It was inconceivable that everything would go smoothly for British Airways and
BAA on the opening day of Terminal 5, but no-one expected the shambles of
today's operations.
Journalists, myself included, were braced for the chaos that a "Flash mob" of
Plane Stupid protesters could bring to the Arrivals Hall mid-morning, or the
security alerts that were anticipated to dog such a high profile event, but
no-one expected this.
When the first flights took off early this morning, everything was going
smoothly at Terminal 5. The excitement among BA officials, who chatted
incessantly into radios and mobile phones around the terminal, was palpable.
It seemed as if finally BA might shake off the bad press that came with the
strike threats and Terminal 4 baggage backlog earlier this month.
Finally the national carrier and self-proclaimed "world's favourite airline"
had something to be proud of.
In the Concorde lounge I saw the senior BA executive Tiffany Hall purveying
the scene of relative calm in the Departures Hall with noticeable pride over
a cup of coffee, and her boss Will Walsh, chest puffed out, being
interviewed by television crews in the check-in area. She told me the
terminal was quiet because only 10,000 passengers were expected to use it
today - a fraction of the terminal's full capacity.
But sadly for BA it wasn't to last.
What started the toppling of dominoes for BA isn't clear, but for us departing
passengers it was the faulty screens that caused early confusion.
The information boards in Departures gave a glowing indication of flight
punctuality but turned out to bear little relevance to what was going on at
the gates.
At gate B44, where I was sent for my 8.55am Brussels flight, the departure
board flitted between my flight and another to Munich.
Another nearby board showed the wrong time, and BA staff grew gradually more
fractious as the passengers did.
What turned out to be holding us up was a missing fluorescent wasitcoat, known
as a tabbard in the trade. It must be worn by airline staff escorting
passengers to the steps of an aircraft (the air bridge wasn't working). Hard
to believe that for the 100-odd passengers on my flight it was a missing
jacket that was the straw that broke the camels back.
It got worse for BA - the baggage system that it had extensively tested and
bragged of handling 12,000 bags an hour turned out to be incapable of
handling the bags of some 10,000 passengers in a day.
When I walked through the baggage hall this evening, after a three-hour delay
to my flight, abandoned cases were strewn around the hall - mingled with
litter and dozing passengers - it took the shine off the gleaming baggage
belts and glistening floor.
When I boarded my return flight to Heathrow the captain told us: "It looks
like it hasn't worked out brilliantly at Terminal 5", "that's an
understatement" muttered my frazzled neighbour. "It's the first flight of
the day for myself and my co-pilot Lars," he added, "so we're not sure how
chaotic it'll be when we get there."
I felt like we were heading into the gates of hell. But a harder pill to
swallow? While queued up to board our delayed flight in Brussels we were
given little blue BA-branded carrier bags - a gift, the cheery steward told
us. Inside was a tiny box of two chocolates and a leaflet about Terminal 5.
On the front it said: "So calm, you'll just flow through".
To comfort BA one might say, "Oh well, tomorrow's another day", but with
announcements ringing out across the terminal now that passengers with hold
luggage are no longer being allowed on flights, I think that phrase will
only instill fear into the BA executives who are in for a second
sleep-deprived night.
Wilie Walsh needs to get in the real world
I left T5 on Saturday 5th bound to San Francisco for a ski holiday our luggage arrived today Friday 11th
I wonder if Willie could enjoy a holiday without any clothes etc
I very much doubt it
If I allowed my business to behave in such a fashion I would be out of business
I have received the most support & service from the hotel staff in the states.
Willie if you want to talk about how to improve your service stop looking over your shoulder to see what the city are thinking and get back to where your profits actualy come from - your customers
Terry Bill, Chichester, west sussex
Come and walk in Britain-the invitation extended to Americans doesn't tell them that the coast to coast walk in March is a serious undertaking. Consequently after day one they have to drop out-but still have to pay for 13 nights accommodation which has been pre-booked. This doesn't sound very fair to me and gives a very poor view of our country.OK-so they were naive but the picture painted is of happy walkers easily tripping across the low hills of Britain-even children can do it-solo walkers-no problem-how irresponsible is that? Anyone else been ripped off by the c2c teams?
