Travel
Delta Sends Empty Plane to Pick Up Luggage Stranded at London’s Heathrow Airport
Luggage at Heathrow's terminal three bagage claim on July 8.
Photographer: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images
Delta Air Lines Inc. passengers who lost their luggage due to operational chaos at London’s Heathrow Airport got extra help in reuniting with their belongings when the carrier deployed a wide-body aircraft to bring 1,000 bags back to the US.
Delta’s “creative solution” came after it canceled regularly scheduled London-to-Detroit Flight 17 on July 11 because of passenger limits imposed by Heathrow, the Atlanta-based airline said Wednesday. Travelers were shifted to other flights, and Delta used the empty Airbus SE A330-200 to retrieve the lost bags.