We (ie the politicians) have let low grade staff take over administration of our airports (BAA). People who are barely qualified to work in McDs, and management who appear to be inept former civil servants, are now running (joke) things, charging ever more, and all they can think of is maximising revenue by opening more shops, which people can't get to because they are stuck in security queues! So what happens? Having made a total pigs ear of running the airport, they sell up to foreigners ('here- you have the keys and see if you can make it go- I can't!). Now the Spanish are no doubt looking at this mess they've paid a lot of money for wondering how they can get money back from it. The stupid politicians who gave the whole shooting match to incompetents (BAA) in the first place are now looking in horror at the position we are in- having sold it they can hardly take it back off the Spanish. So there is no solution, the airlines at LHR are screaming in disgust, the BAA staff are screaming at the customers like concentration camp guards, everybody hates the place (and is screaming), and at last the customers (passengers) are getting the word and will quite simply stay away. It took so long to just get planning permission for T5 that Madrid's new terminal was designed and built within that time alone. What hope for a new runway? Aeroplanes are already hitting each other on the ground. Heads (of BAA) should be removed at the Tower and placed on spikes at the entrance to the tunnel. The place is a nightmare, and the politicians have left us with no solution!
(from: 'History of London Airports and their Rape by BAA'. Rainboe 2007)