Several passengers on the Air-India (AI) flight to London from Dhaka, via the city, reached a bitterly cold Heathrow last week, with only their hand bags. The rest of the luggage went missing, allegedly due to a gaffe by the airline.

The passengers also complained that there were no AI staff at the London airport to assist them.

“The AI151 flight on February 8 was two hours late. After landing around 8.30 pm local time, we heard an announcement stating that some of the luggage had not arrived,” said Moushumi Bhowmik, a singer who went to London for research on folk music.

“When we got to the conveyor belt, we realised most of our bags had gone missing,” added Sukanta Majumdar, a sound recordist from the city who was on his way to Berlin for taking part in a talent hunt contest.

Bhowmik recounted: “It was very cold and we only had our hand baggage.” She was forced to buy clothes and other items in London.

She received her bags three days later. Majumdar is yet to get his bags back.

“Mishandling of baggage occurs on all airlines. Once it is reported, the bags are immediately located and put on the next flight to the destination concerned,” said A.K. Tirkey, manager (eastern India) Air-India.

“If the bags cannot be traced, we do everything in our power to track them down,” Tirkey added.

According to Calcutta airport officials, lack of coordination among airline employees is generally behind passengers’ bags going missing.

“The carriers are short-staffed, while the number of passengers is increasing steadily. As a result, the airlines are finding it difficult to cope,” explained the official.

On Sunday morning, an Air Deccan flight from Delhi to Calcutta arrived without the luggage of the 171 passengers. The bags finally reached the city in the evening.