Chaos at Terminal 5
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob Courtney
One question though and it may be a daft one, why is the 757 fleet still operating from T1, is it just the routes they fly or somthing else?
Long before T5 opened I read somewhere that the 757 fleet does not have the necessary fittings or equipment to carry the containerised baggage.
Originally Posted by Rob Courtney
One question though and it may be a daft one, why is the 757 fleet still operating from T1, is it just the routes they fly or somthing else?
Long before T5 opened I read somewhere that the 757 fleet does not have the necessary fittings or equipment to carry the containerised baggage.
And to think I was flamed a couple of weeks ago for saying that air travel was now akin to war.
I have never seen a organized system crumble so quickly as air travel has over the last few years.
I have never seen a organized system crumble so quickly as air travel has over the last few years.
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T5 Baggage computer crash as at 16:10 BBC News 
It would all be fairly funny, in a Monty Python way, if it wasn't so tragic.
Anyway, good to have the thread back, and anyone on the "inside" who could actually tell us WTF is happening would be welcome, I suspect.
Airstairs
Quote from GobonaStick [April01/13:13, currently #867]:
How on earth does it take 90min to find a set of steps at an international airport? What was the crew on the aircraft/ground doing all that time?
[Unquote]
Catching up on this thread, the above comment - a perfectly understandable and reasonable one - gives cause for a wry smile. No one who has not worked on the Ramp can appreciate the problem for crews (and ground staff, like Dispatcher/Redcaps) when an aeroplane arrives on stand, but there are no jetty or steps available.
Short of deploying the emergency escape slides, it is usually physically impossible for the crew to get off the aircraft. On smaller types, it used to be easy because they had airstairs or equivalent. Think of the One-Eleven, with its rear stairs.
The situation has not been helped by the airlines themselves. BA's first A320s had airstairs. They were a bit long, and the hand-rail LOOKED a bit fragile, so were not popular with everyone. Crews and ground staff often found them invaluable. The installation weighed about as much as 1 or 2 passengers. When BA ordered more A320-family (A319s) for mainline, they decided against airstairs (weight, cost, and maintenance). So, with a drop of about 8 feet to the concrete, the crews are completely stranded.
In a desperate (but non-emergency) situation, there used to be a way out through the avionics bay. From there, you could open an external hatch and use a built-in ladder to get to the ground. For reasons not entirely clear at the time, internal access to the avionics bay was sealed off over 10 years ago.
Few things are more frustrating and embarrassing for a crew than arriving on stand and being unable to disembark. Getting off the aeroplane often enables you to find suitable steps, if required, and someone to help you deploy them; Health and Safety permitting.
It's not specifically a T5 issue, but bring back airstairs on narrow-bodies!
How on earth does it take 90min to find a set of steps at an international airport? What was the crew on the aircraft/ground doing all that time?
[Unquote]
Catching up on this thread, the above comment - a perfectly understandable and reasonable one - gives cause for a wry smile. No one who has not worked on the Ramp can appreciate the problem for crews (and ground staff, like Dispatcher/Redcaps) when an aeroplane arrives on stand, but there are no jetty or steps available.
Short of deploying the emergency escape slides, it is usually physically impossible for the crew to get off the aircraft. On smaller types, it used to be easy because they had airstairs or equivalent. Think of the One-Eleven, with its rear stairs.
The situation has not been helped by the airlines themselves. BA's first A320s had airstairs. They were a bit long, and the hand-rail LOOKED a bit fragile, so were not popular with everyone. Crews and ground staff often found them invaluable. The installation weighed about as much as 1 or 2 passengers. When BA ordered more A320-family (A319s) for mainline, they decided against airstairs (weight, cost, and maintenance). So, with a drop of about 8 feet to the concrete, the crews are completely stranded.
In a desperate (but non-emergency) situation, there used to be a way out through the avionics bay. From there, you could open an external hatch and use a built-in ladder to get to the ground. For reasons not entirely clear at the time, internal access to the avionics bay was sealed off over 10 years ago.
Few things are more frustrating and embarrassing for a crew than arriving on stand and being unable to disembark. Getting off the aeroplane often enables you to find suitable steps, if required, and someone to help you deploy them; Health and Safety permitting.
It's not specifically a T5 issue, but bring back airstairs on narrow-bodies!
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Transited this afternoon from the US via T5 to Brussels. 2 out of 5 bags never made it to Brussels, a large group from my plane was also claiming lost luggage. Luckily the lost luggage desks at Brussels were fully manned, they have been since T5 went in Ops. Pretty sad state of affairs really but I knew that I had a pretty good chance of loosing a bag or two. Hope for the best but expect the worst. As a matter of fact it could have been worse as on departure at LHR we had to sit at the holding point for about 20 minutes because the flight deck received info that an unclaimed bag was on board. A return to the stand and refuelling was a very likely option for a while.
