Colorado winter storm causes Christmas airport chaos

  • 20/12/2016
Jacob Bolm was forced to leave the airport and return for his luggage (Instagram/@Bolmj)
Jacob Bolm was forced to leave the airport and return for his luggage (Instagram/@Bolmj)

A huge snow storm has grounded flights at Denver International Airport in Colorado, leaving mountains of snow and mountains of suitcases.

Photos posted to social media show the chaos that ensued as many flights were cancelled, including several Frontier Airlines flights.

Instagram user Tommy Bagwell had to wait through 13 hours of delays before his flight was finally cancelled.

Some passengers were forced to leave the airport and return to collect their baggage days later.

Others were not even able to leave the airport because of the storm.

Instagram user Jon VanBlaricum had to wait for hours on the tarmac at the airport before getting very little sleep and having to try and find his bag among the mess.

Frontier Airlines says baggage claim backups were caused by the weather and short staffing because some employees were unable to make it to work in the snow.

On Tuesday it posted to Facebook to apologise for the delays, saying it made "several tough decisions to cancel and delay flights".

But the overwhelming majority of customers were not happy, calling the airline the "worst ever".

People were particularly frustrated by the lack of direction given to passengers at the airport. Some were forced to wait on the tarmac before being told to disembark and collect their baggage.

Newshub.