Clive D.W. Feather wrote:
On 21/09/2016 09:48, Neil Williams wrote:
Sounds like a particularly bad day. The walk from some gates can be a
*bit* long but it's nothing on Gatwick, nor have I ever known any
airport as slow with bags as Gatwick (or Stansted).

Madrid.

Actually, Heathrow on the return (on Monday) was just as bad. After
waiting at the carousel for over half an hour they announced that the
plane door had jammed and bags were only starting to come off. That was
a lie, since I'd seen lots of bags with my flight number already.

It might have been true: there are both forward and aft baggage holds. It's
perfectly possible that one might have had a jammed door. Indeed, it's much
more likely that one, rather than both, might have a problem.


After another 20 minutes, they announced that a container had been lost
and only just found. How do you lose a baggage container?

They presumably have to be towed to the baggage handling area, then moved
by the automated conveyed system to where they're opened and unpacked. I
suppose it's possible they could temporarily lose track of one.


Result: wheels down to groundside was 1h40, wheels up to wheels down had
been about 2h10.

I've been on flights where the former exceeded the latter.