British Airways is sending thousands of suitcases to Milan in an attempt to sort out the backlog of bags at Heathrow's beleaguered Terminal Five.
BA admit that some 19,000 bags are still waiting to be reunited with their owners as a result of the ongoing luggage handling fiasco at the new terminal.
Hundreds of BA staff have given up their days off to help solve the problem of the growing luggage mountain but with so many bags still stuck in the system BA have said that some of the delayed luggage will now be sent to a courier firm in Milan to sort and deliver the bags.
A BA spokesman said: “Much of this process must be done manually rather than using the automated baggage systems.
“Although the majority of delayed bags will be sorted and reflighted at Heathrow, it is quicker for bags with European mainland addresses to go to Milan for sorting and onward transport than waiting for space to appear on flights leaving Heathrow.”
She said sending luggage to Milan was standard practice, and was used last year when a similar backlog of baggage built up.
50 more flights were cancelled out of T5 yesterday because of the chaos, but BA says 92% of it's scheduled flights will be in operation by Thursday.
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