That's exactly what LHR reminds me of. Sadly they aren't the only airport that acts that way. AKL is the same.

I'm not saying they don't do a good job on safety - I'm not qualified on that.

But what I do know is some of the focus on shops and unreasonably high dividends (at least for AIAL - I assume BAA is the same but it may not be) could easily be diverted a little into improving the experience for passengers - you know the ones who provide a reason for the airport's existence and ultimately pay the bills.

At LHR I nearly always am connecting somewhere. In my experience nearly always there are horrendous FCC queues. And nearly always there are multiple security machines standing idle. Sometimes they'll have a bunch of people manning a deserted fast track line while the slow track line snakes down the corridors.

As pointed out by others, they seem to have no problems having enough staff for the shops, or reducing space in security area to squeeze in one more shop. Compared with other hubs, connecting at LHR is unpleasant. While I understand there are constraints that mean it will never be as easy as the likes of SIN, there are fairly simple things they can do to make it a bit easier for pax - some of whom actually do have a choice of airports.

AIAL is the same. They're currently trumpeting improvements to the overcrowded domestic terminals. The first thing they did was open more shops. Improvements for pax will follow in a year's time.