Rant - SEA-LHR-MAN trip report in J

Old Jul 3, 2009, 6:56 am
  #1  
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Rant - SEA-LHR-MAN trip report in J

Following my latest BA flight (SEA-LHR-MAN), BA have just about lost me as a future customer. My rant begins...

Check in and lounge in SEA was good. I checked in 2 full suitcases right on the 50lb limit as I'd been away for nearly 4 months. One of the bags had a case of wine that I picked up in Portland (very nice Pinot Noir).

The flight was also generally OK. There were 2 minor niggles :-

1. As usual, the AVOD was flakey at first. Once sorted out, it continued to work for the rest of the flight.
2. I read on here that dinner orders should not be by status, ie. all orders should be taken, and then the FAs would decide who would get what in the event of not enough of a particular item being loaded. This did not happen. The FA zigzagged up and down the top deck looking at the manifest. When she got to me (a lowly Silver), I was told that my choice was not available.

Anyway, the rest of the flight was OK, and after a 15 minute hold, we landed at 11:45. Plenty of time to make my 13:30 connection to MAN with a nice trip to the North Terraces.

We landed on the Northern Easterly runway, and made our back to T5 and then stopped just before the taxiway between T5C & T5B. The captain said there was a bit of congestion, and we'd be away in the next couple of minutes. 30 minutes later we were still there.

During these 30 minutes, countless other planes passed on the right hand side and made their way to T5, including a couple of 747's. The final straw was when the captain said that we were waiting for a towed plane to pass - and watched in bewilderment as another BA 747 was towed slowly passed.

We eventually pulled into a T5B gate at about 12:20.

I'm pretty familiar with with the transit to T5A, and managed to get in the lifts on my own and made my way quickly to immigration. I noticed that the connections area was a zoo (as usual), so I went through immigration and customs.

I made my way back up to departures, only held up by 3 BA staff who kept pressing the lift button just as the lift I was in was about to go (it was full). They eventually realised what was happening...

So, to the new South Security 'Fastrack' that I've heard about here. I quickly get through the initial check at about 12:35 and get to the screening machines. There is a queue of about 30 people waiting for the one xray machine. I look to my left, and see most of the machines working, with no queues whatsoever. Of course, no one is allowed to changed queues, and there was no chance of them opening up another machine for the fastrack.

The fantastically designed 1-2-3 system of the security process has now fallen by the way side, and it's one person at a time. This seems to actually work better as a lot of people need 3 trays anyway (bag, laptop, coat/keys/belt etc.).

The next problem was that the sensitivity of the X-Ray was switched right up, so nearly everybody required a secondary search. Of course, there was only one person able to do the search so it meant it took 20 minutes to get through. Just moving one person from one of the empty gates would have cut this time in half.

I made my way down towards the domestic gates - passing the shambles that is North Security on the way. I *think* I probably made the right decision going through South Security, and would have saved 20 minutes if I'd not gone through the 'Fastrack'.

No time for the lounge, as the LHR-MAN was boarding when I got there.

An uneventful flight down to MAN, and one of my bags was 3rd off! Second bag (with the wine) didn't show. So, after waiting 20 minutes I went to the baggage handling desks and was told my bag was still at LHR, but would be on the next flight down, and be delivered that evening. Why on earth couldn't they just page the people they knew who's bags had not made it rather than leaving them waiting?

Bag didn't show that night, but arrived the following morning... virtually destroyed.

The TSA had been through it, and everything inside was in one piece (including the wine!), but the handles were completely broken.

Listening to other people who's bags hadn't made it (about 15) makes you wonder just how good this new T5 system really is? How can one bag make a connection, but another get left behind? One lady was saying that her last 3 flights had all lost luggage.

So, a thoroughly miserable BA experience. And before anybody starts pointing to BAA/Servisair etc., I booked the ticket on BA and flew on a BA plane. It's not my concern who they subcontract work to. As far as I'm concerned, it's BA who messed up.

The whole T5 experience just doesn't seem to be getting any better. I know some of the BA guys/girls on here say that the surveys show that 90%+ of flights depart on time, but are there any stats on how long it takes from wheels down to exit? Or wheels down to back through connections/security? The whole no steps, no driver for steps, no buses seems to be more prevalent than before T5.

Anyway rant over. This, along with my long standing gripe about my lost/stolen 100 tier points is probably the final straw. I've got one redemption booked, and enough points for another one, but that will be it.

Cheers,
Rick
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Old Jul 3, 2009, 7:02 am
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Just a thought, but I wonder if the knackered state of the bag had something to do with it missing the connection?

Stand allocation seems to cause regular issues for me at T5 too, btw. Thing is, I recall equally lengthy delays at T3 in the past (almost 1hr on AC once...)
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Old Jul 3, 2009, 7:05 am
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Not too good DYKWIA - Just for the record I had a handle ripped off one of my cases on a TG HKG-BKK flight the other week so it can happen even in the best of airports.
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Old Jul 3, 2009, 7:28 am
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Originally Posted by DYKWIA
One lady was saying that her last 3 flights had all lost luggage.
Another Gold Card Member of the BA Lost Luggage Club!
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Old Jul 3, 2009, 8:06 am
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Lost Luggage = Lost as in "not with me on my flight" or as in "permanently lost"?

I actually like the fact my luggage likes LHR so much that it wants stay there a little bit longer than myself. That occurs with regular frequency on SIN-LHR-TXL with QF/BA.

There must be some snag with luggage transfers T4 -> T5.

Then again, it is somewhat nice not having to drag your luggage to long term parking at TXL but rather having it delivered to your home later that night.

In my experience, BA has a stellar track record in getting delayed luggage to me. When our snowboarding equipment managed to stay behind in LHR on DUS-LHR-YVR, BA hired someone to deliver it the next day to a lodge 5 hours north of YVR (beyond Whistler). That same winter, LH on DUS-MUC-GVA (again with a snowboard) pretty much said: "Ve contracted to get you and your equipment to GVA, zo you vill have to pick it up at the airport tomorrow." (1.5 h one way from Verbier in the winter).

BTW, I would not mix wine w/ other luggage - the one (and only) piece of luggage that BA lost over years was one that included a sixpack of South African wine. I was told that my luggage had to be destroyed because it was seeping an unidentiable liquid... Got reimbursed through my credit card, not through BA.
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Old Jul 3, 2009, 10:04 am
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Originally Posted by awestphal
BTW, I would not mix wine w/ other luggage - the one (and only) piece of luggage that BA lost over years was one that included a sixpack of South African wine. I was told that my luggage had to be destroyed because it was seeping an unidentiable liquid... Got reimbursed through my credit card, not through BA.
That had been my original idea - pack it in its own small suitcase. However, I seemed to have accumulated so much extra stuff in Portland that I ended up buying another suitcase.

Cheers,
Rick
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Old Jul 3, 2009, 10:07 am
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Originally Posted by awestphal
Then again, it is somewhat nice not having to drag your luggage to long term parking at TXL but rather having it delivered to your home later that night.
This is true, but for a company leaking money it would be better to fix the problem at the source rather than expensive patching later.

T5 was supposed to cure these baggage problems. I've experienced (on a low sample rate) a worse record at T5 than at T1/T4.

Cheers,
Rick
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Old Jul 3, 2009, 11:10 am
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So your real complaint is the in flight entertainment was flakey for 15 minutes and you did not get the meal you wanted, how on earth you can blame BA for the way BAA runs the airport which has got bugger all to do with BA and all the other airlines who fly in and out fo there. If you live in Manchester you will know that the flight is up to Manchester not down. If you have a rant then I suggest you make sure you point the rant in the right direction in future
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