No hard feelings whatsoever against BA or BA staff, they were obviously trying their best to cope with a poorly functioning system.
No hard feelings whatsoever against BA or BA staff, they were obviously trying their best to cope with a poorly functioning system.
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BAengineering Where Are You
Well BBC News24 is now reporting another 20 flights cancelled today due to an unexpected software glitch (wouldn't that be the same software glitch that has existed all along but that was previously blamed on BA's Loaders) and that BAA claims they will be working urgently overnight on fixing this!
But what has happened to BAEngineering. Has he simply not realised that this thread has been unlocked or have the BA Secret Police finally tracked him down and banned him from any further posts under immediate threat of receiving the sack?
But what has happened to BAEngineering. Has he simply not realised that this thread has been unlocked or have the BA Secret Police finally tracked him down and banned him from any further posts under immediate threat of receiving the sack?
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Banned individual
I've been reading PPRUNE for sometime now and following this thread in particular. It has been very interesting and a great insight into the goings on and reasons for failure at the recently opened Terminal 5. I was particularily intrigued at the poster BAengineering, it comes as some disappointement that this poster was recently banned.
This appears to be because this poster was being attacked by other 'pro BA' individuals, for defending his position he has been selected for exclusion,
I for one feel this thread has become rather stale and undynamic without this input from the inside.
Maybe PPRUNE could consider reinstating this poster?
This appears to be because this poster was being attacked by other 'pro BA' individuals, for defending his position he has been selected for exclusion,
I for one feel this thread has become rather stale and undynamic without this input from the inside.
Maybe PPRUNE could consider reinstating this poster?
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BAEngineering
Capvermell, have a look at one of the BAengineering posts, beside the name it says 'Banned persona non grata', meaning not welcome on PPRUNE.
I thought this poster gave very good insight into the problems at BA, kept this thread vibrant and alive,
Not sure if BA found those engineers or somehow contacted PPRUNE to have this poster banned, either way it doesn;t seem very good.
I thought this poster gave very good insight into the problems at BA, kept this thread vibrant and alive,
Not sure if BA found those engineers or somehow contacted PPRUNE to have this poster banned, either way it doesn;t seem very good.
Do you think people here are that gullible?
This forum is far better off without you.
This forum is far better off without you.
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Gullible
Sorry Sallyanne1234, what do you mean? Are you suggesting I am impersonating the character which has been banned?
That i very far from the truth, I actually work as an independant journo, I use PPRUNE from time to time to glean the inside edge on aviation stories.
Never needed to jump in before, just a little aggrieved the BAengineerig poster has been banned, indeed I wanted to actually meet the person behind the poster. They have provided alot of information for an article I am currently writing on UK PLC and their internal workings.
I;m sure the people that are better off without him being here are BA, that's for sure. But then they have successfully shut down media from getting into T5.
That i very far from the truth, I actually work as an independant journo, I use PPRUNE from time to time to glean the inside edge on aviation stories.
Never needed to jump in before, just a little aggrieved the BAengineerig poster has been banned, indeed I wanted to actually meet the person behind the poster. They have provided alot of information for an article I am currently writing on UK PLC and their internal workings.
I;m sure the people that are better off without him being here are BA, that's for sure. But then they have successfully shut down media from getting into T5.
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Well BBC News24 is now reporting another 20 flights cancelled today due to an unexpected software glitch (wouldn't that be the same software glitch that has existed all along but that was previously blamed on BA's Loaders) and that BAA claims they will be working urgently overnight on fixing this!
a) immediate release of cause - "software glitch"
b) baa reported as "taking full responsibility" "working overnight to fix it"
I recall it being a lot later on the first day before anyone showed up taking any responsibility.
It gives me the impression that this time it really is a systems failure and down to BAA.
But what has happened to BAEngineering.
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showpos...&postcount=166
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Those discussing the T5 issue were driven off as it deteriorated into a slagging session. I've no axe to grind either way with BA (the company) but it became clear that BAEngineering's post were spoiling the original thread, it went way off topic and clearly needed splitting.
In the meantime BAEngineering was starting to spoil other threads so was given a temporary ban to cool off. Despite my posting an explanation of why the thread was offline he started new threads claiming BA influence over the mods
. It took almost an hour (of my own time) to split the original thread so as you can imagine I've little sympathy for someone who tried to make my task even more difficult.
