Passengers left 'baffled' after luggage is replaced by crates of frozen fish

The crates of frozen fish were destined for the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Credit: Michael Braunholtz

Passengers who were waiting for their luggage to appear on a conveyor belt at Heathrow Airport on Monday night were left completely dumbstruck, after a sea of crates containing frozen fish appeared instead.

British Airways has since said it was reuniting customers with their bags after realising "something fishy was going on".

Eventually passengers without their luggage were given claim forms and advised to go home. Credit: Michael Braunholtz

One of the passengers was Mike Braunholtz, from Dorset, who said: "Well we thought it was all going really well.

"We were twenty minutes ahead of the expected landing time, everything had gone well at the airport. It was almost going too well."


  • Michael Braunholtz describes the moment the fish started to appear:

After landing at Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, Michael and his family got to the carousel and awaited for the luggage to appear. It was at this point that the family's fortunes began to change.

Michael said: "The luggage machine started going round and the next thing, there was one box of iced fish and then another one came out and another one came out."

Michael thought that the fish had initially belonged to one fish enthusiast, however, it was only when the number of crates totalled around 40 that he knew something wasn't right.

The cases of a lucky few passengers were caught in the net. Credit: Michael Braunholtz

It was at this point that Becca Braunholtz, Michael's wife, went to inform an airport employee who was nearby. The shocked employee said: "That's not luggage, that's cargo!"

Michael and the rest of the passengers on the British Airways flight from Cyprus then began to wonder where their luggage was.



So what happened to the luggage?

British Airways has since said it was reuniting customers with their bags after realising "something fishy was going on".

Michael said that the family were due to be reunited with their suitcases on Wednesday night (November 3). As to where they got to, Michael said the airline has been tight-lipped.

"They haven't said what adventures our suitcases have been on. They could have easily gone to New York couldn't they?"

"They could have easily gone around the world!"


  • Michael now thinks the scene was 'quite beautiful'

Reflecting on what happened, Michael now sees the beauty in the unusual scene: "It was quite artistic really, quite beautiful, they were all the same boxes just going round".



In a statement, the airline apologised and said most passengers on the flight received their bags as normal.

"We've apologised to our customers and we have been reuniting them with their luggage after realising that something fishy was going on", it added.