Baggage chaos grounds Delta flight from Cape Town

Chaos was the order of the day at the Cape Town airport on Sunday when two Johannesburg-bound SAA flights neglected to load their passengers’ luggage and an international Delta Airlines flight was delayed for 24 hours.

When asked for an explanation regarding the delays in domestic departures, however, officials of the Airports Company of SA told the Cape Times that in fact there were no delays.

On Sunday, Delta Airlines passenger, Lindsay Shuttleworth, commented that passengers had been waiting for the New York flight to depart since 6pm Saturday evening.

Shuttleworth also indicated that there was no one at Delta’s information desk to provide assistance to stranded passengers.

Earlier in the month, Delta Airlines launched its direct service from Cape Town International Airport to New York’s JFK, via Dakar. Delta is the only U.S.-based carrier serving South African airports.

Delta spokesperson Olivia Cullis, reporting from London, said that DL flight 129 from Cape Town to New York, had been cancelled due to a technical problem.

“It was cancelled for operational reasons. These things do come up every now and again.

“As you know, safety and security are our number one priority. It’s quite unfortunate it came to this.

“We regret any inconvenience caused to passengers.”

Delta did not provide overnight accommodation for its passengers, and the flight eventually departed mid-day the following day.

Robyn Chalmers, a spokesperson for SAA, reported that a technical problem with Cape Town Airport’s baggage belts was the cause of luggage being left behind, on flights SA324 and SA326. Passengers’ bags were sent to Johannesburg on the next available flight.

“SAA would like to apologise to the affected passengers for the inconvenience caused.”

An airport spokesperson reported on Sunday afternoon that the conveyor belts had been repaired.

Delta.com