British Airways is sending thousands of suitcases by lorry 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 flights from Terminal 5.
Bags belonging to passengers on domestic flights are being driven to
Manchester and Scotland, where they will be sorted, screened and dispatched
eventually to their owners.
BA said that problems with the automated baggage system at the new terminal
meant that it could not be used to process delayed bags, which had to
undergo more rigorous screening. It is cancelling 50 flights today and
another 32 tomorrow, bringing the total number of cancellations since the
terminal opened on Thursday to 430.
The airline and BAA, which owns Heathrow, have given conflicting accounts of
the size of the missing baggage mountain. BA claimed on Sunday afternoon
that there were 15,000 bags, but on Monday morning BAA said that the figure
was 28,000.
Willie Walsh, chief executive of BA, said on Monday night that the number was
19,000 and that 5,000 would be on their way to their owners by yesterday.
But yesterday afternoon BA’s press office said that it was still sorting
through 20,000 mislaid bags.
The airline said that 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 on by
courier to destinations all over Europe. Despite taking at least 24 hours to
get to Milan by lorry, it can be quicker than by air because bags travelling
by road do not have to wait to be screened.
However, many bags belonging to people travelling on holiday are likely to
find their way to the correct hotels only after the owners have flown home.
They may then be returned to Milan to be sorted again.
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. We ask our customers to keep us updated if their address details
change. That way we can ensure that their bags will be returned to them at
the right location.”
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 did not define what this covered or say how much it
would reimburse.
A family going on a skiing holiday in Switzerland last year received only £100
from BA despite having to spend £1,000 on replacement ski gear when their
bags were lost for a fortnight.
Gordon Brown was asked at his monthly press conference about the chaos. He
said: “I am sorry about the trouble that’s been caused at Heathrow as a
result of the failure to get the baggage handling system in line for
Terminal 5. BA and BAA have to take responsibility and make sure that
passengers can both get their baggage and flights can be restored to normal.”
Theresa Villiers, the Shadow Transport Secretary, has written to BA and BAA
urging them “to learn lessons from the Terminal 5 fiasco to ensure that no
such problems disrupt the London Olympics” as a result of the planned
upgrade to other terminals.
Ms Villiers said: “It is imperative that when each of the newly renovated
terminals reopens, we do not see the same scenes of chaos and frustration
that have accompanied the opening of Terminal 5.”
—Trading Standards officers have found that some passengers are being wrongly
charged for excess baggage because of faults on check-in scales. At Gatwick
ten out of 18 scales checked were found to be overstating the weight of
luggage. The investigation also found “a host of other practices in which
airlines were making money without being up front with their customers about
their charges”.
Clearly no one in their right mind WANTS to fly via Heathrow. However, those of us flying from, for example, San Francisco to the UK have very few other options, and most of them are more expensive; flights to Gatwick or Stanstead are almost as rare as hen's teeth. I certainly am glad that our flight to LHR next month is NOT on BA; hopefully Air Canada flys into a different terminal.
Peter Bradshaw, Sunnyvale, California, USA
Unfortunately, if they are going by roads to Milan for sorting, I'm counting on quite a high percentage of them getting 'lost while being sorted'. Not sure my bag is finding it's way into someone's home now...
Mike, BE,
BA have become a very poor airline and their handling of baggage is just plain unacceptable. The staff are so used to bags going missing that they do not care anymore. I'm surprised anyone flies with them.
Mary, London,
All I can say is "thank god for regional airports, Ryanair, Easyjet and their like"
Why any sane person wants to fly via Heathrow is beyond me!!
John Hancock, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Our bags got caught up in the BA Christmas mess of 2006. We waited 3 1/2 weeks to get them. Now when we fly BA, we stuff as much as we can into our carryons and assume that we will never see our checked bags. We have been lucky in our last few flights and our checked bags did arrive...but my advice is always plan to never see your checked bags again!
Holly, Seattle, WA
I entrusted my bags to BA on Saturday morning over two hours before my flight was due to depart. I arrived in Los Angeles only to find that I didn't have a suitcase. Nor did about 50 other travellers. Since I didn't have any clothes in my handluggage I was in a fix. Luckily the local stores were still open and the hotel provided me with washing and shaving items. There is still no information on the whereabouts of this bag nor any real helpfrom BA. Nor was an explanation of first need expenses made. Still don't know what that is! But at least the Director of Operations has sent an email out to everyone
wilf, Billingham, UK
I handed my bags to BA on Thursday 27th March. Still no information about where they are or if I will ever see them again.
The whole fiasco at T5 is a classic example of ignoring the maxim of hope for the best and plan for the worst. It is clear that no senior managers from BA or BAA were involved in planning or overseeing the implementation of T5. This is first and foremost a major management failure.
Mike Regan, Landenberg, PA/USA
My suitcase is somewhere in those piles.. Maybe in Milan now.. It's very fustrating!
Katrine Valentin, Svendborg, Denmark
Guys, April 1 was yesterday, you're too late!
Chad H, Glasgow,
We should not always push all the blam to BA remember the facilty is run by BAA who seem to be escaping a lot of the blame.
Secondly bag to Italy is sheer madness.... beyond comment. Are you telling me that there isn't an empty commercial building in the M25 area which couldn't be used as temporary base to sort all this luggage and there isn't a distribution company in England that couldn't move the bags to home addresses? What planet are these people. The irony is amasing........ people missed their holidays but their bags got a trip to Italy.
