So much for Terminal 5 being the answer to BA's problems

Paul Pearson

It took 5 minutes to check in and 4 hours of queuing for the "fast bag drop" before it was decided that only passengers with hand baggage would be allowed on the flight to Hong Kong. Unacceptable incompetence and complacency - whoever is responsible should be sacked.

Verity

BA is,in my experience, the nastiest airline in the world, with the bossiest, most glint-eyed, authoritarian staff and the most dismissive attitude. Given the friendly and welcoming alternatives in the world, I haven't flown BA for years. OK. If it were the last flight out of a war zone and I got a seat, yes. Otherwise, no.

njoysit

B.A.ha,ha,ha. I (and lately my son) have thousands to show in compensation from this comedy turn....not so funny at the time of course

Kevyn Bodman

This fiasco has important implications in a number of areas: the reputation of BA and BAA (which I don't much care about, but some might),

the wider impression that people form about the UK as a whole. Our standing is diminished when things like this happen; and our economy is damaged when travellers understandably choose to avoid LHR and/or the UK,

the fingerprint tracking/database collection that OF COURSE will be destroyed after 24 hours and will NOT be available to outside agencies must now surely have lost even more credibility.These people can't be trusted to run anything.

I haven't chosen to fly BA for many years now, but it is not feasible for me to avoid LHR itself.It's a mess.

There should indeed be sackings following on from yesterday's foul-up.
It will take a long time for T5's reputation to recover from this, even if it all works perfectly from now.

Des Muanga

I handled their PR in one of the African countries and guess what, nobody cares anymore about this snooty club.

Perry

It seems, to this old codger, a perfect distillation of the essence of Noo-Lie-Bore : squander large amounts of money ; meaningless promises, hyperbole, and PR twaddle ; ultimate failure ; little or no accountability ; a helpless, disenfranchised public ; ‘CHOICE’ ; ultimate failure to ‘DELIVER’; and all described as a ‘CHALLENGE’. I am only surprised that the so-called ‘private’ sector has gone down so badly. Or was it a ‘PARTNERSHIP’? [Please excuse capitalization – they are words that I have grown to detest in Noo-Speak.]

Perry

And, an afterthought, - other dread Noo-Speak words – among them, ‘INCLUSIVENESS’, ‘DIVERSITY’, ‘CELEBRATION’, ‘EQUALITY’, - are relevant. Everyone was treated with the same contempt.

Miserere mei

The words p***-up and brewery come to mind.

Errare Britannia est

I hear Terminal 5's problems were "compounded" by the presence of anti-aviation protesters at Heathrow. Earth to the 'Green Lobby': you don't need to take to the streets to protest against air travel. BA and BAA between them seem to be doing a pretty good job of putting people off flying!

Julian Stein

I cannoy understand why BA always comes in for such criticism. In my view it is streets ahead of the competition. I believe the root of the problem at T5 is the same old one, union intransigence in the face of progress and truly bloody minded baggage handlers.

CS

If you ask me (and no-one does but I'll opine anyway), most of this crap stems from the dead hand of managerialism that stifles so much competence in this country. The idea that there exists a set of management skills which allow someone to run a chemical company despite knowing nothing about the industry, to run the Armed Forces despite never having met a soldier and to a run a BA project despite (probably) never having travelled on a plane.

Nowhere is this more true than in the Civil Service. In the past 7 years, I've had 6 different managers, not one of whom has had the slightest experience or knowledge of the work I do. It's just assumed that, because they have "management skills", they can manage anything.

To be honest, I'm not complaining. The advantage of being managed by someone who doesn't understand my work is that he leaves me alone to get on with it.

In fact, I get left alone even more thanks to the culture of targets. My manager is so busy following targets that, so long as I give him the stats he needs to tick his little boxes, he's not concerned with whether the work actually gets done.

I'd be willing to bet that whoever was in charge of preparing the Terminal 5 launch was chosen for his management skills rather than any practical ability to launch a new airport terminal.

Verity

Julian Steyn - I was shaken by your observation that BA is "streets ahead of the competition". What "competition" are you referring to? Have you ever flown Singapore Airlines? Malaysian Airlines? Cathay Pacific? Emirates? Thai Air? Have you ever flown Qantas?

I flew Syrian Arab once and honestly judge it friendlier, more helpful and much less authoritarian than godawful BA, whose contempt for the passenger is palpable.

I am so glad they failed on such a grand scale and so publicly. The true face of BA: smug, bossy incompetence.

Verity

I do so look forward to the Olympics, don't you?

Julian Stein

Verity, I always wonder when people damn BA really how much travelling they have done. Yes 34 years of travelling to and from the Far East and America, CX Diamond Club, BA Gold Card, do you want more? Every airline under the sun. My motto is, all air travel is terrible, it's great when you get there. BA consistently provides the comfort, safety, security and sheer professionalism that I need. What are we comparing? The food? The comfort? The crew? All airlines can be great, all airlines can be terrible. I mustn't go on. But the opening of T5 was as if the staff were willing it to fail.

CS

***I do so look forward to the Olympics, don't you?***

No. How am I going to be able to flee the country in time with airport queues that long?

verity

CS - Irony, old thing.

Julian Steyhn - "Verity, I always wonder when people damn BA really how much travelling they have done." But of course you do! Because no one who was informed and rational could possibly disagree with your very important judgement, now could they?

" CX Diamond Club, BA Gold Card, do you want more?" No. I meet enough smug, silly people in real life. You think having a BA Gold Card somehow makes you a better judge of airlines? You don't think that mentioning it makes you look rather provincial?

I will stick to my considered judgement that BA is the worst airline in the world, save things like Air Somalia or whatever.

By the way, I don't know how I forgot it, but I also highly recommend Alia, Jordan's national airline. The staff are very gracious.

In N America, my favourite was always Alaska Airlines because I liked their livery so much. Come to think of it, BA is the Pan Am of Europe.

Julian Stein

I promise that this is the very first time and the very last time that I will ever make any comment on any blog anywhere.

Perry

Spot on CS. Thanks.

Kumi

BA please please fix ths screw up. You guys are the only connection we can get thru LHR without having to carry our luggage from one terminal to another