Chaos at Terminal 5
 

Willie Walsh is crowing already that the first BA aircraft departed on time this morning from terminal 5..... And so it did.

It was also the last aircraft that left on time as poor organisation by both BA and BAA have contributed to delays running up to 2 hours due to problems attributed to passenger handling, baggage, ground transport shortages and security. It seems that all those bright minds that have devised the foolproof tests that have been going on over the past few months... actually got their sums badly wrong. It seems BA will be forced to cancel a number of services today in an effort to recover the situation.

Yet again the travelling public are to suffer, but you will be pleased to hear that the T5 shops are doing such a roaring trade that the deafening sound of the cash registers can be heard all the way over in the City of London.

Time to consider your future Mr. Walsh..... Time to move on.

Delays on BAA Departures started at a 90 min average and are now going beyond two hours. Yesterday I had a BA B767 an hour late on stand as they couldn't get anyone to bring it over from the Maintenance Base so I was over an hour late going to Dusseldorf ! Also the A319 that brought me home was an hour late for reasons that the new Captain was even told about. Last month I was 90 minutes late to Brussels as the crew couldn't get a bus out to Stand 440 to prepare the aircraft.
I suspect all of the above will be just as true at Terrible 5. Get your bloody act together you muppets !

What do you expect of an opening of a very busy new facility? There will be a lot more glitches before it settles down to an ordinary routine. Give them a chance.

Believe me the theory from New South Wales is spot on but the reality in London has to be seen to be believed. The words piss up and brewery spring to mind.

I'm with HotDog on this one I'm afraid. As with everything that is first run/opened/started/whatever, there are going to be teething problems. I'm fairly sure that this isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened.

Nevertheless, even thought it's only recently been opened, it does sound like the management could have done better.

As a regular user of BA at Heathrow, and still mightily hacked off from yesterdays delays at Terrible One, ( still falling down, no natural light and more shops than Bluewater ), the BA operation at Heathrow with the same militant unions, and congested airspace and full runways is approaching a turning point. If Terminal 5 is any less than a triumph then I no longer give a damn about Heathrow and Runway 3. They can't run an on time airline sp there's no point in booking on business. If the BAA balls this up and insist on fingerprinting the public out of greed for retail profits then I hope that CDG and AMS wipe the floor with this bunch of clowns. .
BAA are ****. Really awful, unfocussed and greedy company that has overreached itself and is in a mountain of debt already.
Wait for "We know Terminal 5 isn't what we promised but Heathrow East will be" Haaaah! *goes for a lie down*

Security delays?
 

Just for the record, wasn't it as late as yesterday that it was decided to substitute mug-shots in place of fingerprinting? Can anyone tell us what effect this is having on security flow-rates?

By the way, are you guys already checking in at T5, or are you still using the "Bouncy Castle"?

Day 1 give them a chance. Gardmoemen have many challenges wnen Fornebu closed overnight yet did anyone worry some weeks later when things settled down.

Think what its like when you move house and you planned that yourself then multiply that X fold and you might start to have a slight understanding of the logistics involved.

Could they have moved T1 operations first then T4? Well no because the integration is planned for one terminal.

BA and BAA have done many things to be annoyed about but give the troops on the ground a break...

dunno, but that's BAA's problem. you can't just ignore the law of the land just because it suits you.
Its about time BAA started thinking about how to run an airport and stop thinking about how much shopping revenue they can extract from the poor passengers wallet.

Fair comment - and I accept it is a mammouth task, however..... this is not the first time the BA and BAA have left their paying customers in a mess, and nobody really gives a toss if there is a valid reason. All they care about is that once again, the product they purchased has failed to be delivered.

Ooops we've left your bags behind, sorrreee
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7314816.stm

As I said, couldn't find their own backsides with both hands and a torch.

er excuse its the firsts day....no way surely they have actually looked at other airport openings (I was at HKG 10 years ago and that had a lot to learn from) and see the cockups there and learned.....sadly not from the looks of the posts here.

I'm waiting for someone from Singapore to write in agreeing:

"it's normal, to be expected, teething troubles, was a big job you know".

"every time we open a new terminal we have the same mess" ...

Or rather I'm not waiting because it won't happen.

This is a very British cockup in the British way of doing things.

BAA & BA probably thought it was "good enough", and they'd get away with it.

The Guardian was reporting at 10.45 that the baggage computer had crashed as someone had entered (initialised it?) with wrong time:uhoh:

If we believe the BBC it also left without baggage, which I would have thought makes loading somewhat quicker. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7314816.stm. Wonder when they are plannign the first on-time departure with bags ?


A bbc article earlier today also quoted long queues at checking and security, quoting Walsh as saying:Presumably the right thing to do faced with a new terminal with reported teething problems is to turn up late. :ugh:

Incompetence
 

Folks, don't make excuses for this incompetent shower 'running' LHR. They have had sufficient time for dry runs, but still they cannot get it right. Equipment breakdowns are also down to shoddy workmanship, but then that's what the UK is becoming - shoddy.

As previously stated, all that BAA and their Spanish owners are after is your money, and they do not care much about how you are dealt with, nor delays; after all, if you are delayed, you are more likely to use the stores in the terminal.

Try Paris, Frankfurt or Amsterdam, as they all leave LHR way behind, and the staff are generally more friendly than the often rude staff at LHR.

Just heard on the radio that BA pax aren't recieving their bags and to expect long queues at T5 !

Whoops!!

Re Expect teething problems in day 1? Why? This didn't happen when Singapore opened up their latest terminal on day 1.

Fiasco @ 5 well done BA/BAA!!

Incoming passengers facing a two hour delay for their baggage

Who woukld beleive that a Spanish run airport could have such delays.

Malaga anyone? :p:p:p

The problem is not that there are glitches on day one - that's to be expected. The problem is that this bunch of wankers have NEVER in decades been able to run the airport as an airport !! As a shopping mall, well, that's another kettle of fish entirely.......

It's the same muppets that made our lives a misery at Terminals 1,2,3 and 4 running the show, we should *NOT* be that surprised.

From BA.COM

"On 27 March 2008, London Heathrow Terminal 5 will welcome the first British Airways passengers through its doors. It’s the culmination of an amazing project that began with one thought – to make connecting the world simple and pleasurable again. The result is a seamless and upgraded airport experience unlike any other in the world, and one that’s exclusively for British Airways passengers."

Classic.