I can see atco's frustration here, how could bags have gone to Capetown ahead of their owners? (I thought they couldn't do that for security reasons) If they had gone why weren't the passengers sent with them?
This seems to be a case of the left hand not knowing what the rights doing, or the right hand not having a clue in the first place. Lack of communication between departments, once again mismanagement. T4 overloaded again so it would seem.
Who is responsible for providing the de-icing facilities? If it is BAA then maybe they ought to think about providing a proper service before they start increasing fees to airlines.