It looks like this thread is starting to drift again. If you've issues with BA management please post in THAT thread. I'm too tired to edit/split this again. The 'delete' button is so much easier.
By the way. I didn't ban him.
In the meantime BAEngineering was starting to spoil other threads so was given a temporary ban to cool off. Despite my posting an explanation of why the thread was offline he started new threads claiming BA influence over the mods
. It took almost an hour (of my own time) to split the original thread so as you can imagine I've little sympathy for someone who tried to make my task even more difficult.It looks like this thread is starting to drift again. If you've issues with BA management please post in THAT thread. I'm too tired to edit/split this again. The 'delete' button is so much easier.
By the way. I didn't ban him.
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Short and sweet........
WALSH OUT,KIRKWOOD OUT.THEY ARE BOTH TOTALLY INCOMPETENT.
They are an embarasment to we the staff at BA who I feel are in general are a good workforce,demotivated and mis managed by the worst leadership team I have known in my 22 years.
I feel sorry for our long suffering passengers.Cut back after cut back,BA station staff replaced by second rate contract companies who don't give a damn about OUR BA passengers.
I don't know the answer but a start has to be the removal (without a GOLDEN hand shake)!!,of our most disliked CEO ever,Willie Walsh.
WTDWL.
WALSH OUT,KIRKWOOD OUT.THEY ARE BOTH TOTALLY INCOMPETENT.
They are an embarasment to we the staff at BA who I feel are in general are a good workforce,demotivated and mis managed by the worst leadership team I have known in my 22 years.
I feel sorry for our long suffering passengers.Cut back after cut back,BA station staff replaced by second rate contract companies who don't give a damn about OUR BA passengers.
I don't know the answer but a start has to be the removal (without a GOLDEN hand shake)!!,of our most disliked CEO ever,Willie Walsh.
WTDWL.
@DuckRogers
This new character is just Bae again. Check the consistent errors.
This new character is just Bae again. Check the consistent errors.
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I've been reading PPRUNE for sometime now and following this thread in particular. It has been very interesting and a great insight into the goings on and reasons for failure at the recently opened Terminal 5. I was particularily intrigued at the poster BAengineering, it comes as some disappointement that this poster was recently banned.
Coming back to this site I have to say this thread has been the exception that proves the rule on a site where posts are normally heavily controlled and where comments from anyone deemed not to be an aviation expert are frequently summarily removed without any indication to the poster this has happened or any explanation for doing so. I believe a completely open debate was originally permitted in this particular case because even the management of this website were so aghast at the ineptitude of BA/BAA over T5.
Obviously one can imagine that BA Engineering (if he/they actually existed as I believe he/they did) would be very hard for BA to live with and as a website of his kind is reliant on friends in the aviation industry for advertising support and other special favours it would seem that eventually pressure was brought to bear on the management to ban him they could not resist. This was probably why initially closing this thread to hide that ban seemed the easier option but then they were no doubt inundated with complaints about suppressing the debate. I find this disappointing as almost nothing BAEngineering said was actually libelous, even though it was probably mutinous and dismissable in terms of any employee's contractual obligations (if indeed that person was still a BA employee as they could for instance be a retired BA employee being regularly informed by still employed colleagues).
This appears to be because this poster was being attacked by other 'pro BA' individuals, for defending his position he has been selected for exclusion
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Capvermell, nice post and great site noto0870, use it frequently myself, one happy customer.
Yes I agree if BAengineering is reading these posts, please PM me and I will assure your anonimity is protected, guaranteed. I did see one of his posts and it said he was going to share some very important information in PPRUNE very soon. Looks like that won't happen now, I for one was intrigued to know what it was.
I will bow out now from posting, I'm sure SallyAnne can relax, I will let you know if BAeng surfaces and makes contact. Last thing, my earlier post about the arrests at T5, it really would help to have some inside knowledge. Finally, there are some lazy journos out there, modify the standard press release but I know many who work hard on their research and indeed use PPRUNE also.
Bye for now, keep up the good work.
Yes I agree if BAengineering is reading these posts, please PM me and I will assure your anonimity is protected, guaranteed. I did see one of his posts and it said he was going to share some very important information in PPRUNE very soon. Looks like that won't happen now, I for one was intrigued to know what it was.
I will bow out now from posting, I'm sure SallyAnne can relax, I will let you know if BAeng surfaces and makes contact. Last thing, my earlier post about the arrests at T5, it really would help to have some inside knowledge. Finally, there are some lazy journos out there, modify the standard press release but I know many who work hard on their research and indeed use PPRUNE also.
Bye for now, keep up the good work.