The chaos of flight cancellations is precipitating, but the trouble with missing luggage persists.

Officials at the Calcutta airport said the number of unclaimed bags of IndiGo passengers came down on Tuesday night. However, another 25 pieces of unclaimed registered luggage have been brought to the airport.

On Wednesday, several passengers were seen searching desperately for their missing bags.

The day started calmly for the staff at the IndiGo counter near gate 3C at the departure level. As the day progressed, the number of passengers looking for their baggage kept climbing. IndiGo staff were seen moving briskly between counters and trolleys, calling out tag numbers, matching claim stubs and handing over suitcases to relieved travellers.

Zeeshan Ashraf, 32, was one of such passengers, but he was told that his luggage had not reached Calcutta.

Zeeshan flew from Abu Dhabi to Calcutta via Hyderabad on Friday after his
flight was rescheduled on December 5.

“I had a connecting flight from Hyderabad to Calcutta at 8am, which was rescheduled to 9pm on Friday. I reached Calcutta at 11pm. I was assured that my luggage would reach my address within 48 hours, but it’s been more than that,” he said.

“They are neither receiving my calls nor replying to my emails, so I had to come to the airport to check for my luggage,” he said. Zeeshan drove 18km to the airport from his home in Picnic Garden.

“IndiGo has been claiming on social media that they have returned many bags to passengers. I have been tracking their posts. It is very disappointing that they couldn’t find mine even after five days,” he said.

“I come to India only once a year. I had gifts for my relatives in the bags. I have lost almost a week because of this chaos,” he added.

Inside the terminal, piles of unclaimed luggage were stacked at the GOFirst ticket counter in the departure area.

“All 65,000 IndiGo employees in various roles across the organisation have come together to restore normalcy in our operations,” said an IndiGo spokesperson.

Among those affected were 13 pilgrims who returned after performing Umrah (a voluntary Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that can be performed at any time of the year) on Tuesday.

Amir Sohel, 27, who came to the airport with his father and uncle, said: “My father and uncle returned on Tuesday, but their luggage could not be traced. They were part of a group of 13 pilgrims. They were told in Saudi Arabia that their luggage was in transit, but it did not arrive,” he said.

On Wednesday, two bags belonging to his uncle were located. His father’s luggage remained untraceable.

“We have been waiting since morning. My father had brought holy water from Umrah, and there were dates and dry fruits for family members,” Amir said.

“We have been told we will get a call from the airline, but they cannot assure us when,” he said.

Some of the passengers alleged “harassment” during boarding.

Seikh Sarap, whose son was scheduled to fly to Bahrain via Mumbai, said his son could not board the flight after the connecting flight from Mumbai was delayed by nearly 12 hours.

“My son could not board the flight today (Wednesday). His connecting flight was at 10.40pm, but it was delayed by almost 12 hours,” said Sarap, who works at a hotel in Kerala. They were forced to book another ticket for Thursday.

Purnendu Mahata, who had come with his daughter Shreya to the airport, said they missed their flight to Dehradun on Wednesday after the airline failed to issue boarding passes despite their baggage being checked in.

“We were asked to go near boarding gate 25. During the final boarding call, security staff asked for our boarding passes and found they had not been issued. We were sent back for re-checking, and in that chaos, we missed our flight,” said Shreya, alleging that the IndiGo staff did not help.

An airport official said between December 5 and 7, IndiGo provided food packets to more than 17,000 stranded passengers and provided around 700 hotel rooms near the
airport.