A behind-the-scenes investigation at Manchester Airport showed passengers climbing through a baggage hatch to try to locate their luggage.

The passengers were filmed by a journalist working undercover for baggage handler Swissport.

The video was shown on the Channel 4 Dispatches programme, aired yesterday evening. Passengers were filmed crawling through the flaps at the end of the baggage carousel. They told baggage handlers they’d been waiting more than 90 minutes for their luggage and offered to locate it themselves since they had another flight to catch.

In its trailer for the programme, Channel 4 said: “With the annual school summer holidays now in full swing, going undercover inside one of Britain’s busiest airports to reveal the truth about what goes on behind the scenes. Jane Moore meets travellers whose holidays have been ruined and insiders.”

However, Manchester Airport said it understands the video was filmed about a month ago and relates only to the operations of one ground handling agent, Swissport. There are several others that operate at Manchester, including Meznies, DHL and dnata.

The airport itself isn’t responsible for ground handling services, such as check-in and baggage handling, but it issued a statement on Saturday saying that more staff have since been hired in other areas of the airport to ensure that that it can cope with extra demand during the summer holidays.

Passengers were filmed crawling through the curtain at the end of the baggage carousel. They told baggage handlers they’d been wating more than 90 minutes for their luggage and offered to locate it themselves since they had another flight to catch.

In response to Dispatches’ investigation, Swissport said: “We are sorry for our part in the disruption some people have experienced at Manchester Airport. We are doing everything we can to mitigate delays for passengers, including hiring more than 4,100 people since January.”