Hundreds of passengers arriving in Florida from London said they were left waiting for hours to collect their luggage, with some claiming they were repeatedly told they could not leave the airport without their bags.
The travelers, who had flown from Heathrow Airport to Orlando International Airport (MCO), touched down in the US at around 7pm on Saturday, but several people on board said the landing marked the start of a lengthy ordeal.
The baggage backlog was attributed to severe weather, which interfered with ground-handling operations for three Virgin Atlantic flights.
‘We’d like to apologize for the inconvenience caused to customers whose bags were delayed arriving into Orlando International Airport on 27 June, due to adverse weather which affected ground handling operations,’ a spokesman for the airline told the Daily Mail in a statement.
‘We worked closely with our airport and ground handling partners throughout and all customers were reunited with their bags before leaving the airport.’
Under US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rules, all passengers must complete Customs and Immigration checks after getting off an international flight.
CBP has authority over enforcement procedures at Orlando airport and may hold luggage in cases where passengers have not yet finished customs processing.
The agency told the Daily Mail it was aware of the delays affecting passengers, saying the situation stemmed from prolonged waits for checked bags, which in turn disrupted the entry process.
Massive crowds were seen at Orlando International Airport (MCO) on Saturday night as passengers were forced to wait for hours to get through customs and claim their luggage
The passengers were on board a Virgin Atlantic flight from Heathrow Airport in London (file photo)
Carol Wick, a passenger on the flight, told the Daily Mail that she waited for five and a half hours and was told she could not leave by airport and airline staff
‘CBP officers were present and prepared to process travelers. The timely delivery of baggage to the international arrivals hall is the responsibility of the airline,’ a spokesperson for CBP said.
‘All persons, baggage, and merchandise arriving in the United States are subject to CBP inspection. CBP works in partnership with airport authorities and airlines to ensure efficient processing of travelers while maintaining security standards.’
One passenger, Carol Wick, told the Daily Mail that she was forced to wait in a customs line for five and a half hours.
She said that CBP officials and airport security were ‘incredibly professional’, but employees with Virgin Atlantic and MCO prohibited passengers from leaving.
Wick had even attempted to file a lost baggage claim two hours into the wait, but was told that her bags were not lost and that she was not allowed to leave without them.
‘No one attempted to leave as we were told very, very clearly and repeatedly no one was allowed to leave the room. Several other groups came through and got their baggage right away and left. It was only three Virgin Atlantic flights that were trapped,’ Wick said.
In a Facebook post about the experience, she wrote: ‘It’s officially over 48 hrs trying to get home. We finally made it home only to be trapped in customs for over 2 hours now. No one is allowed to leave the area without checked bags. No end in sight.’
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Wick told the Orlando Sentinel that she estimated there were about 800 passengers across the three flights from Europe who were told they risked arrest if they left without claiming their bags.
Angela Starke, a spokesman for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, which oversees the airport, denied that anyone was threatened with arrest in a statement to the Orlando Sentinel.
One passenger on board, Carol Wick, said that she had already endured delays and cancelations before the travel nightmare in Orlando
A spokesman for Virgin Atlantic said the massive delay was caused by adverse weather and apologized to passengers for the inconvenience (file photo)
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‘We share travelers’ frustration with this experience and are working with our airline partners to understand what occurred and how similar situations, outside of weather, can be avoided,’ Starke added in a statement.
Jessica Watkins, a Florida resident traveling home from a trip to London, said that she heard multiple announcements from airport staff instructing travelers that they were prohibited from leaving until they claimed their baggage.
She added that the passengers on her flight continued to wait even after flights from Edinburgh, Manchester, Paris and Brazil were cleared.
To make matters worse, Watkins said that staff did not communicate with the disgruntled travelers about the timeline or the reasons for the extended delays.
‘There was no support from anyone. Nobody knew anything,’ she said.
Passengers received an email from Virgin Atlantic after the ordeal, offering to reimburse them for snack purchases.
Watkins called the message ‘tone-deaf’, adding that there was no food available in the customs area while they waited to be processed.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the airport for additional comment.
