Is T1 any quieter for you?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: London. Edinburgh, Cornwall
Programs: BA GGL, British Midland Lifetime* Loser
Posts: 7,945
Is T1 any quieter for you?
Now that the world's most Brilliant Airline has dragged most of its pantomime out of LHR T1 and across to T5, is T1 any quieter for the rest of us?
Nigel seems to think so. I haven't had the pleasure this week. Has anyone beeen through T1 Domestic today or yesterday?
28 March 2008
bmi flights take off as scheduled from London Heathrow’s Terminal 1
- airline’s flight operations unaffected by Terminal 5 problems
bmi, London Heathrow’s second largest airline, is continuing to operate all flights as scheduled from its main hub at Terminal 1 despite disruption at the newly-opened Terminal 5.
Problems at Terminal 5, which opened to passengers yesterday (Thursday 27 March), have resulted in significant delay and disruption to BA flights operating from the new facility. In contrast Terminal 1, which now has 40 per cent less passengers to accommodate following BA’s move to Terminal 5, is running like clockwork as is bmi, the principal competitor to BA at Heathrow.
Nigel Turner, bmi chief executive officer, said: “Heathrow’s reputation has taken yet another blow with operational failures causing serious disruption at the brand new Terminal 5, which was built for the sole use of BA at a cost of Ł4.3 billion.
“But the fact is that BA’s problems at Terminal 5 do not mean that the whole of Heathrow is in meltdown. We and other airlines continue to operate normally from the main Heathrow central area.
“One in every eight flights at Heathrow is a bmi service and yesterday we had a punctuality record of 94 per cent flights on time, reaffirming our position as Heathrow’s most punctual British airline.”
Nigel seems to think so. I haven't had the pleasure this week. Has anyone beeen through T1 Domestic today or yesterday?
Originally Posted by bmi PR09
28 March 2008
bmi flights take off as scheduled from London Heathrow’s Terminal 1
- airline’s flight operations unaffected by Terminal 5 problems
bmi, London Heathrow’s second largest airline, is continuing to operate all flights as scheduled from its main hub at Terminal 1 despite disruption at the newly-opened Terminal 5.
Problems at Terminal 5, which opened to passengers yesterday (Thursday 27 March), have resulted in significant delay and disruption to BA flights operating from the new facility. In contrast Terminal 1, which now has 40 per cent less passengers to accommodate following BA’s move to Terminal 5, is running like clockwork as is bmi, the principal competitor to BA at Heathrow.
Nigel Turner, bmi chief executive officer, said: “Heathrow’s reputation has taken yet another blow with operational failures causing serious disruption at the brand new Terminal 5, which was built for the sole use of BA at a cost of Ł4.3 billion.
“But the fact is that BA’s problems at Terminal 5 do not mean that the whole of Heathrow is in meltdown. We and other airlines continue to operate normally from the main Heathrow central area.
“One in every eight flights at Heathrow is a bmi service and yesterday we had a punctuality record of 94 per cent flights on time, reaffirming our position as Heathrow’s most punctual British airline.”
#3
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club, Marriott Bonvoy
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Englandshire
Programs: SPG LT Plat, BA G, BD*LG, MG Blue+ ...
Posts: 16,027
According to a colleague who passed through yesterday, T1 was an oasis of calm and quiet. Paging worldexplorer....
#4
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London
Programs: BD*G, DL G
Posts: 29
Yesterday it was a breeze arriving at T1 international on the BD154. No queue at Immigration, nobody in the baggage hall and a very quiet arrivals concourse.The short term car park had oodles of space.
They've changed the flow around the flight connections centre when arriving from the 40+ gates - nice job done of patching the carpet together with gaffer tape!
All in all, how flying from a small provincial airport should be!
Added: the BD154 was full yesterday with BA passengers, many of whom complained when they had to pay for their cup of coffee and could not use the BAEC card for a freebie (as I presented my BD*G card).
