JFK Airport Chaos: 100 Bags Unclaimed 2 Weeks After Storm

WORLD TRADE CENTER, NY — About 100 bags lost in the recent winter storm-induced chaos at John F. Kennedy Airport are still separated from their owners two weeks later, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said Thursday.

Airlines lost thousands of pieces of luggage after the Jan. 4 "bomb cyclone" storm grounded, delayed and diverted hundreds of flights. Photos posted online showed piles of suitcases sitting in the baggage claim area.

Most bags have been reunited with their owners. But remaining 100, all from Air China flights, are still sitting in a storage facility outside the airport waiting to be returned, a Port Authority spokesman said.

"It's a process that we're actually following every single day to make sure these bags get delivered to their owners," said Huntley A. Lawrence, director of the Port Authority's aviation unit, at a news conference in the agency's headquarters.

The "unconscionable" baggage mess was just one part of a massive breakdown in communication and coordination that crippled the region's busiest airport after the storm, Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said. Staffing shortages, equipment breakdowns and a water main break in JFK's Terminal 4 also contributed to the chaos, officials have said.

Airlines are responsible for making sure passengers get their luggage, Cotton said. They work with outside baggage-handing and delivery companies, leaving much of the process out of the Port Authority's hands, he said.

As the New York Post first reported, one man has harangued Delta Airlines on Twitter for nearly a week trying to get his suitcase back, only to be told the airline couldn't track his bag because he didn't create a "delayed luggage claim."

The Port Authority has directed airlines and the private companies that operate JFK's six terminals to develop a plan for fixing their baggage-claim systems. That's one of 10 immediate fixes the agency announced Thursday aimed at preventing another operational disaster when future big storms hit.

Last week the Port Authority activated an Emergency Operations Center at JFK, Cotton said. The office will run 24 hours a day during and after any major storm to help make crucial decisions and keep airlines, terminal staff and travelers informed.

The agency is also pushing terminal operators and airlines to create a "mutual aid" plan, allowing them to share gates, staff and equipment when emergencies arise. The Port Authority will "use every enforcement tool that we have" in its contracts with the terminal opeartors to force them to comply, Cotton said.

"What happened was completely unacceptable and cannot be allowed to happen again," Cotton said.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is investigating what went wrong in the storm's wake and how to prevent a disaster from happening again. LaHood started his probe Thursday and expects to finish in three to four months.

LaHood's recommendations will include possible structural reforms to what Cotton called an "antiquated" system at JFK, in which there's a lack of coordination among all the operators and little centralized control by the Port Authority

"We will leave no stone unturned. We will get to the bottom of this," LaHood said.

(Lead image: Unclaimed baggage sits at John F. Kennedy Airport on Jan. 8 after a water main broke in Terminal 4. Photo by Richard Drew/Associated Press)