British Airways is sending thousands of suitcases by lorry to a warehouse in Milan because its staff at Heathrow are unable to cope with the backlog of at least 20,000 bags that missed flights from Terminal 5.

Bags belonging to passengers on domestic flights are being driven to Manchester and Scotland, where they will be sorted, screened and dispatched eventually to their owners.

BA said that problems with the automated baggage system at the new terminal meant that it could not be used to process delayed bags, which had to undergo more rigorous screening. It is cancelling 50 flights today and another 32 tomorrow, bringing the total number of cancellations since the terminal opened on Thursday to 430.

The airline and BAA, which owns Heathrow, have given conflicting accounts of the size of the missing baggage mountain. BA claimed on Sunday afternoon that there were 15,000 bags, but on Monday morning BAA said that the figure was 28,000.

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BACKGROUND

• T5 hit by new flights fiasco

• Terminal problems for BA’s Walsh?

• Lost BA bags sent to Milan

• BA reviews transfers to T5

• Unions had warned BA over chaotic move

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• VIDEO: Ben Webster on BA and the blame game

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• AUDIO: Ginny McGrath onboard one of the first flights out of Terminal 5

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• Video: Chaos at Terminal 5

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• Pictures: Heathrow's Terminal 5 chaos

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• Q&A: travel advice for Heathrow T5 passengers

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Willie Walsh, chief executive of BA, said on Monday night that the number was 19,000 and that 5,000 would be on their way to their owners by yesterday. But yesterday afternoon BA’s press office said that it was still sorting through 20,000 mislaid bags.

The airline said that it was sending bags belonging to customers in mainland Europe to a “specialist sorting facility” in Milan. The facility is understood to belong to a contractor that sends batches of bags on by courier to destinations all over Europe. Despite taking at least 24 hours to get to Milan by lorry, it can be quicker than by air because bags travelling by road do not have to wait to be screened.

However, many bags belonging to people travelling on holiday are likely to find their way to the correct hotels only after the owners have flown home. They may then be returned to Milan to be sorted again.

A BA spokesman said: “When a bag travels with its owner it is screened once. When a bag flies without its owner, it requires an enhanced level of screening. We ask our customers to keep us updated if their address details change. That way we can ensure that their bags will be returned to them at the right location.”

Tighter security for bags flying without their owners was introduced after the Lockerbie disaster of 1988, which was caused by a bomb in an unaccompanied suitcase. BA said that passengers whose bags were lost could claim for “immediate expenses” but did not define what this covered or say how much it would reimburse.

A family going on a skiing holiday in Switzerland last year received only £100 from BA despite having to spend £1,000 on replacement ski gear when their bags were lost for a fortnight.

Gordon Brown was asked at his monthly press conference about the chaos. He said: “I am sorry about the trouble that’s been caused at Heathrow as a result of the failure to get the baggage handling system in line for Terminal 5. BA and BAA have to take responsibility and make sure that passengers can both get their baggage and flights can be restored to normal.”

Theresa Villiers, the Shadow Transport Secretary, has written to BA and BAA urging them “to learn lessons from the Terminal 5 fiasco to ensure that no such problems disrupt the London Olympics” as a result of the planned upgrade to other terminals.

Ms Villiers said: “It is imperative that when each of the newly renovated terminals reopens, we do not see the same scenes of chaos and frustration that have accompanied the opening of Terminal 5.”

—Trading Standards officers have found that some passengers are being wrongly charged for excess baggage because of faults on check-in scales. At Gatwick ten out of 18 scales checked were found to be overstating the weight of luggage. The investigation also found “a host of other practices in which airlines were making money without being up front with their customers about their charges”.

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