They've changed the flow around the flight connections centre when arriving from the 40+ gates - nice job done of patching the carpet together with gaffer tape!
All in all, how flying from a small provincial airport should be!
Added: the BD154 was full yesterday with BA passengers, many of whom complained when they had to pay for their cup of coffee and could not use the BAEC card for a freebie (as I presented my BD*G card).
#5
Join Date: May 2006
Location: 5 miles from EMA
Programs: BD, BAEC Pleb, VS Pleb, Accor Pleb, HHonors Gold, Big White Season Pass
Posts: 5,904
Oh dear I wonder if they'll all be on to DC trying to comp gold as a result
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: SE1, London
Posts: 23,430
Trundling past yesterday, it was very odd to see the Europier stands 50% empty - just a couple of GT planes (all in white before the EZY takeover), a solitary BD Airbus and 3 BA 757's tucked around the corner at gate 40.
#8
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Manchester, England
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Posts: 8,019
They were the lucky ones. A lot of BA's victims, sorry I mean passengers, haven't been allowed to move to other airlines and are instead having to wait for BA to reaccomodate on a later BA service, even if it means a small wait of a day or two. Ouch
#9
Join Date: May 2006
Location: 5 miles from EMA
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It'd almost be worth chancing your arm on Virgin Trains.
I did wonder why so many people being interviewed were saying that they were being put on later flights to places like GLA. Not rebooking them on other carriers to get them to their destination is just awful.
They are going to lose so much goodwill over this fiasco. If it were me, I would never fly with them again.
I did wonder why so many people being interviewed were saying that they were being put on later flights to places like GLA. Not rebooking them on other carriers to get them to their destination is just awful.
They are going to lose so much goodwill over this fiasco. If it were me, I would never fly with them again.
#10
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: SIN 5 days out of 7
Programs: BD*G, A3*G, BA-S, Accor Gold, IHG Amb
Posts: 5,505
Nah,
a lot of (most?) people never learn.
People will still be guided to BA because they're flights have better/more marketing, or are £3 cheaper than the alternatives...You get what you pay for but a lot of people don't want to accept this!
They'd probably sooner waste 5 hours in T5 than pay for a coffee on a punctual airline.
How much reminding do people need before they have any impetus to change their ways?
a lot of (most?) people never learn.
People will still be guided to BA because they're flights have better/more marketing, or are £3 cheaper than the alternatives...You get what you pay for but a lot of people don't want to accept this!
They'd probably sooner waste 5 hours in T5 than pay for a coffee on a punctual airline.
How much reminding do people need before they have any impetus to change their ways?
#11
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: Seniors Bus Pass
Posts: 5,529
will be into T1 on sunday and then have the joys of an in and out of T5 during the week. Handluggage throughout in any event, so looking forward to seeing the differences! - but keeping my options open for a change to *A via FRA if it looks a bit rough still on sunday...
#12
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 334
It'd almost be worth chancing your arm on Virgin Trains.
I did wonder why so many people being interviewed were saying that they were being put on later flights to places like GLA. Not rebooking them on other carriers to get them to their destination is just awful.
They are going to lose so much goodwill over this fiasco. If it were me, I would never fly with them again.
I did wonder why so many people being interviewed were saying that they were being put on later flights to places like GLA. Not rebooking them on other carriers to get them to their destination is just awful.
They are going to lose so much goodwill over this fiasco. If it were me, I would never fly with them again.
#14
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Oz, Wales, Fiji. AirNZ Gold Elite, Virgin Australia Platinum, Qantas Gold, Hyatt and IHG Platinum.
Posts: 541
I was on BD 592 (LHR - MAN 18:45) last night, the departures hall was much much quieter than normal. Only 2 lanes were open at security however so the queues there were longer than usual - hope this is because they needed some extra staff in T5 rather than BAA deciding that less passengers mean less staff needed and the queues stay just as long!
Cheers, Zac
Cheers, Zac