Chaos at Terminal 5

[markrl]

I assumed the unpopular Kate Moss being publicly humiliated before being ejected from a BA aircraft was part of BA’s new PR campaign to restore its popularity with the travelling public. Perhaps they could give free first class tickets to other tarnished celebrities such as Gary Glitter and Michael Barrymore so they too could be thrown off in a blaze of publicity. Many senior Labour politicians would also make excellent candidates. Give the fare paying public what they want and restore BA to its former position as the world’s favourite airline.

[VAFFPAX]

Mark, you confuse Ms Moss with Ms Campbell.

Campbell was ejected, Moss was not. Moss made a fuss after arrival, Campbell made her fuss before departure. Moss got a nice payoff, Campbell got arrested and banned.

S.

[markrl]

VAFFPAX many thanks for pointing out my error you are of course quite correct. I never was very knowledgeable re celebrities. Apologies to Miss Moss and all for the confusion.

[Evileyes]

A gentle reminder, the topic here is 'Chaos at Terminal 5'. There is another thread specifically devoted to those desiring to trash BA management.

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=321175

If you are missing posts you may find they were moved there.

Thanks,
The AA&R Mods

[al446]

There could be relevance there Evileyes. Most pax are equally disturbed by the chaos, most have to go through filing claims but celebs get instant judgment way above what many may claim only to have it challenged. It displays chaotic thinking.

[Seloco]

Visited T5 yesterday

At the risk of injecting a positive post into a sea of negativity, I visited T5 yesterday (first time since doing some pre-opening trials) to meet and later drop off a travelling colleague, and was pleasantly surprised because:

• short term car park was free for two hours and I parked adjacent to the terminal entrance
• there seemed to be clearly marked helpers about every three metres to answer queries
• said colleague was through into arrivals within 20 minutes of landing time
• good range of cafe facilities in check-in area for business discussions
• very short queue for departures security

So, whilst I will never like the design of the building, I do think it can eventually be made to work reasonably well.

[infrequentflyer789]

Insurers refusing to cover T5 travel

Some insurers are now refusing to cover for baggage loss / cancellations for travellers using T5:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7348139.stm

I guess it must have cost them a large chunk in payouts to be taking that step.

[Heidhurtin]

Something Positive

I was booked on BA942 LHR - DUS on Sun 6 Apr, the day it snowed! The flight was inevitably cancelled, and I have to say that T5 seemed a pit of misery and despair to me and others. I had to get to Germany for a military appointment, and being forewarned about T5 I'd booked my suitcase into left luggage and took only hand baggage.

The positive - the BA staff (there seemed to be loads of them wearing T shirts saying "can I help?") were unfailingly polite and patient. One chap spent about 35 - 40 mins persuading and cajoling others to get me onto the BA940, which had been delayed, even though the gate had been closed for some time. I eventually got to DUS on BA940 about 2 hours after my planned arrival. I didn't catch the fella's name, but he was ex-RAF BA flight crew.

I just wanted to thanks, whoever you are, it was appreciated.

[cockpitvisit]

BA's Kirkwood and Noyes to go after T5 disaster

[cwatters]

> Some insurers are now refusing to cover for baggage loss / cancellations
> for travellers using T5.

BBC News 24 just quoted one insurance company as saying... This is nothing new... they never insure for known risks.

[Two-Tone-Blue]

You may be interested to know that I have now received 6 emails from BA telling me my flight will now be going from T4 instead of T5. I think I have the message.

And who is paying for these dozens of people wearing " i " t-shirts? BAA, BA or ... possibly the fare-paying passengers?

[derekvader]

Originally Posted by infrequentflyer789

Some insurers are now refusing to cover for baggage loss / cancellations for travellers using T5:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7348139.stm

I guess it must have cost them a large chunk in payouts to be taking that step.

Hmmm insurers really taking that action are on extremely dodgy ground I'd say. A contract is a contract and they can't just randomly decide not to cover certain events without reissuing everyone's policy, which will cost them a fortune just for the paperwork, let alone the right to cancel that they'll have to offer everyone. Unless their management is as moronic as BA's. If they do refuse to pay out to someone without properly reissuing the policy and that person kicks up a fuss in the media, the loss of future business will dwarf what they would have had to pay out for a few lost bags.

[Two-Tone-Blue]

Re #1177 ...

As I have read it, this applies to short-notice one-off travel policies, where the known pre-existing condition of T5 vis-a-vis baggage loss risk could be relevant.

Extant [e.g. annual] policies are apparently unaffected.

Unless the insurers decide otherwise on the day, of course.

[derekvader]

Hmmm well if so that's a disaster for BA then. Having the world's only insurance-void mainstream airport terminal will take years to undo.

[BAMANAGER]

Something postive "NOT"

To all those who think matters are progressing smoothly at T5, this is what the PR machine would want you to believe. Smooth is far from true. Indeed some business aquaintences called me today, 6 club pax, gold card holders travelling to conference, BA manage to lose all their cases! What a bunch of clowns. You guessed it, the total indiscriminate attack on their business plans and they have decided to chuck the towel in with BA. THey have said, enough is enough and are going to route with other large euro carriers.And guess what, even my cafe latte was luke warm today. Seems nothing is going right.

[Two-Tone-Blue]

Curious that there have been no posts here for 4 days.

Is this £4Bn story yesterday's chip-wrappers after all?

Does one assume that T5 is now "Heaven on Earth", apart from the small matter of the long-haul still stuck at T4?

I see my return from the USA on 18 June is now confirmed as being into T4 ....

[Skipness One Echo]

Couldn't help but hear that all the BA flights for Terrible 5 were being given stand allocations such as "Stand 501, OCCUPIED" on Friday. Now I know the operation was running behind due winds and Delivery forgetting to put people in the start up queue, ( oh the sound of frustration as everyone realised there was a good chance they weren't even in the queue after having gate held for 40 mins + ), but T5 isn't half full, why the Hell couldn't they allocate another stand? Are BA still not staffing adequately?

[BAMANAGER]

Gathering steam

I think the media are still watching and waiting. WW's name is hanging over the door, any more mishaps he'll have to walk. My money's on him walking sometime soon.

[Flag Officer]

First flight out of T5

Perhaps this is now a non-story and the wrinkles have been ironed out. I shall be able to judge for myself on Thursday when BA have the simple task of flying me to Germany for the day - void of ANY baggage. First flight out, last but one home. We'll see!

[ZarfBeam]

1st time T5 uneventfull, at least for me...

Hi,
15.04.2008, 7:30 from T5 to Vienna was OK.
Security queue took around 10min. ...

Today 27.04.2008 back from DUS to T5 was good. No queue at border control and my bag arrived just a minute after I was at the belt.
Seems like 14:00 is a good time to arrive?

Hopefully this is normal for all passengers, and even when the other flights move to T5 in some months.

Btw: No queue at DUS security although it was a busy day. From previous experience they are pretty quick in opening / closing additional gates according to the amount of people coming to.