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Brand new T5 but the same old troubles
Dick Murray and Anna Davis27.03.08
Heathrow's Terminal 5 opened today and went immediately into meltdown as its baggage system collapsed.
British Airways was forced to cancel 20 flights and thousands of passengers had to wait for up to three hours for their luggage in the £4.3billion terminal. Some left the airport without it ever turning up.
BA started cancelling short-haul flights to Scotland and mainland Europe shortly after midday, after three flights took off without any luggage.
David Haslam, 28, an Army officer from Camberley, Surrey, had been waiting for more than three-and-a-half hours to pick up relatives from the arrivals lounge.
He said: "My mother-in-law had to abandon her luggage in the end because she had to get a connecting flight. There is still no sign of my father-in-law."
BA - which had boasted that T5 was the solution to "Heathrow hell" - said the fiasco was caused by a shortage of baggage handlers. Some failed to get into the car park, others were not security screened in time and some of those who did turn up did not know how to work the computer system.
Planes were stuck on the runway because incoming baggage had not been unloaded.
Hundreds of passengers whose flights were cancelled faced a wait of more than an hour for information or to rebook later flights. They formed a queue snaking across the concourse.
Out of the 26 desks available to deal with passenger information, 11 were closed. A BA spokeswoman said this was because staff were needed in Terminals 1 and 4.
James Winter, a 29-year-old project manager from Willesden said: "I was supposed to be flying to Berlin this afternoon but it was cancelled. I have spent more than half an hour queuing for information and I'm still waiting.
"You would think they would be able to get this right especially because it is the first day. Hopefully I will get on to a later flight but I still don't know."
Later, a computer failure halted several baggage belts in the fast-drop sections of the terminal.
A BA spokeswoman said: "We have had a few minor problems in our first day of operation in T5. It is not unexpected following one of the most complex and largest airport moves in history.
"These teething problems have included car parking provision for staff, delays in staff security screening and staff familiarisation with the terminal."
The spokeswoman added: "We have also had some baggage performance issues. These also are being resolved.
The average customer has given us a very positive reaction to T5 which we know will be a resounding success."
BA had boasted that T5's baggage handling system was one of the most advanced in the world. When bags are dropped off, a robotic hoist picks them up and "injects" them onto the conveyer belt system where they are supposed to travel at up to 30mph, reaching any gate in 15 minutes. A wi-fi network allows items to be traced via their barcodes anywhere in the terminal.
The facility, which was 20 years in the making, had been praised as "the best ever" as the first plane, a flight from Hong Kong, landed eight minutes early at 4.42am, with pilot Lynn Barton making a "textbook touchdown".
Clare Hammond, 44, a banker with HSBC who was allowed to be the first passenger to alight at T5 because she is a BA frequent flier, said: "It was a fabulous trip and my best ever flight."
BA said baggage handling on the flight, which was greeted by chief executive Willie Walsh, had "worked perfectly", taking just 14 minutes. Within an hour it had all gone wrong as passengers experienced "Heathrow hell" as normal.
Denise and Mike Salinger, who were on the second flight, said: "We had to wait an hour for our bags. For us it has been a bit of a damp squib because of having to wait so long."
Jason Chiswell, a vice president of AEG Milwaukee, said: "I arrived on a Stuttgart flight and waited an hour and 50 minutes for my bags. The whole area in there consists of people waiting for their bags. One of the BA guys told me the computer system had crashed." A BA insider blamed airport operator BAA for the staff shortage, saying: "BAA did not have enough people conducting staff searches this morning and we could not get our people through quick enough."
Reader views (16)
What else could we expect, BA=Bloody Awful, made rule many years ago never to fly with them. Other airports have moved over greater distances and worked, why not BA/BAA. BAA= Bloody Absolutely Awful. Walsh should fall on his sword.
- Sm, Scotland, UK
This ONLY goes to prove that the Captains of Industry and the present New Labour government are USELESS at organizing anything!
Britain is known worldwide for its ineffectiveness, delays, queueing, bad customer service, intolerance, bad management, lack of care for customers, poor value for money, for being dirty and being immensely expensive etc.
Johnny Foreigner please BEWARE and take note from this lastest fiasco at T5 - The 2012 Olymics in London are coming - Do yourself a big favour, AVOID them like the PLAGUE and have an enjoyable holiday instead elsewhere where "reasonable prices, customer care & service are paramount" and where profit is the direct byproduct of your enjoyment!
