1,000 bags. Zero passengers. A Delta flight from Heathrow is the latest sign of air travel hell

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A staff shortage that has caused service disruptions at Heathrow in recent weeks has now been dubbed “Armageddon”. Airport officials have responded to complaints of canceled flights and lost luggage by saying airlines must increase the number of passengers to 100,000 airports per day.

So even though Delta couldn’t carry more passengers, it devised a way to get the lost bags out of the airport.

Baggage was seen at the Heathrow terminal on July 8 without being collected. Delta recently flew from London with no passengers and 1,000 bags to try to resolve a backlog of lost luggage affecting its customers.

“Delta teams have developed an innovative solution to move delayed checked bags from London-Heathrow on July 11 due to passenger volume restrictions at Heathrow Airport,” he said. “Delta flight 9888 from Heathrow to Delta’s Detroit hub flew 1,000 bags to the United States and the teams delivered the bags to our customers.”

The passenger-free flight was first reported by The New York Times.
Delta and other U.S. airlines have been hit by their own staff shortages and service problems this summer, causing nearly 30,000 flights to or from the United States to be grounded, according to tracking service FlightAware. The disruption was especially bad on holiday weekends like Memorial Day, Father’s Day/June 1999 and the 4th of July holiday.
Delta (D.L) Earnings on Wednesday were reported to be well below estimates, partly because of higher fuel costs but also because of the cost of addressing those service problems.
As everyone is trying to get out of the city, travel is at its peak

Delta said it will pay an additional $200 million in overtime and premiums this year to reduce the number of flight cancellations, although it did not break out specific costs for the service issues. And that doesn’t account for other costs associated with service disruptions — like flying jets full of bags overseas without paying customers.

“I want to thank our customers for their patience and understanding as we restore the reliability they expect from Delta,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a call with investors on Wednesday.

CNN’s Chris Boyett contributed to this report.

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