Extra staff are being drafted in to clear a backlog of luggage at Heathrow Airport.
British Airways (BA) employees with security clearance will pitch in to help sort thousands of items.
The airline said a "significant number" of bags had built up, mainly due to a security alert this week, but union officials blamed staff shortages.
A spokesman for BA said it was working to relieve pressure on staff and return luggage to passengers.
Fast-track redundancies
BA said it had agreed to bring in employees from other areas of the company on a short term basis.
The move was prompted by calls from the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G) section of Unite for an improvement to working conditions for baggage handlers.
Brendan Gold of the T&G said they had been warning the company of these problems since January and current estimates were that 20,000 bags were still to be cleared.
"Some of the working areas have abysmal toilet and rest facilities and haphazard food and water supplies"
He blamed a combination of fast-tracking redundancies ahead of the move to Terminal 5, and related training, for staff shortages.
Mr Gold said working conditions the baggage handlers had to endure were a "disgrace" and had also led to increased frustration among its members.
"Some of the working areas have abysmal toilet and rest facilities and haphazard food and water supplies," he said.
But a spokesman for BA said a combination of the recent poor weather, the terrorist attack in Scotland and this week's security alert at Terminal 4 had resulted in the backlog.
"We want to do all we can to reduce the burden on our staff, who are working around the clock to help clear the backlog of bags, and also help us reunite our customers with their luggage as quickly as possible," he said.
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