- Fraser, Telford Park
My whole opinion on this terminal 5 fiasco is a complete waste of tax payers money and this is what is happening.
To the airport system, my advise to you is to give back the peoples money and apologise to them,as the old saying is customers are always right.
- Nicolas Woodbridge, Middlesex, UK
Willy Walsh has to go. He has taken cost cutting too far. His employees have no confidence in him, his customers have no confidence in him, the city has no confidence in him. Time to wave "bye bye" Willy. Come on BA board its time to oust him.
- Mark Phillips, Guildford, Surrey
All BA need now is a good old strike at T5 and it's BA - business as usual. We wouldn't use BA ever again and we fly between our international offices regularly. My tip: use Virgin to see how it should be done.
- Sandy Mcphearson, London UK & Miami USA
Why did we all hope that things might at last get slightly better at LHR? T5 may be brand new, but it's still the same ignorant and incompetent people running it.
- Christoph, London
This was bound to go wrong. BAA can't even get a terminal move right. Claiming this is a massive operation never seen before, one may recall the move of Guangzhou Bayun airport from the old site to the new (nearly 70 km away). It was all done overnight, including 50 odd planes. If the Chinese can do it, why should the UK not be able to do the same, considering its down the road! Too much meddling from BAA (and too much focus on retail, without concentrating on the essentials) is my guess...
- O. Bana, London, UK
Boris Johnson was right. Let's close Heathrow and build a new, very large airport in the Thames Estuary. Similar projects have been accomplished successfully in Hong Kong and Japan.
- Craig, Barnet
For the travelling customer, it is irrelevant if it is BA or BAA who is responsible. If there are delays and / or the luggage is not available, then someone has to take responsibility rather than blame it on foreseeable circumstances.
When Munich airport relocated all their operations and all the major airlines overnight to the new Franz Josef Strauss airport some 30 kilometres away, there were no similar problems.
Here BA is moving within the same airport.
Luggage conveyor belts brake at times but with BAA and BA evidently having had 20 years to plan for T5 and the move, and still using excuses like "inadequate staff car parking, delays in security screening of baggage handlers and need for familiarisation of the staff" seems to indicate a more deep-rooted problem.
Using BAA airports around London (Gatwick, Stanstead, Heathrow) 2-3 times / week, BAA and in parts BA are enough for me and many others to consider relocating our offices elsewhere within Europe. At times, these three airports seem to be run by Basil Fawlty's younger brother.
- J Wrang-Widen, London
I can't wait for the Olympics - imagine the chaos when all those extra people try and use the trains, bring it on!
- Stephen, London
We have also had our flight out of Munich cancelled today - 5 minutes after the German service desk had closed. The online booking system offered us only a flight that was two hours earlier than our original one and that we clearly could not reach in time. I then had to call the UK service desk (from Germany) and wait for over 40 minutes just to rebook a flight for tomorrow. The problem seems not just Terminal 5 but either complete incompetence or disregard for customers - probably both. I suggest instead of spending millions on marketing they get the basics right first.
- Sabine Buckley, Munich, Germany
Basically a bit of a damp squib which doesn't do much to alleviate Heathrow's negative image problems! Let's hope for all our sakes that - eventually(!) - T5 lives up to its hype.
- Cc, London
The whole thing is a complete farce. I wasted over two hours at the airport to be told I would not be able to get on any flight out to Edinburgh today. I've wasted a whole day of annual leave and wasted money on cab fares to and from the airport. I'm now booked on to a flight in the morning but God knows if I'll get to Edinburgh this weekend at all. I rang customer services to complain and they had the cheek to say yes we've had a few teething problems. I think cancelling a whole load of flights and frankly chaos is more than a few teething problems. I haven't flown BA for a couple of years and frankly won't be bothering to travel with them ever again.
- Pa, London
My sister and nephew are still at T5, where they have had to re-book a cancelled BA flight to Munich, a city where - as she reminded me - they managed to switch airports overnight without a hitch. Encountering an already broken lift at T5 my sister overheard: 'This is England. You don't expect anything to work here do you? You have to go abroad for that.' If, of course, you can get away.
- Amanda Claremont, London, UK
Are we surprised giving the recent history of Heathrow? Someone working at Terminal 5 predicted all this to me weeks ago. She said they were all working in chaos and there weren't enough staff to go round. Willie Walsh may be all sweetness and light in front of the camera but I hear rumours of a fearful row behind the scenes between BA and BAA.
- Dave Robins, West Drayton
Why does anyone fly with BA?
- Alan, London
