Chaos at Terminal 5
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Agreed, there was a time the bearded wonder at Virgin and more recently mol would have pounced on this. In-fact I was looking forward to a bit of verbal sparing!
TBE.
TBE.
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There is no one reason for this fiasco....
BA obviously didn't train and let the staff become fully familiar with the terminal etc etc.
The BAA are a lot to blame as well. Lifts not working etc etc. Staff Car park fiasco has been going on weeks with hundreds of other terminal staff having to move to different car parks, which meant new car park barrier passes etc that didn't work...As to security check points for staff to get to work once they did manage to get to the terminal, well BAA excel l at being inept in this area. Passengers have suffered for years with security lines, and so have staff. We have to go through the same security checks as PAX every day (several times a day) so you would think that the BAA would have sufficient access points for staff....no chance. It regularly takes 40 minutes to get through the queue. Until the BAA actually decide to ruj an airport not shopping center there is no hope..
BA obviously didn't train and let the staff become fully familiar with the terminal etc etc.
The BAA are a lot to blame as well. Lifts not working etc etc. Staff Car park fiasco has been going on weeks with hundreds of other terminal staff having to move to different car parks, which meant new car park barrier passes etc that didn't work...As to security check points for staff to get to work once they did manage to get to the terminal, well BAA excel l at being inept in this area. Passengers have suffered for years with security lines, and so have staff. We have to go through the same security checks as PAX every day (several times a day) so you would think that the BAA would have sufficient access points for staff....no chance. It regularly takes 40 minutes to get through the queue. Until the BAA actually decide to ruj an airport not shopping center there is no hope..
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Passengers fume in the chaos of Terminal 5's first day
Passengers fume in the chaos of Terminal 5's first day
Flights cancelled and baggage system collapses at BA's £4.3bn showpiece
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent
The Guardian,
Friday March 28 2008
Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...irlineindustry
About this article
This article appeared in the Guardian on Friday March 28 2008 on p2 of the Top stories section. It was last updated at 08:29 on March 28 2008.
It was 20 years in the planning, cost £4.3bn to build and its staff underwent six months' training before it opened.
But none of that could prevent Heathrow Terminal 5 from descending into chaos on its opening day yesterday after the baggage system collapsed.
Thousands of passengers had their travel plans disrupted and British Airways was forced to cancel at least 34 flights in and out of the terminal.
The prospects for today were little better as BA staff scrambled to clear an intimidating baggage backlog and work out exactly what had gone wrong.
The disastrous launch was a major embarrassment for both Heathrow owner BAA and British Airways. Travellers were restricted to carrying hand luggage and told that they would have to leave checked-in bags for collection at a later time, or else rebook their flights. Delays at luggage carousels proliferated as queues lengthened to depressing proportions in the departure hall.
The situation worsened in the afternoon as the entire baggage handling operation ground to a halt under an overwhelming volume of backed-up luggage, triggering angry scenes at BA desks as passengers swamped staff with complaints.
Just hours after BA's chief executive, Willie Walsh, had toured the terminal promising a new era for Heathrow travel, the airline was forced to apologise once again for farcical conditions at Britain's biggest and busiest airport.
"British Airways flights from Heathrow Terminal 5 will depart with hand baggage only due to problems associated with processing customers' baggage," said the airline in a statement. "British Airways apologises to customers for the problems during Terminal 5's first day of operations following one of the most complex and largest airport moves in history." BA said customers not yet checked-in for travel would receive a refund or could rebook.
A series of factors were behind yesterday's meltdown:
Baggage handlers' IDs were not recognised by computers and they were not able to log on to the handling system, resulting in the three flights taking off without bags
The handlers also could not get where they were supposed to go because they could not get into the car parks or get security clearance
Amid confusion over the layout of the new terminal, bag handling teams were unable to make good the delays, which left passengers in arrivals while their bags waited on planes
Problems were exacerbated by a lack of the baggage storage bins that are loaded on to planes. Carousels loading luggage also broke down
By the afternoon, the already crammed system became overloaded and a ban on checking-in luggage was issued
Delays in loading and unloading planes led to delays in departures and arrivals, forcing BA to cancel 34 flights to ensure that its jets start in the right positions to run a normal timetable today
BA blamed the calamity on "teething problems", but found little sympathy from many of the 40,000 people who passed through T5 yesterday.