Margaret Thompson, Leeds,
Amongst the bizarre world of aviation economics. the decision to sell BAA to a private company and THEN allow it to keep its effective monopoly of British airports was disastrous and totally wrong-headed. The only action that has any chance of reversing the hopelessly inefficient "management" of our major airports, and avoiding the exceeding national embarrassment of the farce at Terminal 5, is to allow real competition in the running of our airports. BAA muts be forced to give up Stansted at a minimum, perferably Gatwick as well. Then the many "not fit for purpose" practices and management they clearly also have a near-monopoly of will be weeded out. Remember how utterly useless British Rail were with THEIR monopoly?
Dr C J Harris, Eynsford, Kent
Returned from Rome on Thursday 3rd April to Terminal 5. We had already decided to take only hand luggage on our city break, following adverse news bulletins! Plane half an hour late but BA staff very helpful directing me onwards to my flight to Edinburgh. At security one guy excellent on filtering passengers through the myriad tray filling with coats, bags etc. Unfortunately, mine still a little overwhelmed and not so confident. However, all relatively fine until arrival at Gate A11 for the 9.00pm to Edinburgh. Obvious that we were going to be delayed. Eventually screen told us boarding for passengers rows 1 -20, this rapidly changed to All passengers then to Please Wait. It appears they lost a crew member. However, the real disappointment was the chewing gum nashing staff who eventually checked our boarding passes. Thought I might just be tired and fractious but heard the couple behind me expressing the same thoughts on lack of professionalism and damage to corporate image!
Audrey Trim, Dollar, Scotland
Appaled by the prospect of any airline let alone British Airways allowing the use of inflight mobile phones. An invasion of ones personal space by inconsequential meaningless single sided conversations.
D C Hall, Malvern, Worcs
Are you sure you once had an empire?
Bob, Hartville, Ohio, USA
"So calm, you'll just flow through".
Oh my, this caused me to laugh out so loud just now.
Geoffrey, Belfast,
I must agree with those who praise BA. I have flown with them regularly for many years and always found the service good. I have no disaster stories to tell, never had a case lost and never been overbooked. I surely can't be alone in this.
Martin Dudley, London, UK
Willie Walsh should fly Silverjet to New york one day to see what can be done for a fraction of BA's outrageous fares . The service is fantastic and they deserve to succeed . I do hope that they wipe the smug supercillious attitude off his face . though I suppose he will get the usual multi-million pound reward for failure on his way out the door .
Gerry Connolly, London,
me and my wife fly to sweden at 2200 with BA 2 hours deleyd and non passanger luggage on the plane . there is no place to phone and ask about the luggage . my last flight whit BA
Peter Lönnblad, västerås , Sweden
Don't blame the staff, this only goes to prove that we can no longer do things as we used to. All style and no substance, typical of most ventures in this sad country. What price the Olympics will be up and running on the day?
Kenneth Coomes, bath, somerset
Can't wait for 2012.
David Masu, Zürich,
Promote the acceptable at the expense of the capable and - result T5 !! - Olympics - oh joy !
Wills, Soton, UK
My flight for tomorrow was cancelled by BA at 20.17hrs tonight - 17 minutes after any BA telephone lines were closed for the night; how cynical is that? No alternatives offered, no way to contact BA therefore I will miss my long haul connecting flight.
PS - both flights were confirmed as being checked in, online, at 14:18 hrs today,
K Robinson, Leyburn, North Yorkshire
The problems demonstrated here are the the symptom of British management culture. Obviously the practice runs were staged for the benefit of senior management who then crowed about the results while the lackies crossed their fingers. Our culture punishes those who bring bad news and the result is as you see today - an international embarrassment of egregious proportions. Today I am ashamed to be British.
Paul K, THORNTON-CLEVELEYS,
We arrived from California with nearly 3 hours to spare before our flight to Newcastle. We departed 4 hours after schedule with nobaggage on board to the anger and frustration shown by the captain...the only truthful BA person we head all day.In other words we spent over 6 hours in T5. Our ordeal began at about 7am in a new but surprisingly dirty terminal with inadequate facilities for everything except shops. BA will blame eveyone including passengers but themselves. That's the final starw for us with BA.
P Cliffe, Alnwick, UK
Carry on Heathrow, Ha ha Ha
Tony, Newcastle, England
I think this is George Bush's revenge for the british reducing their troop levels in Iraq.
Bruce L. Northwood, Silver Spring, USA