Flooding Leaves Hundreds of Bags Stranded at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport
Heavy rain and flooding have left hundreds of bags undelivered at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, prompting the Thai Air Force to deploy 69 ground personnel to help clear the backlog.
Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport was still grappling with baggage delays on Tuesday, as heavy rain and flooding left hundreds of undelivered bags occupying a large section of the arrivals hall.
Airport workers had sorted the luggage by date of arrival and flight number. Some bags were tagged as having arrived the previous week and had still not been collected by their owners. Passengers were seen queueing at the airport to retrieve their belongings.
In response to the pileup, the Thai Air Force announced it was sending 69 ground personnel to the airport to help clear the backlog. The disruption was caused largely by airport workers being unable to reach their place of work, the air force said.
The airport had earlier attributed the baggage pileup to insufficient staffing for ground handling operations, along with problems involving some baggage carts.
The disruptions delayed some departures and forced arriving passengers to wait longer than usual for their luggage, with baggage from several flights still undelivered.