Claire , Winchester ,
It seems to me the head Honchos of BA really do not care about their staff or their passengers. Every time I fly BA I think, not again surely not another year with disruptions; and I think never again, oh why do I do it. I really think it's time BA gave up and Willie Walsh should go and stack shelves in some obscure supermarket. Most organisations would have gradually introduced the new systems and terminal so as to cause little disruption to the public and an easier learning curve for their staff. After this fiasco is resolved what next - a strike by the pilots, thereby enforcing my original statement BA really do not care about their Staff or their Passengers.
Rose Williams, Wrea Green, Great Britian
Have they sent it to the right place this time or has it been sent to antartica!
Tim, London, Britain
Bring in Stellios - he knows how to run a 'No Service' airline better than Walsh... which is what BA has now become. ..'The Worlds Favorite Airline.... dont think so..
DDLG, London, UK
Never take luggage.
Ben Grumpie, Bristol,
Willie Walsh has stated that he will not resign.
Surely then it is time for BA's Chairman, Martin Broughton, to sack BA's CEO, Willie Walsh.
Neil, London, England
Send all the non-doms to Terminal 5!
JC, london,
Perhaps we should return to the days where passengers took thier own luggage to the plane for loading.
Ron, Milton Keynes, Bucks
This is ridiculous. Surely good British-Poles can sort the bags here cheaper than those expensive Italian-Poles can over in Milan!?
John Sinclair, Dundee, UK
No Informations, no excuses, no support......shame on you BA.
Now we are already 3 days home - after having experianced all the disaster at T5 over the last weekend (incl. this "funny" Mini ShuttleTrain??! - without our 2 bags checked in in LAX last saturday.
F. Zauner, Baden bei Wien, Austria
"We ask our customers to keep us updated if their address details change. That way we can ensure that their bags will be returned to them at the right location."
I spent 10 days in 2 locations in the US in December 2006. During the whole time, my only checked bag was never delivered. I called BA daily for updates, and I notified them of my address change. One day after I returned to Switzerland, my bag was delivered to the FIRST address on record. When I read the hype about how terminal 5 was going to end all of BA's baggage headaches, I was skeptical, apparently with reason!
P. L. Koppenol-Bounds, Zurich, Switzerland
I have just bought an airline ticket on AF-KLM from CDG to LHR ........on 11 April and so I won't be using my BA ticket scheduled that very same day....Of course I will lose money because my ticket is not refundable but I really DO NOT trust T5 and BA any longer.....:))) Ughhhh
Pascal-Pierre, Dinan , EU (France)
Wow. You know its dire when you are sending bags to Italy to be sorted. When I landed in Rome, my luggage wasn't on the belt. It took them FOUR days to get my luggage to me. What a nightmare.
Ryan McBride, Old Forge, PA / U.S.A.
We've been back from our vacation longer than we were actually ON vacation and are still missing 4 of our 5 bags. They have even stopped calling us on the status. Thanks to BA for making our vacation a part of history!
Allen O, Springfield, US
On a much smaller scale, both Denver (DEN) and Chicago's O'Hare (ORD) had similar problems with their computerized baggage handling systems when they were first put into operation.
Don, Elyria, OH
How do you inform BA of new delivery details when their online system has been down for 2 days and their so-called hotline is constantly engaged?When I got through on the hotline after ringing continuously for 10 minutes the staff turned out to be in a Call Centre in a facility near Newcastle only created last November....some staff although polite did not understand BA's system nor did they have any information.The shambles we encountered at 645am last Thursday at T5 continues........Fred Houchin
Fred Houchin, Alnwick,
I am surprised that the BA Board has not sacked Walsh for the damage T5 had done to its reputation, its share price and its financial bottom line. What can Walsh say, only 400 flights were cancelled.
Cyril Lawrence, Merced, CA, USA
What do you expect from a company that flies a 747 across the Atlantic with one engine inoperative. They just dont care about you.
John B, Brooklyn, NY USA
....but do the trains run on time?
Paul, North Canton, USA / OH
And it will be split into two BAA groups, one that says "it's not my fault," and one that says "It's not in my job description." As usual.
Alfred Bommel, Newport Beach, California,
why didn't they just go back to the old system until they got the bugs out of the new one?
johnny, Los Angeles, CA
I remember reading a Sci-Fi story about the problems at an Automated Pub. It seems that although one can mechanize the process, you just can't get by the inherent need for human oversite and knowledge of cultural idiosycrasies that machines, or lets face it, some few non-intitiative labor union members, can't or won't exercise.
I'm sure glad I can't afford to travel right now.
Kevin K, Motown,
I am old enough to remember when Britain really was great. Now, after more than 40 yrs of PC social engineering, we are unable to fill the job of luggage porters.
Richard, Carcassonne, France
We arrived at T5 on Sunday from Berlin and virtually everything was almost as smooth as silk. Our cases beat us to the carousel.
The only problem we had was finding our way up to the departures floor to exit the building onto the pre-booked taxi collection point. (Perversely at both terminal 1 and T5 it is the "Departures" level rather than "Arrivals" where they have designed enough space for vehicle pickup.). The lift to "Departures" took us to an emergency exit! Frankly I would have thought that any "beta testing" with typical building usage would have identified this problem. But lets hope they fix the gremlins soon.
R Williams, Maidenhead, UK
Did none of the people in charge at Heathrow examine the automated baggage system debacle at Denver International Airport resulting in multi-million dollar system being scrapped ? Unbelievable that this could happen again!!!!
N. L. Harwood, Centennial, CO/ U.S.A