Why terminal 5 went wrong

By the end of T5's first traumatic day, a total of 34 flights had been cancelled and hundreds of passengers had been left stranded.

By Saturday, BA said it had a backlog of at least 15, bags at Heathrow - with one source telling the BBC that the number may have been closer to 20, BA has already said "teething problems" with car parking, delays in getting staff through security screening and staff familiarisation resulted in the backlog of baggage which led to the severe delays and flight cancellations over the days that followed.

But, according to Mr Bowden, the airline's bosses had been warned by staff they were not fully prepared for the transition to T5. All morning - Clogged conveyor leads to long wait for luggage 5.

Most Popular Now 56, people are reading stories on the site right now. BBC News Updated every minute of every day. One-Minute World News. News Front Page. E-mail this to a friend Printable version. Hundreds of passengers were stranded overnight. See where problems developed at Terminal 5. British Airways is a trusted airline, famous for having the largest fleet in the UK and boasting exceptional customer service.

However, ten years ago the brand was left embarrassed when the opening of Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport went terribly wrong. At the time, the only airline to fly from the terminal was British Airways so the "embarrassment" was shared between Heathrow administrators and BA. When they got into the terminal, signage was poor and staff found it difficult to navigate the building. Doors that should have opened were locked, 17 out of the 18 terminal lifts were jammed, the transit system that moves passengers from the main terminal to the satellite terminal broke down, and the carousels, escalators, walkways and electronic screens all failed.

The supposedly state-of the art baggage-handling system 12 miles of belts and tracks capable of handling up to 12, bags per hour crashed around 11am. Bags only came off the first incoming flight from Hong Kong because managers were drafted to drag them off the plane. As pasengers arrived, the baggage piled up, overwhelming staff. Lack of leadership and hubris With hindsight, the extent of management complacecy within BA and the BAA is astonishing.

Yet baggage staff had repeatedly reported hitches that had been ignored by management and the BA office that should have sorted out their concerns was closed last week. Early images of Mr Walsh cheerily greeting passengers from the first incoming flight from Hong Kong were soon replaced by scenes of angry passengers seeking information and embarrassed executives hastily reading from damage-limitation scripts.

Low morale and goodwill BA and BAA have long struggled with poor staff morale and goodwill has evaporated over the years. On the day, disorientated baggage handlers and stressed ground staff became surly and unhelpful as the problems unfolded.

BA acknowledged the critical importance of training in the kind of business transformation program that T5 represents. From Computing :. Training and familiarisation procedures were carried out for a year so that staff could test the new IT systems in place throughout the building.

BA blamed the glitches on problems with "staff familiarisation", which had a knock-on effect on bags and flights. A BA spokeswoman said delays in getting staff screened for work and other technical difficulties had caused the airline problems.

Planning, testing, and software quality assurance QA. British Airways started system testing a year ago. The airline is moving onto the T5 systems, so they run for a year ready to operate at the new terminal when it opens in However, BA underestimated the testing, integration, and release planning required to achieve a trouble-free launch.

We are working hard to tackle the difficulties we have had with the terminal's baggage system. From time to time problems have developed that were not encountered during the extensive trials. The systems incorporated in T5 severely taxed BA's planning, testing, and deployment capabilities.

In an irony perhaps better suited to a BBC sitcom, the British Airports Authority recently solicited for software quality assurance vendors. In February, ComputerworldUK reported:.

It has put out a tender for a framework agreement to find suppliers able to risk-assess any new systems it develops — and to monitor and maintain those same systems once they are in use. The airports authority wants any suppliers to maintain software quality by putting in place rigorous development processes and testing procedures prior to systems go-live. My take: there's never enough time or budget to test, train, and prepare properly for launch. But after the deluge, when problems have been exposed and the bigwigs embarrassed by failure, time and money magically appear.

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