Thousands of bags still stuck at Schiphol after malfunction six days ago
A technical disruption with the baggage system at Schiphol Airport last week has led to a pile up of "several thousand suitcases," a spokesperson for the airport confirmed to NL Times. The incident has mainly affected passengers who stopped at the Amsterdam-area airport on their way to another destination, but also many passengers whose journeys originated at Schiphol, the European Union's second largest airport. Adding to the difficulty, airlines say Schiphol is to blame, while Schiphol says it is up to the airlines and the baggage handling firms to sort out the problems.
Six days after the incident last Wednesday, thousands of passengers were still struggling to get the airlines to deliver their bags this week. A spokesperson for Transavia confirmed that many of their flights which departed on June 28 left without any luggage onboard their aircraft. Although he was unable to say the exact number of passengers involved, and the total amount of missing baggage, he said it involved "multiple flights," and the issue quickly piled up. It was his understanding that all airlines operating out of Schiphol that date were affected by the problem, and said it was not specifically a Transavia issue.
Passengers traveling on KLM, which is owned by the same parent company as Transavia, and their partner airline, Delta, were also severely impacted by the issue. "It's been a nightmare since then, and I still don't have an update," said Brian, an American traveling with his wife and two adult daughters. They left Minneapolis on June 27, and connected in Amsterdam a day later on their way to Florence, Italy for a two-week holiday. Halfway through their vacation, the tracking devices they placed on their luggage shows the items to still be at Schiphol Airport's C-Pier, he told NL Times on Tuesday.
"When we landed in Florence, nobody's luggage showed up," he said. They were not informed about this during the flight, and passengers were just standing around the luggage carousel in baggage claim when they learned of the situation. Communication with KLM and Delta since then has been practically non-existent, he continued. "It's just crickets." When they have managed to speak with someone, the advice has been to just buy replacement items in Italy, which has not always been easy for Brian's family. "I don't know if you know this, but us Americans tend to be larger people than Europeans," the 54-year-old said with a laugh.
Responsibility unclear one week later
NL Times contacted KLM for comment about the situation, but the airline referred questions to Schiphol Airport instead. An email sent by KLM's baggage team to Brian stated that they were not capable of searching through the high volume of luggage for one bag. "We have to wait until we receive the bags to be handled in our office. We are sorry about the delay and we can imagine it is very unpleasant for you."
What has been particularly confusing is determining responsibility for the process, with KLM telling the family, "Due to a very busy period and a lack of staff there are many bags at the C pier stored. This is a secured area where we are not allowed to go from our department."
However, Schiphol's spokesperson directly contested this point when asked. She said, "All baggage handling firms have access at all times to the locations where the bags are stored." The airport has been telling affected passengers who contact them that they need to communicate with their airlines to resolve the issue.
Transavia's spokesperson also pushed the blame towards the airport, which has been in a protracted dispute over baggage handling staff shortages for well over a year now. "We are also dependent on how fast Schiphol can address the problem," the Transavia spokesperson said.KLM also
The finger-pointing in either direction has led passengers to feel disillusioned and let down, with no clear picture of what happens next. Matt, who serves in the American military, said that if KLM and Delta cannot recover his luggage, the least they can do is provide "some official notification or update." The communication with KLM has been virtually silent, and he has only been able to receive updates based on what other passengers have discovered, since he has had almost no contact with the airline.
He flew on June 28 from Germany, where he is stationed, to Dulles Airport in Washington D.C., with a connection in Amsterdam. He checked a large suitcase at the start of the trip, but was also asked to check his carry-on bag due to the size of the aircraft. That left him with only his backpack and the clothes he was wearing at the time. He also put a tracking device on his suitcase, which also showed the item left on the C-Pier at Schiphol Airport as he went ahead to visit his family during the American Independence Day holiday. "On 2 July, I reached out to Schiphol directly and they stated the technical issue has been resolved but the airline is responsible to get the luggage to the owners," he told NL Times.
