Plane jets off with no luggage on board due to a shortage of airport staff, leaving passengers without their possessions for 3 days

A flight to Spain recently took off without any luggage on board because there was a shortage of baggage handlers at the airport, Manchester Evening News reported.

An Iberia Express flight took off on Sunday evening from Manchester in northern England and landed in the Spanish capital of Madrid a few hours later, according to the airline’s website. Passengers traveling on the flight were unaware that their luggage had failed to make it onto the plane, the newspaper reported.

After arriving in Madrid, passengers waited at the baggage carousel for around half an hour, a person named Ellen told Manchester Evening News, but their luggage never showed up.

Passengers told the newspaper on Wednesday they still didn’t have their bags three days after landing in Madrid and had difficulties getting help from Iberia Express.

“Every time we call they say they have no information,” Ellen, the passenger, told Manchester Evening News. “They have not given us any information and just keep saying they are looking for it. They just say it has not been scanned into the system. It has not been touched by a baggage handler.”

Iberia Express didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment made outside of normal working hours. A spokesperson for the airline told Manchester Evening News that the bags didn’t make it onto the plane because of a shortage of baggage handlers from its handling provider in Manchester.

The spokesperson told Manchester Evening News the airline informed passengers about the mishap when they landed in Madrid. Iberia Express told passengers they could get reimbursed for essential expenses, the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson said the airline was scheduled to fly the missing luggage out to passengers on Wednesday evening. It was unclear whether passengers have received their bags yet.

Stories of lost luggage have come to light this summer as the airline industry grapples with a staffing shortage on top of peak travel demand. Out of all the US carriers, American Airlines wasranked as having the worst mishandled baggage rate.