Thousands of Unclaimed Bags Fill Delta Airlines Baggage Claim at DIA
Thousands of people are without their luggage after Delta Airlines experienced significant flight operation disruptions over the weekend. The airline had to cancel thousands of flights on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday following a worldwide CrowdStrike outage.
While nearly every airline in the United States was impacted by the outage, Delta Airlines appeared to be the only one still navigating major issues connected to the outage at Denver International Airport (DIA) by Monday.
In the fifth-level baggage claim area, only Delta had thousands of luggage bags scattered around their claim area.
“I was a little nervous when I walked up and saw the sea of luggage,” said Amy Clifton, a Delta customer. Clifton and her husband were in Colorado for business and vacation. They had purchased flights home to Atlanta via Delta, hoping to be home by Monday afternoon. However, Delta’s system issues and lack of available staffing have led to a third consecutive day of major cancellations.
“I heard a worker say the bags behind us have been here for a few days,” Clifton told CBS News Colorado’s Dillon Thomas. Unlike many, the Cliftons quickly reclaimed their bags after checking them in. However, many others either departed Colorado or left the airport in recent days without knowing where their bags were.
Delta Airlines told CBS News this outage came amid their busiest travel weekend of the entire summer. The Cliftons said they couldn’t be rebooked until more than 48 hours after their initial flight.
“Now we are thinking it might be better to get a car and drive 21 hours home. We aren’t sure what to do yet,” Clifton said.
Others, like Amanda Harrison, went more than 24 hours without their baggage. She was supposed to leave Denver on Sunday before her flight was canceled.
“I found out it was an indefinite time before my bag was going to be back,” Harrison said. “It was a little nerve-wracking because all my stuff was in there and I don’t have any clothes. I am wearing my dad’s clothes.”
Luckily, Harrison located her bag 24 hours after her flight was supposed to leave.
