India’s IndiGo is battling growing passenger fury over delays in finding and delivering thousands of stranded bags, with social media flooded with photos of luggage piling up at airports after last week’s large-scale flight disruptions.

IndiGo, which has 65% of the domestic market, has apologised after cancelling more than 2,000 flights as it failed to plan in time for stricter rules governing pilot rest, leading to crew shortages. The delays jolted tens of thousands of people, hitting travel, holiday and wedding plans in one of the worst disruptions in Indian aviation history.

But last-minute cancellations and the multiple connecting flights used to reroute passengers, has also left thousands of suitcases and bags misplaced, some containing valuable items such as passports, house keys and medicines.

Passengers furious as bags lost, wedding clothes missing

Social media posts showed security-tagged bags piled up in terminal areas in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru airports with many furious passengers seeking help from IndiGo’s social media team on X.

“Delhi Left Holding The Bag”, read the headline of a Times of India newspaper photo that went viral showing hundreds of bags in an area typically meant for passengers to sit.

The Indian government in a statement late on Sunday said it had ordered IndiGo to “trace and deliver all baggage separated from passengers due to disruptions within 48 hours.”

By Saturday, the airline had delivered 3,000 pieces of baggage to passengers across India, the government said.

No response on help lines, passenger says

Vikash Bajpai, 47, said he had been waiting for four days for the luggage he and his 72-year-old mother checked in for their flight home to Pune from Kanpur city where they had attended a wedding.

They only reached home after spending a night in a New Delhi hotel, taking a series of connections to Mumbai, and then a taxi to Pune.

There was no sign of their bags when they landed in Mumbai.

“I was given a number to call, but nobody answers the phone. The luggage has expensive wedding clothes and shoes, and my mother’s medication,” Bajpai told Reuters, estimating the contents were worth 90,000 rupees ($1,000).

“I am extremely upset.”

A senior IndiGo executive told Reuters on condition of anonymity the airline was working “round the clock” to clear the bags and ensure they reached their customers.

Deepak Chetry said he finally got his bags from IndiGo on Saturday, but only after waiting an entire night outside the Bengaluru airport.

“All we got was a bottle of water and juice,” Chetry said.