Kate Adamson, 39, travelling from Frankfurt with her daughter Olivia, five, gave up on her luggage after waiting more than an hour-and-a-half in the morning. Adamson, who was visiting her parents in Maidenhead, Berkshire, said: "I am furious. We had a 50-minute flight from Frankfurt and then we had a 90-minute wait. The luggage system seemed to have packed up completely. Staff have been really surly and there has been no announcement. One BA woman in there was saying there was a technical problem. I've given up. They can send my bags on."
Producer Sir George Martin, famous for his work with the Beatles, was among those caught up in the difficulties. He said: "When I came here I was very excited about the new terminal, but not now."
Matt Duffy was stuck on a flight arriving into Terminal 5 from Glasgow for more than an hour - and then when he was transported to the terminal, the wheelchair user was met by a kerb. "I couldn't even get into the building without getting up a step," he said. "It is totally unbelievable as far as I am concerned."
BA has exclusive use of Terminal 5, which was designed by Lord Rogers and opened by the Queen earlier this month.
The 34 cancelled flights represented almost 10% of the total due to fly in and out of the terminal yesterday, but BA was helped by the fact that the terminal will operate far below its full capacity of 70,000 passengers until next month, when it hopes to have all glitches ironed out. In the meantime, hundreds of daily BA flights will continue to operate from Heathrow's terminals 1 and 4, which reported no serious problems yesterday.
BA had promised that the new system would halve the number of bag delays and losses at the airline, which, at 26.5 bags for every 1,000 passengers, is the worst of any major European carrier.
Flights cancelled and baggage system collapses at BA's £4.3bn showpiece
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent
The Guardian,
Friday March 28 2008
Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...irlineindustry
About this article
This article appeared in the Guardian on Friday March 28 2008 on p2 of the Top stories section. It was last updated at 08:29 on March 28 2008.
It was 20 years in the planning, cost £4.3bn to build and its staff underwent six months' training before it opened.
But none of that could prevent Heathrow Terminal 5 from descending into chaos on its opening day yesterday after the baggage system collapsed.
Thousands of passengers had their travel plans disrupted and British Airways was forced to cancel at least 34 flights in and out of the terminal.
The prospects for today were little better as BA staff scrambled to clear an intimidating baggage backlog and work out exactly what had gone wrong.
The disastrous launch was a major embarrassment for both Heathrow owner BAA and British Airways. Travellers were restricted to carrying hand luggage and told that they would have to leave checked-in bags for collection at a later time, or else rebook their flights. Delays at luggage carousels proliferated as queues lengthened to depressing proportions in the departure hall.
The situation worsened in the afternoon as the entire baggage handling operation ground to a halt under an overwhelming volume of backed-up luggage, triggering angry scenes at BA desks as passengers swamped staff with complaints.
Just hours after BA's chief executive, Willie Walsh, had toured the terminal promising a new era for Heathrow travel, the airline was forced to apologise once again for farcical conditions at Britain's biggest and busiest airport.
"British Airways flights from Heathrow Terminal 5 will depart with hand baggage only due to problems associated with processing customers' baggage," said the airline in a statement. "British Airways apologises to customers for the problems during Terminal 5's first day of operations following one of the most complex and largest airport moves in history." BA said customers not yet checked-in for travel would receive a refund or could rebook.
A series of factors were behind yesterday's meltdown:
Baggage handlers' IDs were not recognised by computers and they were not able to log on to the handling system, resulting in the three flights taking off without bags
The handlers also could not get where they were supposed to go because they could not get into the car parks or get security clearance
Amid confusion over the layout of the new terminal, bag handling teams were unable to make good the delays, which left passengers in arrivals while their bags waited on planes
Problems were exacerbated by a lack of the baggage storage bins that are loaded on to planes. Carousels loading luggage also broke down
By the afternoon, the already crammed system became overloaded and a ban on checking-in luggage was issued
Delays in loading and unloading planes led to delays in departures and arrivals, forcing BA to cancel 34 flights to ensure that its jets start in the right positions to run a normal timetable today
BA blamed the calamity on "teething problems", but found little sympathy from many of the 40,000 people who passed through T5 yesterday.
Kate Adamson, 39, travelling from Frankfurt with her daughter Olivia, five, gave up on her luggage after waiting more than an hour-and-a-half in the morning. Adamson, who was visiting her parents in Maidenhead, Berkshire, said: "I am furious. We had a 50-minute flight from Frankfurt and then we had a 90-minute wait. The luggage system seemed to have packed up completely. Staff have been really surly and there has been no announcement. One BA woman in there was saying there was a technical problem. I've given up. They can send my bags on."
