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LHR T5


Rob W
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AVOID!!

 

Opens Thorsday - they have the capability to lose 30,000 bags an hour........................

 

 

I try and avoid LHR at any cost never mind specific terminals.

It's British Airways only. Agree about Heathrow.

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Guest Stevie

It's for Asian flights isn't it?? They should've just built another Terminal at Luton instead, would save them 30 mins drive when they get to Heathrow.

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We need to introduce "Staggering Incompetence" as an Olympic sport, it's our only hope of a gold in 2012. (Well, that and the freaky diving boychild.)

 

That's assuming the Games actually happen, of course... :lol:

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I love the way BA are blaming it on "staff familiarisation"... Surely they should have been made 'familiar' with the new terminal over the previous couple of months?

 

All luggage check-in has been suspended at Heathrow's new £4.3bn Terminal 5, after cancelled flights and baggage delays blighted its opening day.

 

British Airways, which has sole use of the terminal, cancelled 34 flights due to "teething problems" and was later forced to stop luggage check-in.

 

Technical difficulties have also led to baggage delays of up to four hours.

 

BA blamed the glitches on problems with "staff familiarisation", which had a knock-on effect on bags and flights.

 

In a day of problems at the new terminal, airport operator BAA said a baggage belt had stopped working, meaning a halt to check-in for passengers with bags.

 

One baggage worker told the BBC the situation was "mayhem" and that the technical problems had been known about for some time.

 

"They have been doing tests on the belt system for the last few weeks and knew it wasn't going right. The computer cannot cope with the number of bags going through."

 

A BA spokeswoman said delays in getting staff screened for work and other technical difficulties had caused the airline problems.

 

The company warned more flights could be cancelled as a result of the latest glitch.

 

Cancelled services in and out of the terminal so far have included flights to Munich, Frankfurt, Paris and Brussels as well as Glasgow and Aberdeen.

 

"These are all domestic or short haul flights and we are working hard to get people away on alternative flights," a BA spokesman added.

 

Passengers departing from and arriving at the new terminal have also suffered delays retrieving their bags.

 

Some waited two hours for luggage from a Frankfurt flight that landed at around 0830 GMT.

 

And in Paris, BBC reporter Peter Grant said no bags had made it on to his morning flight from Heathrow.

 

Airport operator BAA, which operates the baggage distribution system at T5, said a total of seven flights had left the terminal without luggage on board due to a system fault.

 

Danish businessman Henrik Moeller, who travelled from Hamburg and landed at T5 at 0745 GMT, said he was not reunited with his bags until 0900 GMT.

 

"I have read about this new bag system and how it was supposed to be so much better. It's obvious there have been teething problems."

 

Anja Kaut, arriving from Munich with her husband Matthew and 10-year-old daughter, Charlotte, also had to wait about an hour for their luggage.

 

"We were told there was a technical defect," said Mrs Kaut.

 

But those departing also suffered problems.

 

Heather Stevens's partner Neil Stonebridge was due to take off from T5 for Los Angeles at 1005 GMT. Almost three hours later the plane was still on the runway waiting for passengers' baggage to be loaded.

 

Heather, 36, told the BBC: "Apparently the computer software told the baggage people that the flight had taken off.

 

"So everyone in the plane just watched as all their suitcases were taken back into the terminal instead of being loaded on."

 

There were also complaints from passengers about confusing road signs, problems when paying at a car park, and broken down escalator.

 

In a statement, BA said it had experienced "initial teething problems" first thing in the morning, which had caused delays in staff arriving at their posts.

 

Difficulties included car parking provision, delays in staff security screening and staff familiarisation and "some baggage performance issues", it said.

 

"These delays have had a knock-on effect during the day so we have taken the decision to cancel a very small number of flights. We would like to apologise to passengers for any disruption to their flights," the statement added.

 

Earlier the company said such problems were "not unexpected following one of the most complex and largest airport moves in history".

 

Aviation analyst Jamie Bowden told the BBC teething problems were to be expected on the opening of a terminal, with new airports in Japan and Hong Kong also suffering difficulties in their first days.

 

What was important was that BA and airport operator BAA worked together to solve the technical problems "quickly" to ensure the minimum disruption for passengers, he added.

 

Earlier, anti-airport expansion groups held a protest at the new terminal.

 

Hundreds of protesters - wearing Stop Airport Expansion T-shirts and opposed to plans for a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow - carried out a peaceful protest.

 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7317352.stm

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I fully accept that there'll be some fuckups on the first day, including for reasons of "familiarisation" (there's only so much you can derive from trials with willing volunteers rather than actual dumb/harassed/tired/etc. passengers), but something on this scale is quite quite silly.

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We need to introduce "Staggering Incompetence" as an Olympic sport, it's our only hope of a gold in 2012. (Well, that and the freaky diving boychild.)

 

That's assuming the Games actually happen, of course... :lol:

 

Not looking good, is it? :icon_lol:

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Dunno if it's in the article above but on Sky News before they had a bloke making a statement in T5. The first bit I heard was 'We all knew the first day of operations in Terminal 5 would be a a unique challenge..' :lol:

 

I'm flying to Singapore for 4 days in August en route to Australia. A quick look at the live departures earlier showed Singapore flight is Terminal 4, but the Newcastle flight is T5. They want to fucking sort it out by 5 moths time like. :icon_lol:

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eventually you'll have to know which airine Alliance your airline is with - instead of sorting by destination (which is easy for passengers) they're going with what is good for airlines

 

Effectively if you fly BA in a couple of months you will be out of T5 - god knows where the other other airlines will be...........................

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Was crass stupidity going for a "big bang" opening, should have phased the opening in, 10 flights for a few days then another 10 then 50 and only THEN if all went well and the wrinkles were ironed out go for it all.

 

Being one myself I feel for the project managers, they won't have slept last night

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Was crass stupidity going for a "big bang" opening, should have phased the opening in, 10 flights for a few days then another 10 then 50 and only THEN if all went well and the wrinkles were ironed out go for it all.

 

Being one myself I feel for the project managers, they won't have slept last night

 

That's exactly what should have been done.

 

But I feel more for the passengers rather than the project managers who have had a large part to play in the cock up.

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Was crass stupidity going for a "big bang" opening, should have phased the opening in, 10 flights for a few days then another 10 then 50 and only THEN if all went well and the wrinkles were ironed out go for it all.

 

Being one myself I feel for the project managers, they won't have slept last night

 

That's exactly what should have been done.

 

But I feel more for the passengers rather than the project managers who have had a large part to play in the cock up.

 

 

Thing is the PM's likely suggested caution (I would, as above) but the "management" won't have countenanced it, BUT it'll all be the PM's fault (as per your comments). Been there before myself, you're right like the passengers deserve most sympathy, but the real people at fault won't take the "hit".

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