Heathrow's original name - one week before it became Britain's main aerial gateway to the US in 1946

The new BOAC maintenance headquarters at London Airport circa 1955

The air traffic control room at the airport's new terminal in 1955

US film star Marilyn Monroe with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, after arriving at the airport in July 1956

An aerial view showing the runways in 1958

The arrivals and departures board in 1960

A new airport gift shop, selling items by Chanel, Wedgwood and Pringle of Scotland, in 1961

The Queen's Building and the No. 1 Building Europa at Heathrow in 1965

The Beatles leave Heathrow for Salzburg in Austria, to resume filming of the movie Help!, in 1965

Passenger terminal gates at Heathrow in 1966

Keith Granville, managing director of BOAC, holding up a model of the Boeing 747 jet, with the new aircraft hangars under construction in the background, at Heathrow in 1969

An aerial view of Heathrow in 1970

Passengers boarding the first BOAC Jumbo Jet 747 used for a commercial flight, from London Heathrow to New York, in 1971

Passengers going through the departure lounge at Heathrow in 1973

Concorde takes off from Heathrow on her first commercial flight for British Airways in 1976

Men at work finalising the Heathrow Central underground station before its opening in 1977

Queen Elizabeth II passing though the Tube gates at Heathrow Central station on its opening in 1977

An aerial view of Heathrow in 1978

Passengers waiting near a departures board in 1979

Holidaymakers waiting in the departure lounge at Terminal 3 of Heathrow in 1981

British Airways employees protesting at Heathrow in 1984

Passengers and staff observe a silence in Heathrow's Terminal One to mark the beginning of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997

Rower Steve Redgrave at Heathrow with daughters Sophie and Natalie and son Zak after returning from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with his gold medal

Spectators watch the last Concorde land at Heathrow in 2003

Fans surround the coach carrying the England rugby team at Heathrow, as they arrived from Sydney after winning the World Cup in 2003

Heathrow's Terminal 2 in 2004

Passengers queue to check in at Terminal 1 of Heathrow Airport during the Christmas 2006 and New Year period

Passengers wait at Terminal 1 on August 10, 2006, after airport security was raised to critical when a terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US was disrupted by police

Planes queueing to take off at Heathrow in 2007

The new Terminal 5 at Heathrow in 2008

Aircraft at Heathrow Airport in front of the London skyline in 2016

Members of Team GB arrive from Rio de Janeiro at Heathrow, after returning from the 2016 Olympics, which saw Great Britain's strongest performance at the Games in over a century

A composite photo shows planes taking off from Heathrow in November 2016. Forty-two planes were captured between 10.17am and 11.17am and a montage was created from those single images

Items are arranged during an auction preview at Heathrow in 2018. The contents of Terminal 1, which closed in 2015, were being sold

An airline passenger wearing a face mask pushes her bags through Heathrow's Terminal 5 during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020

British Airways employees welcome Olympians returning from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021

Travellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check in 2022