not getting any better is it ..
Not since the "new working procedures" for baggage handers in the run up to Christmas have I seen such a shambles as T4 last weekend.
Reading this thread I now see that our 52 mins taxi back from landing 27R to shutting down on stand at T4 was not particularly exceptional last weekend! Waiting remotely for a stand to become free is one thing; but waiting a few yards short of being fully parked for want of stand guidance/steps/buses is utterly wasteful of fuel and time. Many of our business customers are regulars, who witness the T4 shambles often enough to realise that the BA T4 handling problem is endemic. And our crews also deserve better after a long trip than all this waiting around, appeasing pax.
As my captain observed the only thing that changes is the order in which things don't happen! All we can do is to tell our passengers why they are having to wait, apologise and hope they appreciate our honesty; there are no acceptable excuses in these circumstances.
I've had a few days off and taken a few shuttles recently - 4 out of 6 delayed by about an hour. On Sunday the BA announcement at T1, Gate 5was more self-defeatingly honest than any of our PAs .. "a major shortage of despatchers"
Thankfully we finalise our numbers at the gate..joining a queue for takeoff only to not be ready for avoidable operational reasons must drive ATC up the wall.
Whatever happened to those then-trendy back-to-basics 90s initiatives "Total Quality" and "Performance Management" with it's theme of continuous improvement? How come the stats on the pareto charts aren't screaming from the projectors and daily/weekly/monthly reports?