Heathrow chaos continues
28 March 2008, 17:28
By Golnar Motevalli and Pete Harrison
Heathrow, England - British Airways cancelled a fifth of flights from its new $8,6-billion (about R7-billion) terminal at London's Heathrow airport on Friday as chaos from its opening spilled into a second day.
BA said it dropped the short-haul flights to ease congestion as it attempted to recover from the mess left by Thursday's opening when nearly 70 flights were cancelled, leaving passengers distraught.
Chief Executive Willie Walsh warned travellers problems could persist into the weekend.
"I would expect some disruption tomorrow (Saturday), but I think it will get better every day as we become accustomed to the building and the quirks of the systems," he said.
"Yesterday was definitely not British Airways' finest hour," he said. "There were problems in the car parks, airport areas, computer glitches and the baggage system."
Jackie Bachmann, 40, encountered baggage problems as she travelled with four other snooker players to an amateur competition in Glasgow.
"We had problems with our bags and his snooker cue is missing," she said. "Now we are waiting here for the next flight to Glasgow."
Rivals capitalise
BA's problems provoked a public relations disaster for the carrier that once styled itself the "world's favourite airline" - and weighed on its shares.
BA fell more than 3 percent on Friday, hit by the T5 chaos and jitters ahead of Sunday's start of the "open skies" deal to create greater competition on trans-Atlantic routes.
"I don't think it will be material, but it's certainly bad for sentiment and not good for the BA brand," BlueOar Securities analyst Douglas McNeill said. "You'd need several days of severe disruption to really impinge on BA's financial performance."
Adebayo Oniwinde, 52, a missionary from Lagos, was one of those caught up in the chaos.
"I made a booking on a BA flight to Oslo," he said. "I was going to travel at 1 o'clock. Now I'll have to wait eight hours."
BA's rivals, which resent Spanish-owned airport operator BAA gifting BA its own dedicated terminal, were quick to capitalise.
"Terminal 1, which now has 40 percent less passengers to accommodate following BA's move to Terminal 5, is running like clockwork," said bmi, BA's main competitor at Heathrow.
Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic said 200 BA passengers had already switched across to longhaul Virgin flights because of the problems.
"Our daily Dubai and Hong Kong services have seen the largest switch, with many more BA passengers expected to move across in the next few days," said spokesman Paul Charles.
Stranded passengers
The open-plan T5 is Britain's largest enclosed space, equivalent to the size of about 50 soccer pitches. It was touted as the answer to the delays passengers can face at the other four terminals at the world's third-busiest airport.
As opposed to Thursday, when some passengers were told they could only check in hand luggage and some flights left with no luggage in the hold at all, British Airways said customers could now check in both hand and hold luggage.
Some stranded passengers - many of whom publicly denounced the airline - spent the night in the gleaming terminal, reluctant to pay for nearby hotels even though BA, which is using T5 exclusively, had promised to reimburse them.
"I am very sorry that the problems have meant that some of our customers did not experience the true potential of this amazing new building," Walsh said.
British Airways spent months promoting the gleaming Richard Rogers-designed terminal, packed with high-end shops and restaurants, bringing photographers and journalists from all over the world to London to show off the complex.
Heathrow, England - British Airways cancelled a fifth of flights from its new $8,6-billion (about R7-billion) terminal at London's Heathrow airport on Friday as chaos from its opening spilled into a second day.
BA said it dropped the short-haul flights to ease congestion as it attempted to recover from the mess left by Thursday's opening when nearly 70 flights were cancelled, leaving passengers distraught.
Chief Executive Willie Walsh warned travellers problems could persist into the weekend.
"I would expect some disruption tomorrow (Saturday), but I think it will get better every day as we become accustomed to the building and the quirks of the systems," he said.
"Yesterday was definitely not British Airways' finest hour," he said. "There were problems in the car parks, airport areas, computer glitches and the baggage system."
Jackie Bachmann, 40, encountered baggage problems as she travelled with four other snooker players to an amateur competition in Glasgow.
"We had problems with our bags and his snooker cue is missing," she said. "Now we are waiting here for the next flight to Glasgow."
Rivals capitalise
BA's problems provoked a public relations disaster for the carrier that once styled itself the "world's favourite airline" - and weighed on its shares.
BA fell more than 3 percent on Friday, hit by the T5 chaos and jitters ahead of Sunday's start of the "open skies" deal to create greater competition on trans-Atlantic routes.
"I don't think it will be material, but it's certainly bad for sentiment and not good for the BA brand," BlueOar Securities analyst Douglas McNeill said. "You'd need several days of severe disruption to really impinge on BA's financial performance."
Adebayo Oniwinde, 52, a missionary from Lagos, was one of those caught up in the chaos.
"I made a booking on a BA flight to Oslo," he said. "I was going to travel at 1 o'clock. Now I'll have to wait eight hours."
BA's rivals, which resent Spanish-owned airport operator BAA gifting BA its own dedicated terminal, were quick to capitalise.
"Terminal 1, which now has 40 percent less passengers to accommodate following BA's move to Terminal 5, is running like clockwork," said bmi, BA's main competitor at Heathrow.
Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic said 200 BA passengers had already switched across to longhaul Virgin flights because of the problems.
"Our daily Dubai and Hong Kong services have seen the largest switch, with many more BA passengers expected to move across in the next few days," said spokesman Paul Charles.
Stranded passengers
The open-plan T5 is Britain's largest enclosed space, equivalent to the size of about 50 soccer pitches. It was touted as the answer to the delays passengers can face at the other four terminals at the world's third-busiest airport.
As opposed to Thursday, when some passengers were told they could only check in hand luggage and some flights left with no luggage in the hold at all, British Airways said customers could now check in both hand and hold luggage.
Some stranded passengers - many of whom publicly denounced the airline - spent the night in the gleaming terminal, reluctant to pay for nearby hotels even though BA, which is using T5 exclusively, had promised to reimburse them.
"I am very sorry that the problems have meant that some of our customers did not experience the true potential of this amazing new building," Walsh said.
British Airways spent months promoting the gleaming Richard Rogers-designed terminal, packed with high-end shops and restaurants, bringing photographers and journalists from all over the world to London to show off the complex.
Pretoria