"I had gifts for family members so I am hoping to receive them before I have to return to Germany. However every day that goes by with absolutely no updates I am less hopeful," he continued. "The only indication of my bag location has been my AirTags," he added, in reference to the Apple product He used to track his luggage. "The airline states they do not know where my bags are."
Medicine lost in luggage for days causing needless panic, passenger says
Michele McCauley and her husband booked Delta's exclusive Delta One business-class suites for their 27th wedding anniversary trip that took them from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on June 27, to Florence, Italy, where their daughter is taking part in a university seminar. As a precaution, the registered nurse took a three-day supply of her thyroid medication in her carry-on luggage, and packed what she would need for the duration of her trip into her checked luggage.
Like Brian's family, they flew threw Schiphol. and only discovered their bags were missing once on the ground in Florence. They also had tracking devices on their luggage, showing them to be located in the Amsterdam airport's C-Pier. Leaving the plane full of passengers in the dark about the situation felt like a slap in the face, she told NL Times. "KLM’s complete lack of respect for their customers and subsequent lack of concern and empathy is absolutely reprehensible."
It took about several hours before they could file a claim about their missing baggage in Florence, and KLM could provide no information about the location of their four suitcases. In the days that followed, she spent hours on the phone, mostly on hold, trying to track down her luggage, becoming extraordinarily concerned about not being able to access her medication. "It was a horrible experience. Just a complete disaster," she said. Replacing the personal items her family needed has already cost several hundreds of euros.
However, multiple visits to pharmacies in Italy made it clear it would be very difficult for her to obtain the specific medication she needed before her temporary supply was exhausted. She has been taking the medication for about ten years, and is not supposed to simply stop using it.
Eventually, her luggage made it to Florence on July 3, she said, but by that point, she and her husband had travelled to 550 kilometers south to the Amalfi Coast. KLM then told the woman that, although the bags made it to Italy, it would be at least three days before they could arrange a courier to deliver the luggage to them. McCauley's daughter remained in Florence for her studies, and collected the bags at the airport, one of which was ripped to shreds. They then contracted their own courier, who charged them 2,100 euros to bring the suitcases to Ravello, Italy.
"I had no choice, I urgently needed my medication," she said. That said, when the bags were delivered, there was a sense of relief. "I was crying last night," she said on Tuesday. "I would never think I would be so excited to see a suitcase."
She said she will do whatever she can to prevent checking bags in the future, and will refuse to fly on KLM. She is also particularly angry with Delta, since they provided no assistance despite spending tens of thousands of euros on tickets with a guarantee of upscale treatment during their travels. McCauley said she will insist on reimbursement for all costs from the two airlines.
Schiphol told NL Times on Monday, "Together, with the airlines, we are doing our utmost to send the remaining baggage as quickly as possible."
Schiphol's baggage woes were extreme last year
Schiphol had a similar issue last summer, during a period of understaffing at their outsourced baggage handling firms and a shortage of security personnel. It led to significant crowding at the airport, with many passengers unable to reach their flights on time. This required baggage workers to recover checked bags from passengers who couldn't get to the gate, with the staffing shortage making it difficult to make arrangements. At its peak, in July 2022, there were 10,000 pieces of luggage stuck at the airport at one moment, and it took well over a month to fix the issue.
To deal with the ongoing issue last year, KLM told many passengers to only take carry-on luggage when traveling, especially on busy days at the airport. KLM said it was the only way passengers could be guaranteed they would have their bags with them at their destination. Other airlines approached the system more creatively. Icelandair sent their own baggage handling teams on flights to Schiphol to ensure passengers received the luggage they checked in.
Incidents of large amounts of luggage stuck at Schiphol were not isolated to the last year. Back in July 2019, a baggage system malfunction led to several thousand items being left behind at the airport. About 9,000 suitcases were also stuck at Schiphol in August 2016 after a baggage system failure affected KLM and Delta passengers transferring to other flights via Amsterdam. It took several days to recover from that incident.
