News & Analysis

British Airways is sending thousands of bags to Milan to be sorted because staff cannot cope with the massive backlog.

A spokesman for the airline said 20,000 bags remain separated from their owners after a wave of cancellations over the last week. Around 10% of these, which belong to  passengers from the continent, will be sent by road to Milan.

Other bags will be sent to Gatwick, Manchester and Scotland for sorting.

A BA spokesman said: "Sending baggage to Milan is established procedure for us - it's nothing unusual.

"We hope to run more and more flights each day, we won't be putting a date on when a 100% service will be achieved."

A further 25 return flights have been cancelled from Terminal 5 today.