The decision, taken after a series of problems wrecked what should have been a landmark day at the west London airport, meant travellers could only fly with carry-on hand luggage.

It completed what had been an utterly miserable few hours for many passengers, for BA and for airport operator BAA, with BA having to cancel 34 flights.

After a good start to the day, with the first flight arriving eight minutes early and no luggage delays, problems accumulated.

First staff had trouble with the car park, then a computer problem led to some departing flights having to leave with no luggage aboard.

Downstairs in the giant building passengers off the first Hong Kong flight all got their bags in quick time.

But soon it was clear there were major problems with baggage reclaim, with some passengers having to wait as long as two-and-a-half hours to collect their cases.

By lunchtime the knock-on effect of all the problems led BA to cancel 20 flights – a figure which later increased to 34.

In early afternoon a huge queue of more than 100 people wound back from the cancellation flights desk as people lined up to try to get away on other flights or get refunds.

To add to the difficulties the luggage belt in one part of the departure lounge failed and passengers were moved further down to a workable area.

Then at about 5pm BA decided to suspend the checking in of all luggage going into the hold.

This left passengers already at the airport with the choice of either flying with just hand luggage, getting an alternative flight or getting their money back.

The Department for Transport said last night: "We expect British Airways and BAA to work hard to resolve these issues and limit disruption to passengers."

BA said: "British Airways flights from Heathrow Terminal 5 will depart with hand baggage only with immediate effect due to problems associated with processing customers' baggage... BA apologises to customers for the problems during Terminal 5's first day of operations following one of the most complex and largest airport moves in history."

Even from early morning some passengers were moaning. They said that road signs were not clear outside the terminal and that they were given wrong directions once inside.

Some were angry. Kate Adamson, 39, travelling from Frankfurt with her young daughter, walked out of the baggage re-claim without her luggage after failing to reconnect with her bags after 90 minutes. She said: "I am furious. Staff have been really surly. I've given up. They can send my bags on to me."

Insurance broker Michael Barnfield, arriving from Miami with his son, was among those who had a two-hour wait for luggage. Visibly angry, he said: "First we spent ages on the tarmac and then we walked through a filthy corridor before getting a coach to the terminal.

"Then we had 40 minutes to get through immigration followed by an hour waiting for our bags. I know there are teething problems, but gee."

As the departures hall began to clear last night some would-be passengers were left bedding down in the airport for the night.


Gateway to 30 million passengers

Heathrow Airport's new £4.3bn Terminal 5 (T5) has the capacity to handle 30 million passengers a year.

The new terminal is as big as 50 football pitches, being 1,300ft long, 525ft wide and 140ft high.

For the exclusive use of the UK's biggest airline, British Airways, T5 will be able to handle 82,000 passengers a day.

BA is moving nearly all its Heathrow Terminal 1 and Terminal 4 operations into T5.

T5 has a sophisticated baggage system capable of dealing with 12,000 bags an hour – roughly double BA's baggage capacity at terminals One and Four