Heathrow baggage failure forces thousands to fly without luggage

Thousands of passengers departing London’s Heathrow airport were forced to fly without larger items of luggage Thursday morning after the baggage-handling system serving two of its terminals broke down. British Airways flights were worst hit, with the failure afflicting the carrier’s Terminal 5 base, as well as Terminal 3, used mainly by BA, American Airlines and their allies in the Oneworld group, as well as Virgin Atlantic Airways. And Emirates. Services departing Europe’s busiest hub between 6:45 am and 9 am were affected by the breakdown, before baggage-drop desks were reopened, Heathrow said. More than 60 flights took off from the two terminals during that period. Heathrow apologised for the breakdown, without saying what had caused it. <br/>