Producer Sir George Martin, famous for his work with the Beatles, was among those caught up in the difficulties. He said: "When I came here I was very excited about the new terminal, but not now."
Matt Duffy was stuck on a flight arriving into Terminal 5 from Glasgow for more than an hour - and then when he was transported to the terminal, the wheelchair user was met by a kerb. "I couldn't even get into the building without getting up a step," he said. "It is totally unbelievable as far as I am concerned."
BA has exclusive use of Terminal 5, which was designed by Lord Rogers and opened by the Queen earlier this month.
The 34 cancelled flights represented almost 10% of the total due to fly in and out of the terminal yesterday, but BA was helped by the fact that the terminal will operate far below its full capacity of 70,000 passengers until next month, when it hopes to have all glitches ironed out. In the meantime, hundreds of daily BA flights will continue to operate from Heathrow's terminals 1 and 4, which reported no serious problems yesterday.
BA had promised that the new system would halve the number of bag delays and losses at the airline, which, at 26.5 bags for every 1,000 passengers, is the worst of any major European carrier.
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Perhaps they should do away with baggage systems and handlers altogether.
I'd rather turn up another hour earlier, weigh in and put my own bag in a container then collect it at the end
Works for National Express!
I'd rather turn up another hour earlier, weigh in and put my own bag in a container then collect it at the end
Works for National Express!
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It's time for the BAA to boot BA out of LHR.
Over the last few years of BA's pathetic performance they have consistently blamed the airport. While they have been doing this other companies have maintained their services and their performance even using the older terminal facilities that BA won't use.
BA needs, and has needed for too long to document, a complete overhaul to get management AND workers aligned with today's aviation industry.
There was a very good analagy of a supermarket checkout and the T5 baggage system. This was spot on. System fail when the bags are not removed and back-up; it happens at every airport if the operator does not clear the baggage systems. Not having enough ULD's is a management AND worker failure - too many people blaming too many others for not doing anything.
The BAA should issue notice to BA to remove itself from LHR terminals and let the companies that can handle volume aviation do their work for them. If it had not been for TUPE and the current 60's uinion practices I believe this would have already happened and T5 would have opened without the high level of damaging publicity. Let BA concentrate on flying aircraft, it is about all that they still have any reputation left for and they could go to FR or EZY to learn a thing or two about how to improve that side of their business.
BA Bad Again - pathetic, brought shame on the UK - AGAIN.
Over the last few years of BA's pathetic performance they have consistently blamed the airport. While they have been doing this other companies have maintained their services and their performance even using the older terminal facilities that BA won't use.
BA needs, and has needed for too long to document, a complete overhaul to get management AND workers aligned with today's aviation industry.
There was a very good analagy of a supermarket checkout and the T5 baggage system. This was spot on. System fail when the bags are not removed and back-up; it happens at every airport if the operator does not clear the baggage systems. Not having enough ULD's is a management AND worker failure - too many people blaming too many others for not doing anything.
The BAA should issue notice to BA to remove itself from LHR terminals and let the companies that can handle volume aviation do their work for them. If it had not been for TUPE and the current 60's uinion practices I believe this would have already happened and T5 would have opened without the high level of damaging publicity. Let BA concentrate on flying aircraft, it is about all that they still have any reputation left for and they could go to FR or EZY to learn a thing or two about how to improve that side of their business.
BA Bad Again - pathetic, brought shame on the UK - AGAIN.
Someone raised the issue of the bearded one. At least he would not have run away from the press and he would probably have been seen in his best jumper loading bags himself. As an outsider, I am astounded at the very poor PR image BA and BAA are presenting over this. It comes across as complete arrogance.
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BA PR
There's a precedent here. A regional I once worked for was BA owned. In came a new whizz kid & cut 'till the airline was on it's knees. When there were riots in the terminal he hid in his office & let the front line staff take the c**p - it was with some amusement that last night I switched on the telly, and lo, there he was doing a startled rabbit impression with a lame and forced apology.
No sign of him or anyone else since. It says it all sadly but where are BAA too? They own it.
No sign of him or anyone else since. It says it all sadly but where are BAA too? They own it.
Aluminum Tubing Inspector
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For the record our company had a meeting arranged with BA 3 weeks ago with a view to supplying them with baggage/ramp/check-in operatives.
The lady in question did not even turn up for the meeting and refuses to return calls or emails.
