Heathrow confirmed it was supporting BA with a technical issue with its allocation system, one that was mainly affecting its operations at Heathrow Terminal 5.

"We advise passengers to check with BA before travelling to the airport," said Heathrow in a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter). "BA passengers in Terminal 5 may be impacted and are advised to contact BA for assistance. No other airline is impacted."

Images and footage posted to social media appear to show large numbers of passengers queuing to reclaim their bags and seek assistance from BA.

According to several national media outlets, BA is reported to have texted affected passengers, saying: "We’re sorry to inform you that, due to a technical issue with our baggage allocation system at Heathrow, we can’t guarantee that your bags will have travelled with you on your flight today."

The airline’s X/Twitter channel has been flooded with messages from passengers seeking to be reunited with their baggage, which continued on Wednesday morning (26 June).

One response from BA read: "Sorry for the delay in responding. I’m afraid there was a temporary technical fault that was outside of our control. This issue has been resolved and we’ve brought in additional colleagues to support our teams in getting bags back to our customers as quickly as possible."

TTG has approached British Airways and Heathrow for comment. In response, BA said the issue was "temporary" and had been caused by a third-party supplier fault, which had now been resolve.

"We’ve apologised to those customers who were unable to travel with their luggage due to a temporary technical fault that was outside of our control," said BA. "This issue has been resolved and we’ve brought in additional colleagues to support our teams in getting bags back to our customers as quickly as possible."

A Heathrow spokesperson added: “Earlier, British Airways experienced a technical issue with their allocation system. This has now been resolved. Our teams are on site supporting BA with their recovery.

"We advise passengers to check with BA before travelling to the airport as BA passengers in Terminal 5 may still be impacted. No other airline is impacted."