A backlog of thousands of bags is being kept under 24-hour surveillance at Heathrow airport as British Airways struggles to reunite them with their owners.

The mountain of bags has built up since Thursday when baggage handling systems at Heathrow were brought to a standstill by the weight of luggage being checked in. Huge numbers of travellers were forced to travel without their luggage and some have now returned to the UK after a weekend away to find their luggage still in limbo.

Estimates vary over the number of bags that are being stored at Heathrow, but BA staff told travellers on Monday that a backlog of 40,000 bags had built up. A spokeswoman for BA told Times Online that the backlog has been cut to 5,000, with many bags being loaded onto lorries today to be despatched to their owners.

She said: “The baggage system came to a complete halt so baggage was not being loaded onto planes with the passengers. The congestion was caused by increased amounts of cabin luggage and by the amount of electrics going into bags, which then needed screening at a higher level.”

According to BA this baggage would normally be placed in secure rooms but under the circumstances, telephone operators at BA customer services are assuring callers that bags are being guarded in staffed holding areas 24 hours a day.

Dafydd Goff travelled with BA to Stockholm on Friday morning but his bag wasn’t loaded onto the plane. “Back in Heathrow on Monday night people were still unable to claim their luggage, “ he said. “Many were in tears as their phones, laptops and other essential work items are still in buried in the bowels of Heathrow. In some cases, passengers are temporarily homeless as their house keys are still in their luggage.”

If items go missing from lost luggage it is unclear whether they will be covered by a travel or household insurance policy. Companies including AA insurance and Churchill have stated that they will pay out if items are lost or damaged, but other companies are sticking to their conditions which state that valuable items are not covered if they have been lost or damaged in hold luggage.

The BA baggage claim centre is currently overwhelmed and is instructing customers to call back later or fill in a lost luggage form on the carrier’s website.

In an effort to reunite the bags with their owners, over 100 BA staff members who normally work at its Waterside headquarters have volunteered to help sort through the bags. According to the BA spokeswoman the bags will be loaded onto lorries and planes over the next two days and transported to the owners' homes.

Bmi, which offers short-haul flights out of Heathrow, is also reporting delays in baggage handling, but cannot provide information on the number of misplaced bags. Other airlines operating flights out of Heathrow, including Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines and Air Canada say that have no baggage handling problems to report.

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