Location: Seat 1A, Juice pretty much everywhere, Mucci des Coins Exotiques
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I guess the silver lining for those of us on the continent is that with the absence of all those BA airplanes, our airspace is suddenly a lot more free. So my LYS-AMS flight should be a breeze.
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seems like T1 service with a nicer building :)
I returned from Oslo Friday night, late due to it always being late as the craft in use always does an AMS leg before it comes to OSL for the 17:10 service back home from OSL.
The T5 start had meant that 2 of the 4 flights OSL>LHR where binned.
Taxi to T5 , ATC delay due to wind , up to the stand, 10mins for someone to turn on the parking and 15mins for someone to use the jetty and open the door.
Essentially business as normal.
Into T5 a huge place with not so many people a real haven of calm. I just flowed through.
It will take years for BA to climb out of this hole. The damage is done.
Agreed.
After my experience, while it is stunning inside of T5 (especially the lounges), so much does not work. BA and BAA have a lot more to do that fancy 'sorry' graphics.
Perhaps, someone needs to eat humble pie and maybe shift some of the ops back to a now pretty empty T1 until they get these problems sorted out..?
What does run from T5 (and cancelling 20% of your flights each day is a pretty poor show) is still delayed because they cant seem to get the bags to the plane on time - so you just sit there and wait... and wait (in my experience). I dread to think how they'll cope with more 747s, rather than just the A319s/A320s.
Sad as it is, I'd presently struggle to look anyone in the eye and suggest they use T5. For time sensitive biz travel the place just does nt work.
No-one is going to claim the current situation is good, but the BA brand has taken plenty of knocks over the past few years and it has, for the most, part recovered:
- Wildcat strikes by ground staff in July 2003.
- Mass cancellations due to staff shortages in 2004.
- Wildcat strike by baggage handlers in August 2005 following GG dispute which involved no catering on any BA flights, then WT trays in J and F, then months of no food on short-haul.
- August 2006 security alert (not directly related to BA, but a lot of damage done to LHR).
- The cross affair. Regardless of one's views on the matter, few would disagree that it was handled very badly.
- December 2006 fog cancellations and the consequent build up of lost baggage. You can't blame BA for fog, but BA got an absolute kicking on the BBC, partly because of its (still) inept handling of the media.
- Cabin crew strike ballot in 2007.
- Plus too many other PR blunders to mention.
BA certainly has some work to do to make up for this, but soon there'll be another media furore to get worked up about.
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Ok, so here are my experiences with connecting at T5 last night to BUD.
Departure from Manchester about 25 minutes late, arrival at LHR 20 mins late (not too bad). Flight connection was easy as it was Dom-International, but I still encountered a 20 minute queue. On arriving at the gate, the airbridge took 5 mins to be moved and connected. Lounges are lovely and much better, although I must agree with Smirnoff that the staff are cluless. My flight to BUD showed 'gate open' at 2000 but I was still sitting at the gate 5 minutes after the scheduled departure time. The gate staff weren't sure what was happening, so I went back to the lounge and eventually persuaded the dragon to lift the device on her desk called a telephone and contact someone at 'operations' as she called it, to find out -turned out we wouldn't be taking off until about 2200, so I thanked her and had more champagne. Anyway, when we finally pushed back at 2225 ish, captain came on PA and apologised. He explained that the aircraft had been on stand five minutes late but that there were a lack of dispatchers so they had to delay the flight by two hours. When we finally got airborn, the flight was very good. Both of my bags made it through from LHR but my colleague who I was travelling with lost her two bags (she was connecting from Tel Aviv). She now has one but not the other and we are leaving tomorrow!!!!
We keep being told that BA has sorted out the issues with the baggage system and it is just 'backlog', but it seems that they are still mishandling bags. It's not good enough, I'm sorry, but 2+ hours delay due to a staff shortage, not baggage backlog isn't good enough. Furthermore, why they are cancelling flights up until Wednesday baffles me if it is simply baggage issues. Surely the '400 volunteers' could take the bags off site to be processed manually, whilst the rostered staff take care of the normal ops, why these cancellations? Why are they reviewing the longhaul move in April? Surely if they HAVE fixed the problems, then all will be fine. From what I saw yesterday, delays were affecting every flight and about 30 people had no luggage in BUD. Equally, when I flew from T5 on Sat from LHR-MAN, there were about 20 people with no bags in Manchester. According to BA though, there is just a backlog. Sorry, but I don't think I understand the situation because this is no backlog, this is a miscellany of issues ranging from basic staff familiarisation, staff shortages, and I think some other issue we are not being told about -why the cancellations if they have volunteers sorting the backlog, the system is now working and they have engineers and IT technicians on hand to deal with problems?
Should Willie Walsh go? Yes. Should we blame him for this situation? No, not entirely. I think the BA board has to take some responsibility too; I think Martin Broughton should go too. After all, the BA board appointed Willie Walsh (who did not have the relevant experience TBH), and the board seems fixed on short term profiteering; the board needs to supervise the opertion and that hasn't happened over the past years. Every time there is disruption, things go completely, and I mean completely mad at BA; flights are cancelled and they issue platitudinous statements of regret. BA doesn't just need a new CEO, the problems are far more deep-seated than that; there is a systemic culture of myopia within BA management and board members. I don't just blame Willie Walsh, in some ways, he's done what has been asked of him in turning the airline into a more profitable one, but he is a fish out of water. Aer Lingus and BA are two totally different airlines; EI has one base, whilst BA had many when he joined, etc. Willie Walsh also inherited problems from Rod Eddington, some of which neither CEO could deal with because of the board's constant insistance of penny pinching. I know BA is an airline and needs to make money, but as shown yet again, narrowmindedness is idiotic.
BA needs a new chairman, and a new CEO along the lines of Barbara Cassani. Now before you accuse me of hypocrosy, I admit it; GO! was not the same airline as BA operationally, but Barbara has experience within BA, but she also has much wider experience of hands on management. The company needs to be changed from top-down. The staff more than anyone else, deserve a CEO who is backed by a board that will not let them down. Ultimately, it is the board who are responsible, they hired Walsh who, according to the Irish Taoisech said of Walsh's proposals for a management buyout of Aer Lingus's shares "management wanted to steal the assets for themselves through a management buy out, shafting staff interests." To hire a man who led a nationally owned airline into a three day staff lockout, along with the cleaning contract fiasco, was wrong. Whilst a great deal of this is down to Walsh, the board seems to have pushed him into this situation he is now in. It's not fair he is being highlighted as the sole perpetrator of the mess that is now BA.
It does look a tad more contrite than it has done in recent days 