Hmmm.....
Cheers
HR
The lady in question did not even turn up for the meeting and refuses to return calls or emails.
Hmmm.....
Cheers
HR
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Catastrophically bad response by BA Mgt
As pax my feeling is I'm proud of the boys and girls on the ground who did their best to mop up this disaster.
Disgusted with the ineptness of BA senior management, from WW to that plank Kirkwood.
What irks me about Kirkwood, is his useless "gate script" apology on TV, 'sincerely regret any inconvenience caused' etc. But there was nothing remotely sincere in the way he said it. He sounded like a provincial gate rep announcing the 4th Flybe cancellation today. One of the things I LOVE about BA c.c. is they manage to make sincere, adult announcements to pax, and talk honestly, instead of the junk-script-by-numbers everyone else does. Obviously beyond the capability of management though. Then, for Kirkplank to turn on his heels and flee, well
words fail me.
As a marketing pro this literally disgusts me. Walsh actually still seems to be trying to manipulate language, to put a positive spin on it. As if that is either possible here, or appropriate, when loyal BA staffers came in unpaid to sort out the s**t 
Exactly how far removed from reality is the BA mgt???????????
Disgusted with the ineptness of BA senior management, from WW to that plank Kirkwood.
What irks me about Kirkwood, is his useless "gate script" apology on TV, 'sincerely regret any inconvenience caused' etc. But there was nothing remotely sincere in the way he said it. He sounded like a provincial gate rep announcing the 4th Flybe cancellation today. One of the things I LOVE about BA c.c. is they manage to make sincere, adult announcements to pax, and talk honestly, instead of the junk-script-by-numbers everyone else does. Obviously beyond the capability of management though. Then, for Kirkplank to turn on his heels and flee, well
words fail me.
Chief executive Willie Walsh said: "I am very sorry that the problems have meant that some of our customers did not experience the true potential of this amazing new building"
Exactly how far removed from reality is the BA mgt???????????
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As a comfort, Chek Lap Kok had the same opening problems. Look how it operates now.
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Did no-one in WaterWorld see this coming.... ?
We have had our ID's "updated" for T5 for several months now, but it was only in recent weeks that we were taken over for a "health and safety" tour to find that some ID's did not function with the BA door security locks - we have as yet to ascertain if they actually work at the HAL security swipe machines !
Of course, doing shift work we cannot all get our ID's renewed (without giving too much away, we have to get the actual card from HAL and then get all the "extras" added to it by BA) and of course the security offices don't work at night, on weekends or on a bank holiday !
Most of us are changing carparks and again have been given a new swipe card to gain access, but as yet have not had a chance to check it actually works !
. . . and don't get me started on the T5 accomodation that we have been given ... !
We have had our ID's "updated" for T5 for several months now, but it was only in recent weeks that we were taken over for a "health and safety" tour to find that some ID's did not function with the BA door security locks - we have as yet to ascertain if they actually work at the HAL security swipe machines !
Of course, doing shift work we cannot all get our ID's renewed (without giving too much away, we have to get the actual card from HAL and then get all the "extras" added to it by BA) and of course the security offices don't work at night, on weekends or on a bank holiday !
Most of us are changing carparks and again have been given a new swipe card to gain access, but as yet have not had a chance to check it actually works !
. . . and don't get me started on the T5 accomodation that we have been given ... !
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Was Walshy really ever a pilot? He seems surprised that this disaster occurred after a number of factors which individually might not have added up to much ... oh right, that hasn't happened before then, has it? 
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"Thank God BA have pulled out of the regions & that we don't have to transit LHR. BA have lost all their regional punters who happily transit thro FRA, AMS & CDG. The Domestics to/from LHR chopped everytime there is a whiff of fear in the air."
Couldn't agree more. I was a BA customer for 30 years and when they retrenched to become London Airways I cut up my exec club card, sent them the bits and now use Manchester (which in its current state is a disaster zone as well!) to connect through to decent airports like FRA, AMS and CDG. I'd sooner walk than use that glorified shopping mall called LHR.
Couldn't agree more. I was a BA customer for 30 years and when they retrenched to become London Airways I cut up my exec club card, sent them the bits and now use Manchester (which in its current state is a disaster zone as well!) to connect through to decent airports like FRA, AMS and CDG. I'd sooner walk than use that glorified shopping mall called LHR.
Last edited by Manxman11; 28th Mar 2008 at 09:47. Reason: typo