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#12
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You can also try looking for a torrent, but I haven't seen it out there. |
#13
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The latest is BA are planing to postpone the next phase of the move to T5 which was meant to happen on April 30 until it is all settled down.
I know I won't be in any great hurry to try and use the new terminal. My next trip should be on the Eurostar and the one after that leaves from Gatwick, so hopefuly come late May when I will probably first get to use it it will be all bedded in and working. Well working as well as anything can in the UK. |
#14
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BA trucks its luggage mountain to Milan for sorting
Ben Webster, London | April 03, 2008 BRITISH Airways is sending thousands of suitcases by truck to a warehouse in Milan because its staff at Heathrow are unable to cope with the backlog of at least 20,000 bags that missed their flights from Terminal 5. Domestic passengers' bags are being driven to Manchester, and to Scotland, where they will be sorted, screened and dispatched to their owners. BA said problems with the automated baggage system at the new terminal meant it could not be used to process delayed bags, which had to undergo more rigorous screening. It was expected to cancel 50 flights yesterday and another 32 today, bringing the total number of cancellations since the terminal opened last Thursday to 430. The airline and BAA, which owns Heathrow, have given conflicting accounts of the size of the baggage mountain. BA claimed on Sunday afternoon that there were 15,000 bags, but on Monday morning BAA said the figure was 28,000. BA chief executive Willie Walsh said on Monday night that the number was 19,000 and that 5000 would be on their way to owners by Tuesday. But on Tuesday afternoon, BA's press office said it was still sorting through 20,000 mislaid bags. The airline said it was sending bags belonging to customers in mainland Europe to a "specialist sorting facility" in Milan. The facility is understood to belong to a contractor that sends batches of bags by courier all over Europe. Despite taking at least 24 hours to get to Milan by truck, it can be quicker than by air because bags travelling by road do not have to be screened. However, many travellers' bags are likely to find their way to hotels after the owners have flown home - they may then be returned to Milan to be resorted. A BA spokesman said: "When a bag travels with its owner it is screened once. When a bag flies without its owner, it requires an enhanced level of screening." Tighter security for bags flying without their owners was introduced after the Lockerbie disaster of 1988, which was caused by a bomb in an unaccompanied suitcase. BA said that passengers whose bags were lost could claim for "immediate expenses" but failed to define what this covered or how much it would reimburse. The Times
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Now 'Hudson Fysh' Compliant! |
#15
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Heathrow Terminal 5
How sad it is for the travelling public, the aviation industry in
general and BAA and BA in particular that Heathrow's new T5 continues to be a PR nightmare and operational debacle. You would have thought that all systems had been tested to the limit and fully operational with the bugs ironed out before the terminal opened. According to an industry newsletter I read, things are so bad that BA doesn't know how many bags have been misplaced - at one stage they said 15,000 but more than 25,000 may have been delayed. No one really knows when passengers and bags will be reunited and some industry sources are suggesting weeks. Apparently, BA is even sending bags in bulk to Italy where a private company is sorting them and then driving them to their owners across Europe. So much for the so-called 'world class' baggage system that was claimed would 'work perfectly on day one'. But the problems don't end there with many flights still being cancelled and other systems breaking down. On one day last week, with thousands of frustrated passengers trying to find out what was happening, BA only had 2 of 26 customer service (?) booths open. And one of the weak excuses offered for this disaster was that both the airport's and BA's employees couldn't find their way to the new staff carparking at the airport, meaning that people were reporting for duty up to two hours late. Unelievable, if true !! So much for BA's earlier boasts about how smoothly their move to the new terminal would be, and how well they had tested everything prior to the start of service there. Compare this debacle to the apparently smooth and glitch free operations of Changi's new terminal three and Beijing's massive new airport. Has anyone heard any different ? What did they do right that Heathrow didn't ? |
#16
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But one thing no baggage system can be pre-tested 100%. T5 was tested on trail runs, but there could never be a full test until it is put to use.
What you have said about the lost bags is very true, all missing interntaional bags are being trucked to Italy, apparently flying them is a safety risk. From there they are being sent to their owners. One issue that has come up is holiday makers may find their bags going to hotels days after they have checked out, so may well end back in Italy. Domestic bags are heading to some place in the north of the UK for sorting. IMO I reckon the change should have been more gradual, say take all long haul flights first then the european one, it might have lessened the pain and lowered the risk somewhat. |
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After spending many years traveling there on an almost monotonous basis the news is hardly a suprise to me or anyone that has passed through Heathrow in the past. The staff appear to time there breaks so that when several flights at a time come in they are not there and all concerned from the flights are forced to wait (If you can imagine that episode of the Simpsons where Patty and Selma don't let the line at the DMV move all day). The other thing that you realise is that the staff are very reluctant to go outside there job description by even an inch, so when there job is to sell newspapers they wont be assisting you if you want to buy a magazine! (Just an example)
T5 might look good but you would have liked to have thought that with all the media attention Heathrow gets they would've gotten it right at least on the first day, but no, nothing has changed, and hope and optimism is quickly crushed. RayV |
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Pretty well summed up. Sadly living in the UK at present this attitude (and over regulation) just seems to be the english way. It is no surprise they are no longer the world power they once were.
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#20
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British Airways Deferred Moving Long Haul Services to Terminal 5
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