Passengers arriving at Suvarnabhumi airport have been forced to wait five or six hours for their baggage and numerous flights have been delayed since Saturday because of problems with Thai Airways’ ground operations.

The disruptions began on Sept 26 and continued into Sunday, leaving many passengers and their luggage stranded at the airport.

Suvarnabhumi airport said on Sunday that it had received complaints from Thai Airways passengers about delayed departures, as well as from arriving passengers who had faced long waits to collect their baggage.

An investigation found that flooding in several areas had affected the ability of ground-handling staff employed by Thai Airways International Plc to travel to work. As a result, the airline had insufficient staff to handle its operations.

The situation was made worse by malfunctions involving some of Thai Airways’ baggage carts.

The problems resulted in delays to some departing flights, while passengers arriving at Suvarnabhumi had to wait significantly longer than usual for their luggage. Baggage from several flights was also left behind at the airport.

Suvarnabhumi airport said it was working urgently with Thai Airways to increase its ground-handling workforce, repair the faulty baggage carts and provide replacement equipment to speed up the handling and transportation of delayed baggage.

It advise passengers requiring assistance to call the AOT 24-hour contact centre on 1722.