BA asks Heathrow for £10m after baggage system breakdowns

British Airways is seeking up to £10 million in compensation from Heathrow after a series of baggage system breakdowns, according to reports.

The airline’s complaints follow an incident last weekend that saw 20,000 items of luggage lost. 

BA chief executive Sean Doyle wrote to Heathrow counterpart Thomas Woldbye on Monday detailing the “significant and unacceptable” impact on its customers of the weekend’s failure, according to The Financial Times. 

“The airline has been affected by three baggage outages this year at Heathrow, including the loss of 7,000 bags over half-term and 4,000 at Easter,” said the newspaper.

It calculated the financial cost of transporting or replacing the bags and items so far this year was £10 million.   

The row comes as expansion at Heathrow is under scrutiny, with the Civil Aviation Authority looking at regulatory models and Arora Group proposing a new plan for a shorter third runway.

A Heathrow spokesperson told Travel Weekly: “We are really sorry for the inconvenience and frustration caused by the baggage incident last Friday.

“The system’s reliability is fully restored, and we have been working closely with BA to reunite bags with their owners.

“Our baggage system operates with 99% reliability despite Heathrow operating at full capacity.

“We will continue working with airlines and their ground handlers to minimise future incidents and drive opportunities to make baggage performance even more reliable.

“We hope the CAA will see the value these improvements will deliver for our customers and support future investment.”