BA delays at LHR - Computer issue

[Uplinker]

@HeidHurtin and others:

Thank you for the positive feedback.

I have no scientific studies to quote, but I do have 35 years of experience as a minion in industry: 16 years as an electronics engineer in the BBC, 2 years freelance satellite uplinking, 17 years as a commercial airline pilot in two airlines.

(Funny that my shortest employment should produce my forum name - perhaps that tells you something, since as a satellite uplinker, I was my own boss.)

Anyway, all I know is what I have observed over the years. This country used to produce goods. Now companies only exist to produce profits. At some point there has been a sea-change in CEO school: They have realised that it does not matter what you make or what service you provide, you just have to make maximum profits. If that means paying your cabin crew £11,000 a year, outsourcing your IT or call centers, and/or making your crews wake up at 0330, then fine, who cares ? They have their yacht in PMI and they don't really give a damn.

Just a short example before the red wine clouds my thinking too much. At the Beeb we used to have commissionaires. These were lovely guys, ex military, ex police or whatever, who manned the gates and provided security. They were proud of their position. They got to know you, you got to know them. There was mutual respect both ways and everything worked smoothly. Then some genius decided that they could save £2 by sacking all the deeply loyal and committed commissionaires and employing an outside security firm.

Well for a while things seemed to carry on sort of OK, except there wasn't the same cover at weekends, evenings and bank holidays. But then one evening they were seen going through component stores filling black bin liners with stuff from the parts bins, i.e. stealing stock that the licence payer had paid for.

In airlines they have sold off their ground handling agents and now employ companies who pay minimum wage zero hours contracts. Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of "sickness" and vastly reduced cover at weekends, bank holidays and cup final days. This leads to delays, but frankly, who can blame the ground handling employees?