Thousands of unclaimed Southwest luggage moved to warehouse

ST. LOUIS – About 10,000 unclaimed checked bags are expected to be moved from St. Louis Lambert International Airport baggage claim into an off-site warehouse.

Southwest passengers are having difficulty finding their bags due to an increase in cancellations.

Some passengers are getting a belated holiday present, finally getting their long-awaited bags back. However, for many others, the mess at Southwest is nearing a weeklong.

“It’s been a real holiday travel nightmare, very emotional,” said Ali Sneider, a Southwest passenger.

“It’s highly frustrating,” said Peter Denby.

For hours, crowds scour rows of bags, converse with agents, and hope that their bag ticket will lead them to their long-lost luggage.

“They’re here but cannot tell me, especially where they are, and our bags were not secured,” said Thelma Barnett. “Anybody could have walked in and walked out with our bags.”

A Southwest employee said there were roughly 3,000 bags in Lambert Wednesday morning before crews started moving them to a Southwest warehouse. About another 7,000 are already there, still unclaimed.

“We’ve been here for three days now without any bags,” said Lainey Jones. “I’m still missing medical equipment, and we don’t have any clothes. We’ve been in the same thing, it’s not fun.”

Jones said she had to check two bags of medical supplies. She is concerned she will never get them back.

“They keep saying they’ll look, and they’ll look again, and they have everybody looking for it,” he said. “And I’m like you probably have everybody looking for everybody’s bags because there are so many bags.”

Patience is wearing thin as thousands more Southwest flights are canceled in the coming days.