T5 chaos tarnishes BA

British Airways’ new multi-billion pound terminal five (T5) opened amid chaos at the end of March, and the airline’s problems snowballed throughout April.

The airline ran into problems with its computerised baggage handling system hours after the £4.3bn (€5.4bn) facility opened. In the end, hundreds of flights in and out of T5 were cancelled and around 20,000 bags were lost.

As the airline’s public relations disaster unfolded, BA was forced to ship thousands of bags to Milan for sorting, because staff at Heathrow were unable to cope with the massive backlog. Travel insurers were inundated with calls and potential claims following the ongoing luggage crisis. Adding to the humiliation, in April, leading insurers refused to insure passengers for lost luggage and delayed flights going through the troubled terminal.

“As the airline's public relations disaster unfolded, BA was forced to ship thousands of bags to Milan for sorting, because staff at Heathrow were unable to cope with the massive backlog.

On April 11, BAA and BA issued a joint statement deferring the planned move of the airline’s long haul services to T5 until June. BAA’s chief executive described the inauguration of T5 as being, ‘not as smooth as we and BA would have wished.’ Later in the month, the airline announced that two executives, in charge of logistics and staff training, were both to leave the company.

Reports estimate the debacle to have cost the airline at least £16m (€20m). Other observers believe the final bill could be much more.

Reputation consultant, Garry Honey, argued that Terminal 5’s chaotic opening has seriously eroded trust in the BA brand. And the full impact, he said, will not be felt immediately.