More flights canceled as Heathrow remains in chaos

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

More flights canceled as Heathrow remains in chaos
By Alan Cowell The New York Times
Friday, March 28, 2008

British Airways canceled dozens of flights at Heathrow's glittery new Terminal 5 on  Friday as its staff struggled for 
the second day with state-of-the-art technology that was supposed to hasten check-in procedures and make flying a 
pleasure.


The hitches since the terminal opened to passengers on Thursday were "definitely not British Airways' finest hour," the 
airline's chief executive, Willie Walsh, said as he offered a personal, public apology for disrupting the travel plans 
of thousands of people.


British Airways canceled almost 70 flights on Thursday,  after a day of delays caused by baggage handling problems. On 
what was supposed to be the first full day of operations at Terminal 5, many flights took off with their holds empty, 
carrying passengers with just cabin baggage.


Some passengers slept overnight in the steel-and-glass terminal - reviving  precisely those images of delay and decline 
in British aviation that British Airways said it would banish with the opening of the new terminal.


As a result,  Walsh said, about 36   flights out of Terminal 5 - mainly short-haul and domestic -  were canceled in 
advance Friday to ease pressure on staff members dealing with unfamiliar procedures and systems.


Walsh said there had been "problems in the car parks, airport areas, computer glitches and the baggage system."


About the prospects for the weekend, he said  Friday: "I would expect some disruption tomorrow, but I think it will 
become better as we become accustomed to the building and the quirks of the systems."


Travelers arriving early Friday  confronted what one traveler, Tony Pascoe, 35, called chaos as they stood in line for 
several hours only to be told their flight had been canceled.


"It was chaotic," he told Britain's Press Association, "Everyone who had been queuing were annoyed and a lot of 
jostling and arguing started. Then the desk just crashed so everyone  stood there.


"It is diabolical. I am a frequent traveler and this is the worst experience ever - it is absolutely shocking."


"This is a public relations disaster at a time when London and the U.K. are positioning themselves as global players," 
said David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce. "We can only hope that this will provide a 
wake-up call as we gear ourselves up to host the Olympics in 2012."


Heathrow is one of the world's busiest airports, handling about  67 million passengers a year. The new terminal - 
reserved exclusively for use by British Airways - was designed to counter the airport's image as an unpleasant place 
for travelers. The building cost about $8.7 billion and has 10 miles of baggage-conveyor belts supposed to carry up to 
12,000 items of luggage an  hour. But the baggage system has been at the heart of the start-up problems.


Other airlines, excluded from Terminal 5, took some delight in claiming to pick up business from British Airways as 
travelers switched to carriers operating out of Heathrow's older terminals.


And a private aviation company, Netjets, said in a statement that the number of people seeking private business flights 
had risen by 88 percent over a 24-hour period as "travelers sought to bypass the chaos of the opening of Terminal 5 at 
Heathrow."



http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/28/europe/heathrow.php

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