Dramatic footage obtained by the Daily Mail shows two men going head-to-head with some yelling "stop it" and "enough" as they tried to stop the brawl.
The passenger who took the video – and asked to remain anonymous – told the Daily Mail, the situation was a "nightmare" and that everyone was exhausted and getting angry.
"It isn't nice to see people fighting and we were just waiting for our suitcases," they said.
"All hell broke loose. There were people fighting and so people started running. It was crazy.
"We all had to deal with it as there was zero security or staff around to help."
It all started when passengers were handed a piece of paper telling them that "unforeseen operational challenges" meant their luggage could not be offloaded in a "timely manner" – and there was no clear indication as to when they would receive or be sent their luggage to their chosen address.
According to the passenger who took the footage, people started shouting at the staffer and accused him of lying, before turning on each other.
The cap on passenger numbers at airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick, and large schedule cuts by airlines such as British Airways has brought relief to ground handlers and a better experience for passengers, with consumer organisations receiving fewer complaints of lost bags, The Guardian reported.
However, while airport luggage handling seems to have improved in the UK, the industry continues to face staffing issues.
In June, London's Heathrow Airport experienced a technical failure which saw photos of a "baggage mountain" go viral.
Since then, most pile-ups have been due to a lack of staff – not simply in baggage handling but in all parts of aviation, from check-in to air traffic control, according to The Guardian.
