My son was in Copenhagen last week for a few days before he got to London. I had been reading the international press so I warned him that Heathrow airport would be a mess. Immigration queues were so long that at some terminals, it sometimes took three to five hours of queuing up before your turn came. Luggage was often not loaded on to the same flight as you. And the security queue was so long that it snaked out of the security hall into the check-in area.So, I was surprised when my son called me in some distress from Copenhagen airport, long before he got to Heathrow. His bags had not come, he said. There were other passengers who were also waiting for their luggage but the carousel had been put off and the belt was not moving any longer. The arrivals area was jampacked and an air of impending chaos filled the hall.
I suggested that he speak to somebody from the airline. Not possible, he said. There was nobody from Lufthansa in sight. There was only one counter called Baggage Services for all airlines and that already had 30 people lining up to fill forms about their missing luggage.
Most experienced travellers try and grab their luggage the moment it lands on to the belt because all too often somebody else picks up your bag by mistake. When they realise that it is not theirs they just leave it lying on the floor. So, it always pays to check the area around your carousel to see if your bag has been dumped somewhere by mistake.