Warning airport chaos will get WORSE next month just as school holidays start

A BAGGAGE handler has warned that airport chaos is going to get WORSE next month just as school holidays start.

Holidaymakers have been facing hellish queues, cancelled flights and mountains of lost suitcases with chaotic scenes at airports around the country.

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This week shocking photos have shown the true scale of the pandemonium occurring at airports – with hundreds of suitcases abandoned at baggage claim.

Snaps show a sea of bags cordoned off in no particular order yesterday at Heathrow – making travellers fear they may not see their belongings again for weeks.

And last week footage emerged of a frustrated pilot loaded baggage onto his plane after suitcases piled up.

Now an airport worker for one of the UK’s major travel hubs has now lifted the lid on the industry’s turmoil.

The anonymous baggage handler, who has worked in the industry for more than a decade says the chaos enfolding is the worst he has ever seen.

And he believes it is only going to get worse as thousands of Brits are set to jet off next week when school holidays break.

He told The Times: “Before this year, I had never seen pilots helping to load and unload suitcases. 

“In recent weeks, I have seen captains and first officers mucking in. At other airports, I hear it is now commonplace.

“Passengers are waiting up to six hours for their bags. The other day I saw a cleaner driving the luggage trolley on the tarmac, unescorted, because there were not enough baggage handlers to do it.

“And if people think the delays are bad now, it is nothing compared to what is going to happen when children break up from school at the end of July and beginning of August.”

There are triple the number of passengers flying in and out of Britian’s airports this summer compared to last year.

Hundreds of flights are being delayed or cancelled as there are not enough staff to cope with the booming demand.

And the baggage handler says his job is becoming dangerous as workers struggle to cope with the huge number of suitcases coming through.

He said: “At my airport, one of the biggest in the UK, we only have two thirds of the baggage handlers we need. 

“We are so short-staffed that colleagues are taking safety risks just to get the bags on board and get the planes away.

“We use conveyor belts to get the bags on and off the planes, but sometimes there are not enough workers to bring them to the tarmac. 

“Some baggage handlers have become so frustrated that they are no longer waiting for the belt and are hoisting each other into the hold and throwing bags from ground level up to the plane. They could break their necks if they fell.”