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Baggage delays hit thousands at Heathrow
Dick Murray, Transport Editor20 Feb 2008
Thousands of Heathrow travellers either missed their flights or suffered major disruption today.
A combination of fog and a breakdown in the main baggage system at Terminal 4 grounded many flights and delayed others.
By noon 96 departures and arrivals - mostly British Airways flights - had been cancelled because of the fog. The cancellations will leave crews and aircraft out of place.
The baggage system operated by airport owner BAA failed yesterday afternoon and was not fixed until lunchtime today and it was expected to take several hours to clear the backlog .
Earlier a spokesman for BA, Britain's largest carrier, warned economy and premium economy class passengers they would not be allowed on board if they brought luggage to be checked in.
A spokesman said all passengers should check with the airline before setting out for the airport.
Only those with a maximum of two items of hand luggage were allowed through - but many then found their flights either cancelled or delayed because of the fog.
One Heathrow worker said: "It is mayhem here today. Travellers are getting angry and I don't blame them.
Fog and a baggage handling breakdown is the worst combination for chaos." Around 2,000 BA passengers were affected yesterday but many more suffered today.
Hundreds of people formed queues outside the airport to rebook their flights this morning. Marquees were erected to hold extra crowds of passengers who were squeezed out of the packed terminal.
Yaw Osei, who was booked on a flight to New York with his family to attend a funeral, said it was " outrageous" that he may have to miss his flight. The 35-year-old IT consultant from Morden said: "I have been told to wait in a queue and nobody is explaining to me what it is for and whether I can get on my flight."
Melina Ormrod, a 27-year-old waitress from Stratford-upon-Avon, feared she would miss her skiing trip to Canada. She said: "Me and my friend have our snowboards with us and skiing gear and it is absolutely ridiculous to say we should go on a skiing holiday without these things."
The baggage problems arose when BAA installed a new computer system - which promptly broke down. Technicians could not get the old system to work either.
A BA spokesman said: "Customers who bring luggage to be checked in are likely to face severe delays and may not be able to travel as planned." He said: "We would like to apologise to our customers for the disruption."
He said passengers can either be rebooked on another flight or get a refund. BA first and club class passengers are not affected because they use a different conveyor system.
A BAA spokesman said technicians had worked all night and managed to get the two machines working by lunchtime but it estimated it would be "several hours" before things were back to normal.
Reader views (1)
I'm now back at home after waiting in a queue for 2 hours today with no communication from staff as to what the problems were. Flight cancelled. Many people were in the same position as myself, off to the US skiing where baggage is essential. The fog is an excuse for the lack of communication and organisation at terminal 4 today. I can not believe that BA never contacted passengers to inform them not to travel.
- Matt Charles, Oxfordshire UK, 20/02/2008 17:04
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