As Southwest Airlines canceled thousands of flights during the post-holiday travel rush, leaving travelers stranded, it also sparked another problem as suitcases began piling up at airport carousels, leading to an overflow of unclaimed bags.
With travelers already facing frustration from delays to cancellations to long lines and waits, they also quickly realized they may not be able to find their luggage.
Terry Velligan said his family was planning to head to New Orleans, but instead they had to spend hours just trying to track down their bags.
“We took off work to go to New Orleans, and so now we are here spending all our vacation looking for our bags,” he said.
Images from Midway Airport, showed hundreds of people in lines amid the cancellations and luggage piling up in parts of the airport. Similar scenes were reported at airports across the U.S.
“Baggage is certainly one of those things that is difficult to recover in the immediate aftermath …