A fifth of flights were cancelled from Heathrow Terminal
5 today (28 March) afteryesterday's technical problemswith
the baggage system.
Airport owner BAA said the system¹s problems were "minor" and
had now been resolved, but flight delays and cancellations have
continued into a second day.
Baggage handlers experienced problems logging into the baggage
system when the airport opened early on Thursday morning. According
to reports, British Airways staff did not know how to use the
terminal's new technology, which is more advanced than that found
at most airports.
BA started to cancel services after seven flights left the
airport with no luggage on board. Some customers slept at the
airport after their flights were cancelled while others stayed in
hotels. Many passengers arriving yesterday and today gave up on
their luggage and left their details for staff to send it on.
"Staff were obviously extensively trained, but there were a
number of issues, some of them technical, that caused problems for
them. With a large-scale project like this, we just have to accept
there is a human element that has to be taken into account," said
an airline spokesman.
There were also delays at the staff car park, with some staff
members not being able to get in. A BA spokesman said of the
problems, "Any one of these on any other day would not have been
significant enough to be disruptive. But cumulatively, these things
just escalated."
The terminal building is designed around its technology, which
includes a new BAA baggage system and self-service check-in
kiosks.
British Airways, which has exclusive use of the building, hopes
the new design and state-of-the-art technology will improve its
track record on lost baggage. BAA said before the terminal opened
that the increased space in the terminal building meant the baggage
system would have room to operate properly. The system uses
barcodes with hand-held scanners used to track each bag.
A BAA spokesperson said today, "Given the scale of the challenge
over the past 48 hours, it was inevitable that we would face some
difficulties. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to
passengers and are working tirelessly with British Airways to
resolve these issues as quickly as possible."
British Airways said it is "extremely sorry" for inconvenience
caused to customers. Staff were working through the night to solve
the problems.
The airline said in a statement, "The problems yesterday were
caused by a combination of factors that included delays at the
staff car park and at security and log in problems for baggage
handlers reporting for duty. These caused operational problems
throughout the day associated with processing customers'
baggage."
BAA had to pull its biometrics fingerprinting security system
the day before the terminal opened, after the information
commissioner raised concerns about data protection.