HEATHROW’S terminal 5 lurched back to chaos yesterday when a failure in the baggage system caused the cancellation of 36 flights this weekend.

BAA, the airport operator, admitted responsibility after a computer failure meant that baggage had to be sorted manually.

Passengers on 24 flights were grounded yesterday and some flights left without baggage. Last night British Airways cancelled a further 12 flights due to leave today for European destinations.

BA, which has exclusive use of the terminal, had pledged a full schedule this weekend after a disastrous opening for the £4.3 billion facility on March 27. In its first eight days about 430 flights were cancelled and 28,000 bags mislaid.

Shortly after 11am yesterday the computer system used to match baggage with passengers failed. As a result, the baggage handlers were forced to make manual checks on every piece of luggage against the flight roster.

BAA, which is responsible for the system, had initially hoped that it could be fixed within a few hours. By mid-afternoon, however, it became apparent that it would take significantly longer and BA was forced to cancel further flights.

Those arriving at the terminal were faced with information boards displaying the words “enquire airline” for cancelled flights, leading to 40-minute queues at the BA customer service desk.

Tony Jones, 20, missed an interview for a place at Charles University in Prague after his 3pm flight was cancelled. “I’m going to miss the very reason I was going to Prague in the first place and now I’m scared that they’ll lose my bags,” he said.

The further baggage problems make BA’s plan to move the rest of its flights to terminal 5 by the end of the month even more unlikely. Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive, had intended to move the airline’s long-haul services from terminal 4 by April 30 but is now reviewing the decision.

Last night BAA said that manual checks would continue all weekend.

A spokesman for the operator said: “Our staff will work through the night and during Sunday to resolve the problems.”

The failure will add to growing criticism of BAA, which last week largely escaped blame for the hundreds of cancelled flights and lost baggage. A similar error in the “baggage reconciliation” system on the first day forced at least seven flights to leave without baggage.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat transport spokesman, said: “This is head-in-the-sand incompetence from BA and BAA. There will be a lot of angry passengers who have a right to expect that after the fiasco of the opening days the problems would be fixed by now. Instead it’s yet more embarassment.”

The problems since the opening of the terminal are estimated to have cost BA up to £16 million and 9,000 bags are still waiting to be returned to their owners.

- A BA flight from London to San Francisco was forced to make an emergency landing at Shannon airport, in Ireland, last night after developing a problem with its hydraulics over the Atlantic. The 747 plane, with 347 passengers on board, managed to land safely.

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