I can only hope they get it sorted out by the end of July. I have an absolute policy of not booking with BA but the British Olympic Association' deal with them to take the British Team to the Games in Beijing means I will have no choice.

Maybe T5 will be fixed by then but the pilots will be on strike? What an unholy mess......

As fas as I am concerned all the main London airports are now 'third-world' standard at best. Much of Africa and most of Asia is in fact much better. Classic monopoly-supply pricing and customer service and it can only be a mater of when, not if they are broken up.

St Pancras International being the exception to the rule? I know which I prefer - you don't have to worry about BAA at St Pancras...

BABlue(s)

I am wondering if the bonuses to the top executives responsible for the move will be paid (with an additional amount for exceeding targets) as is usually the case?

Rwy in Sight

I hope for you that you didn't shake his hand!! :E

Just saw the pathetic statement he made on Sky News , finished and turned on his heels and just walked away, refusing to answer any questions . I watched opened mouthed at this petulent display from a senior BA executive.
A truely unforgivable thing to do in the circumstances but ther you have the true face of Senior BA management , and people wonder why BA has such bad industrial relations.

Next time we see Gareth Kirkwood he'll probably be wearing an orange boiler suit , sharing a cell with crazy Bubba in the good old US of A. Nothing less than than he deserves imo.

Hand baggage only... my god BA 027 / BA 031 / BA057 to name but three of tonights big departures , you couldn't make it up !
I really feel for the passengers and the ordinary staff , this is the chickens coming home to roost after Walsh and his leadership team have slashed good experienced staff and generally managed to upset those that remain , all so the magic 10% margin can be achieved thus triggering huge bonuses for the senior management.



Make no mistake this is a complete and utter disaster for BA and i truely believe heads will roll over this .

WW for one, should seriously be considering his future,

Well I am off to Newcastle tomorrow so it will only be hand baggage for me. I cannot afford my penguin suit to not arrive with me.

If you want to know something about someone - consult Wikipedia (but to date, there is no entry for Gareth Kirkwood . . . ).Funny old World.

BA check-in staff should be compelled to ask one extra question............have you packed anything in your bag that you actually need?

What a complete bunch of w@nkers!

BA are without doubt now the laughing stock of the world.

If I worked for them I'd actually be ashamed to admit it!

Full service airline? What a bloody joke!

They make Ryan Air look like silver service!

Although having said that do you think some of that stems from having someone who used to run Downing Streets communications in charge of BA's?!? Could it be he is directed on how and what to say by them?

Whats the bets Ryanair take a advert out tommrow offering free flights for T5 Refugees and for a extra couple of quid their luggage can go to!!



:ugh:

Pax stuck on A/c due late TRM's, lack of jetties, missing bags, check-in queues, lengthening delays, domestic then European canx, hand baggage check-in only, A/c departing without bags, inbound pax waiting hours for their bags, bad publicity and a total shambles in the glare of Worldwide media - hang on, isn't this a normal day for BA and their long suffering passengers? :hmm:

As a 20 odd year BA employee I cannot tell you all how ashamed this whole sorry mess makes me feel.

In a perverse way I'm actually glad that it's rained on Willie's parade.

Perhaps now the world will understand what a bunch of charlatans are running BA. From the turf accountant at the top, to the legions of 'Apprentice'-esque managers who beset every turgid day of the misery that is Breathtaking Arrogance, there is not one that would merit employment in a fast food outlet.

With any luck, Willie will be fired before we have to face him off in the summer.

One way or another, he'll have to go - and take his 'Leadership Team' with him.

Shucking fambles.

Do we actually know what the problems are?

T5's baggage system is specified for dual redundancy at full capacity, so there must be some other problme that was just not captured, as today the terminal is running at around 30-35% of designed capacity

Ah yes ... Julia Simpson head of corporate communications forgot about her and her previous employer , bet she's keeping her head down now.

Form over function---exactly

We are sitting in Christchurch NZ having the best laugh of our lives.
Proud to be British--i dont think so.
Nearly every British person here,and probably some Europeans have had to fly through LHR to get here-usually from the Chaos of T3-- but you should hear how many will now try to re-route to other European hubs and then get LCC flights to regionals in the future.
Frankfurt ,Schipol Zurich owners must be watching with interest!!
I used Luton a lot in the UK.OK its Terminal looks like a a bit like an MFI warehouse but at least its organised enough to handle 10Mil passengers a year .
You would expect BAA to get this right with the world watching--or maybe ive been in NZ just that little bit too long. :ugh:

"For t5 despite all the problems, nobody will get burnt by hot water in the toilets as every tap will have had a warning that this hot water is HOT and may burn you, yes every single penny that should have been spent on equipment, quality staff and training will have spent on health and saftey and nice shop fronts."

I heard that the car parks are technically illegal because Public lifts open onto areas without fire detection/cover.:confused:

Just as well there's only 2 of the 18 lifts working in the car park then!:E

A very disappointing start
 

As an ex BA employee whose wife still works there I feel very sorry for the staff and passengers caught up in this. Make no mistake BA staff are some of the most dedicated and professional I have ever encountered in fifteen years in the industry (and I now work for a rival airline)!

I do know that my wife and countless of her colleagues have yet again turned out ON A VOLUNTARY BASIS UNPAID to help passengers stranded at the terminal - many of them working deep into the night. You don't see it in any other company I can think of, but I have to say that the senior management are in severe danger of losing this goodwill if they continue to amply reward themselves while seeking to hold down the workers terms and conditions.

Like everyone else I want to know where accountability lies for these problems, but it seems to me that much of the blame may lie not with BA but BAA but unfortunately the BBC and other media much prefer to make it all look like BA's fault.

Lets hope that the problems are ironed out asap and simple things like communication are improved - surely it can't be too hard to give passengers instructions on where to go for vouchers, etc via mobile phone text, electronic display board and tannoy. That being so I find seeing so many pax complaining about no information rather puzzling.

Desk-pilot

Well according to CNN, BAA are saying all the baggage infrastructure is working correctly and it's BAs staffs inability to meet the operational demand that is causing the problem.