Chaos at Terminal 5
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It will take more than volunteers to solve the problems
The ba website proudly displays arrival and departure times that suggest things might be getting back to normal. I arrived on BA 1403 on Sunday evening, according to the website we 'arrived' at 2024, only 59 minutes late. In reality with no stand for 30 minutes and a further hour and a half for a set of steps to all us to escape, we actually arrived at the terminal 2 hours later than stated. By then all connections had been lost, the hold doors were only just being opened at 2225, no doubt to avoid increasing the baggage mountain and universally everyone on board said they would never fly BA again.
Of course some of us will, I regret having 8 more bookings from T5, but there appears to have been no crisis planning at all, inadequate equipment available, after all a set of steps for an A319 cannot be that difficult to find surely, and no visible management at all. The crew remained cheerful but apologetic ('there is nothing you can say that we haven't already heard'), the passengers discussed opening the doors and pulling the red handle as shown on the safety video but for many, making non-BA connections, the reality was probably having to buy a new ticket at considerable cost. They certainly will not fly BA again.
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san diego - I was on this flight too, seated in 1A.
Prompted to join by reading you post.
Absolute shambles with over eight BA personnel moseying round with hands in pockets and arms crossed; any idiot could have told them to use the steps from the aircraft next door, which eventually they did.
Thank heavens I had no connecting flights and plenty of reading material to make the time productive.
The ba website proudly displays arrival and departure times that suggest things might be getting back to normal. I arrived on BA 1403 on Sunday evening, according to the website we 'arrived' at 2024, only 59 minutes late. In reality with no stand for 30 minutes and a further hour and a half for a set of steps to all us to escape, we actually arrived at the terminal 2 hours later than stated. By then all connections had been lost, the hold doors were only just being opened at 2225, no doubt to avoid increasing the baggage mountain and universally everyone on board said they would never fly BA again.
Of course some of us will, I regret having 8 more bookings from T5, but there appears to have been no crisis planning at all, inadequate equipment available, after all a set of steps for an A319 cannot be that difficult to find surely, and no visible management at all. The crew remained cheerful but apologetic ('there is nothing you can say that we haven't already heard'), the passengers discussed opening the doors and pulling the red handle as shown on the safety video but for many, making non-BA connections, the reality was probably having to buy a new ticket at considerable cost. They certainly will not fly BA again.
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san diego - I was on this flight too, seated in 1A.
Prompted to join by reading you post.
Absolute shambles with over eight BA personnel moseying round with hands in pockets and arms crossed; any idiot could have told them to use the steps from the aircraft next door, which eventually they did.
Thank heavens I had no connecting flights and plenty of reading material to make the time productive.
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In a feeble attempt to get more staff to help out in T5 BA managment at waterworld have been phoning the regional airports asking for the likes of edi, man and gla to send any spare ground staff down to help out... O those would be the ones willie got rid of last year...
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I actually think it's very tenable.
Kirkwood will be made the fall guy for the inept management of the T5 debut. Poor, quivering chap that he was reading his prepared statement and refusing questions on Friday, before, Zimbabwe-like, BA's tightly-honed PR machine swung into action and alienated the last vestiges of the British media who might not have put the boot in.
Walsh is not popular, but when was popularity been a requirement of a successful CEO?
He has cut, cut, cut and whichever side of the fence you look at, this has delivered waht the Board wanted - a 10% margin.
The cuts came home to roost with lack of planning and training for T5. But that is strictly an operational matter. And it will be operational management who will bear the brunt of that.
There is even a school of thought which says BA will receive more in compensation from BAA written into the original T5 contract which disincentivesed them from investing in proper training to the required extent rather than the window dressing which was carried out.
It's an impressive terminal, and once the glitches are sorted it will be a great benefit to BA, and confidence will eventually recover. People have shorter memories than one imagines.
Kirkwood will be made the fall guy for the inept management of the T5 debut. Poor, quivering chap that he was reading his prepared statement and refusing questions on Friday, before, Zimbabwe-like, BA's tightly-honed PR machine swung into action and alienated the last vestiges of the British media who might not have put the boot in.
Walsh is not popular, but when was popularity been a requirement of a successful CEO?
He has cut, cut, cut and whichever side of the fence you look at, this has delivered waht the Board wanted - a 10% margin.
The cuts came home to roost with lack of planning and training for T5. But that is strictly an operational matter. And it will be operational management who will bear the brunt of that.
There is even a school of thought which says BA will receive more in compensation from BAA written into the original T5 contract which disincentivesed them from investing in proper training to the required extent rather than the window dressing which was carried out.
It's an impressive terminal, and once the glitches are sorted it will be a great benefit to BA, and confidence will eventually recover. People have shorter memories than one imagines.
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Kirkwood will escape being sacked, he very good at deflecting incoming fire and deflecting it elsewhere he is a past master at it if i was below him though i would be getting my CV up together!!!!
