Thousands Of Bags, Luggage Stuck At JFK Days After Blizzard: Report

After delays from a blizzard, machine malfunctions following freezing temperatures and a burst water pipe Saturday there are still 5,000 pieces of luggage stranded at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City Wednesday, according to WNBC.

Last week a “bomb cyclone” dropped snow up and down the east coast with parts of New York City reporting a snowfall as high as 13.6 inches. After the snowfall Thursday, the east coast then faced a cold snap with temperatures dropping into the negatives in many states. For a short period of time atop Mt. Washington in New Hampshire was the second coldest place on Earth, according to New Hampshire Public Radio. The freezing cold temperatures caused malfunctioning to machinery at JFK already backed up from dozens of storm-related flight cancellations. The coup de gras for the overworked airport came Saturday when a water pipe burst and flooded the airport’s terminal 5.

Inside sources familiar with the luggage situation told WNBC that there were around 5,000 pieces of luggage still caught at the airport, 3,800 of which came from Delta flights.

“[We] share the public's outrage and have directed the airlines to have all bags out of JFK and on their way to customers by day's end,” said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey which manages the airport in a statement. “This unacceptable delay has inconvenienced too many travelers and we continue to work with the airlines to aggressively address the situation and provide assistance as needed.”

Delta told the New York Post that it was working to return the luggage — it had gotten 4,000 bags back to customers Tuesday.

“Delta continues to work diligently to reunite customers with bags that were separated in recent days due to a water main break and inclement weather in New York,” the carrier said in a statement.