couple of years back had BA do this at LHR - every time the Nice flight moved to "Boarding" there was an announcement putting it back another 30 minutes - for 3 hours..... when we boarded there was no tug and the pilots ran out of time so it was overnight in a delightful (not) airport hotel

I do think its strange that the carnage that BA cause at LHR several times every year goes unreported. Yet eJ experience it's own T5gate drama and it's all over the news. Only 2 years ago I was dumped in T5. No hotels, no way to get an LRV, a mob at the ticket desk and a call centre who never answered my call. I took a hire car home. My flight was refunded but my claim for rail travel denied as I should have contacted BA before purchasing my ticket up north. Interestingly nothing was mentioned here or on Facebook yet the carnage described on here about LGW sounds like my nightmare four hours in T5. I think as an LCC eJ will always be looked down upon and when things go wrong they are strongly criticised even though circumstances are out of their control. On the day eJ had prepped jets waiting to fly. On my day BA cancelled my flight so it could fly a more profitable long haul flight. Yet people just accept that.

fa2fi That's a very reasonable gripe to make. My guess is that it's because BA + T5 is 'old news'. EZY having a melt down is new news.

Also, the LGW power failure was news. Sending a news crew to T5 every time BA have a routine ops failure?No longer news.

A very valid point PAXboy. I had never thought of it like that.

Part of it is my cynical mind and part is that my step-father was a newspaper editor - not in this country I hasten to add! So I got to understand something of how it worked in the days long before digital cameras and cell phones. Underneath, I don't think it's changed much.

Also, to be fair, the LGW power blackout was unique in their history. Further, it was linked to the floods AND they had thousands of folks ready to mouth off at the reporters = Easy! (pun intended :ouch:)

I'd put it slightly different. When things go pear-shaped at T5 it's never a surprise.