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I suppose the depressing reality is that those outside the company with the real power to change things at BA are only interested, primarily, in two things: profit levels and the share price. Perhaps, given all the false dawns at BA, what the company really needs, though, is a fresh start with new people at the top.
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Gobonastick
You are obviously not a Driver!!The Crew would have been totally stuck where they were,either on the ramp waiting(park brake on)or at a Stand waiting for the Finger,or as in 45% of T5 stands where NO finger is available,waiting for the GROUND SERVICES company to pull their finger out and produce the steps and the Dispatcher producing a Bus.Even if,as on some A/C,the Crew have their own steps available,they can not deploy,until there is somewhere for the Pax to go!!You can not have them milling about Airside.A Skipper mate of mine was threatened with "Off Roster",when he allowed Pax off to Ident their own Bags,due to 2 pissed nonarrivals!!There was pandemonium-he should have waited until more Staff arrived to control the issue.As has been reported throughout this thread,there does not appear to be the Extra Staff,since they were made redundant on Willy Winkers arrival at BA.Maybe Handsolo,who must be Cabin Staff,can shed a bit more light on BA SOPs,in this matter.However,the problem is common to All airlines,so I can only report my experiences,which I have relaid above!!In the old days,you had Servisair(Circusair),Gatwick Handling,BA Handling,AerLingus Handling or whatever.As Captain,you could shout till you were blue in the face,it would make no difference,except you could relay your problems to the Pax,with a good heart!!BA has its own Handling,so if there is none available-then so be it-you join the queue and wait to be out of hours.That the way life is-you shovel **** uphill until you are a manager!!!!
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Quoting FAStoat:
You are obviously not a Driver!!The Crew would have been totally stuck where they were,either on the ramp waiting(park brake on)or at a Stand waiting for the Finger,or as in 45% of T5 stands where NO finger is available,waiting for the GROUND SERVICES company to pull their finger out and produce the steps and the Dispatcher producing a Bus
Ah, that would be the professionals at BA then!!
GH
You are obviously not a Driver!!The Crew would have been totally stuck where they were,either on the ramp waiting(park brake on)or at a Stand waiting for the Finger,or as in 45% of T5 stands where NO finger is available,waiting for the GROUND SERVICES company to pull their finger out and produce the steps and the Dispatcher producing a Bus
Ah, that would be the professionals at BA then!!
GH
***
The Crew would have been totally stuck where they were,either on the ramp waiting(park brake on)or at a Stand waiting for the Finger,or as in 45% of T5 stands where NO finger is available,waiting for the GROUND SERVICES company to pull their finger out and produce the steps and the Dispatcher producing a Bus.
1. With this wonderful new £4billion terminal, why do 45% of the stands not have a Finger? Is that just down to lack of space? Would more space have been available without a shopping mall?
2. Given that T5 has been operating at only a small fraction of its intended capacity, why is to necessary for ANY pax to be bussed to the terminal?
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Re #878 ... I was just going to ask that question!!
I've just spent the last 45 minutes trawling over the BA T5 "glossy brochure", I've looked at the latest Google Earth imagery ... and the "Piers v. Coaches" equation seems so 20th Century I'm bemused.
Could this paying punter be enlightened by the in-house experts, please?
I've just spent the last 45 minutes trawling over the BA T5 "glossy brochure", I've looked at the latest Google Earth imagery ... and the "Piers v. Coaches" equation seems so 20th Century I'm bemused.
Could this paying punter be enlightened by the in-house experts, please?
jetsy
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Willy Wonka's Chocolate Kettle Factory cost cutting must be the cause of lack of stands with Fingers!!!???As far as Crews are concerned they are a VITAL part of the system.Everyone can board without the weather interferring,and the Dispatcher is usually on hand to discuss problems with the Captain.Load sheets can be signed without being destroyed by Rain,Sleet,Snow,and high winds that are part and parcel of the way of life with climate change.It seems very strange does'nt ,but on the blurb that came out prior to the opening,I noted with interest that there was 45%without this piece of equipment in the State of the Art T5!!!!!!!You talk to Crews and this may just be their cause of dispair.another part is that you can not park an A/C on a stand without that being vacant.The Taxi ways do not leave enough space for A/C stacked in a queue,so the same old problem arises that puts you in Ockham,Lam,Bov holds just burning fuel waiting for a place to park.This is particularly prevalent at Stanstead,but LHR has no more runways,since it shut 05/23,so more Aircraft just aggravate the already problem.Put a weather factor of fog,where taxiing A/C can not stop at various points near the Holding points,and poor Air Traffic have a nightmare scenario,like DeGaulle,with A/C movements they can not see.With Gov,co.uk positively encouraging more and more users of LHR with their open skies policy,more congestion is on its way.It is becoming the worst major Airport in Europe,with BA fronting it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Dont think BA ENG has given up!!He has to sleep.and has entertained everyone on this thread with inside info on the internals at BA,which is frightening.He will be back,I am sure