Avoid Barcelona’s Airport if you can!

Just returned from two flights through El Prat, and one month after the “spontaneous” airport workers’ strike action shut down the airport to all flights, it is still baggage chaos there.

Friday 25th August, Terminal B, several hundred (not an exaggeration or a misprint) stray suitcases on the floor, off the carousels. Some roped behind a barrier, many simply lying around. A few frantic passengers looking for their luggage. Airport personnel said most of the luggage had been there “for some days” and that the airlines are powerless to cope with the situation.

Airport baggage handlers are in the midst of an unauthorized strike situation in which they “lose” or misplace hundreds of bags each day. Their protest is over Iberia’s announced reduction of services through Barcelona, and thus a threat to their jobs.

Considering the number of bags in Terminal B alone, it is very possible that there are thousands of misplaced pieces of luggage waiting to be claimed or forwarded, sitting unattended in El Prat Airport.

The Spanish media report that the situation has affected tens of thousands of passengers, and that more than 20,000 official complaints have been lodged.

Returning through Barcelona today, the situation in Terminal B seemed somewhat improved, but it is hard to say exactly how much.

When she heard I was going to fly to Barcelona, a friend rang and told me that her daughter’s luggage had been lost there recently, but that it was eventually delivered-- five days after she arrived back home.