Holidaymakers have described scenes of “absolute chaos” at Luton Airport after an issue at the bag drop led to people being unable to board their flights. Two unlucky fliers who were due to travel to Italy said they missed their plane on Monday morning as a result of the issue – which the airport now says is resolved.
One of the travellers told the Express: “We arrived at Luton 2.5 hours early and still missed our flight.” They went on to claim: “The easyJet bag drop was absolute chaos due to a baggage belt failure, and staff said nothing. We stood in a queue for two hours, completely helpless, while our flight took off without us.”
Another added: “As we got closer to the belt and they slowly started taking bags again, it was just chaos. People were pushing and shoving, trying to get their bags on, but staff were already telling us our gates were closed and it was too late. It was a total mess.”
A notification from easyJet told fliers a “technical issue” with baggage belts at the airport was causing “long delays” at the bag drop, where photos showed large queues had formed.
“We advise you to allow additional time to check in for your flight if you are travelling with hold baggage,” the update said.
“Whilst this is outside of our control, we apologise for any convenience this will cause.”
The Express has contacted the airline for a comment.
It was not immediately clear how many people could have missed flights and if other airlines were affected by the issue.
One X user claimed on the social media platform: “@easyJet – currently stranded in Luton Airport – your belts were not working for hours, when they finally did start working, your staff checked us in and assured us the flight is delayed. Only to find out the flight did leave (with our luggage) and your staff have no answers.”
Another flier also took to social media to share their frustration.
They said on X: “@easyJet I was delayed severely at Luton airport today due to the belts not working. We checked 2 luggage bags in, and made the flight… just. Now arrived in Amsterdam and the luggage is missing….. what is our available options? Cant it be put on another flight??”
London Luton is one of the UK’s busiest airports and carried more than 16.7 million passengers last year.
A spokesperson for the airport told the Express: “Earlier this morning, contingency measures were immediately put in place following a fault with our baggage system.
“Engineers worked to restore the system as quickly as possible, and it is now operating as normal. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank our passengers for their patience and understanding.”
