A few weeks ago, BAA was happy to bathe in the same publicity as its partner in Terminal 5 baggage crime, BA. BAA had announced its RFID trial with Emirates Airlines, while BA was touting T5, saying it would 'transform your travel experience' under the unfortunate headline Terminal 5 'inside out'. Both are true: T5 is currently indeed, 'inside out', and it certainly has transformed the travel experience, for the worse.
According to BA's website, , the T5 baggage system "is the biggest, single-terminal baggage handling system in Europe, containing 18km of belts and capable of transporting 12,000 bags per hour around the terminal." Unfortunately, it's a system that to most observers, doesn't work.
BAA, according to its website, insists it now does. These were the bulletins of the patient's critical progress during Saturday and Sunday.
Statement issued at 12.15pm, Saturday 5th April 2008
A spokesman for BAA said: "This morning, a software problem has arisen in the baggage system at T5. This is entirely BAA's responsibility. We apologise to British Airways and all passengers who have been affected and can assure them that our specialist staff are working hard to resolve the problem and keep disruption to BA's operation to a minimum. While we know what the problem is, and have a potential solution, we are having to carefully consider how and when we apply this, to avoid further problems. We will provide further updates when appropriate."
Further statement issued at 2.15pm, Saturday 5th April 2008
BAA staff continue to work hard to resolve the difficulties with the baggage system. For the rest of the day, it has been agreed that BA will introduce a manual element to the baggage process, to protect the flight schedule as much as possible and to keep disruption to the airline and passengers to a minimum. BAA engineers will work through the night to rectify the identified problem and to provide BA with a fully-operational baggage system. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to British Airways and our passengers.
Further statement issued at 8.20pm, Saturday 5th April 2008
BAA staff and engineers from our contractors continue to work hard to resolve the difficulties with the T5 baggage system. To allow British Airways to operate a good flight schedule tomorrow, the manual elements of the baggage system will remain in place for the remainder of the weekend.
Our staff will work through the night and during tomorrow to resolve the problems and we are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause to British Airways and passengers. The agreed course of action will minimise disruption. We will provide further updates tomorrow.
Finally, together with the issuing of symbolic white smoke....
T5 baggage software problem fixed
In the early hours of this morning, the software problem in Heathrow Terminal 5 was resolved and the baggage system is functioning well. We continue to work with British Airways to ensure that the baggage system supports today's schedule.
Having worked with my informed colleague and IT project-watcher Tony Collins on the reporting of IT disasters over the years, some of which you may have seen covered in Computer Weekly and in Tony's book 'Crash', there is little doubt that Terminal 5 should be added to the annals of IT project cock-ups. The difference is that this is arguably the most high profile of the lot. 'Crash' detailed projects according to the sins underlying them: Pride, Overambition, Consultants, Credulity, Buck-Passing, and Presumption. Terminal 5's chaos - there is no other word to describe it - seems to cover just about all of these sins. There are a couple of other appropriate chapter headings from the book that could also apply: Lawyers - well, they'll probably be involved soon - and Success at Last - hmm, probably some way off.
Tony reminded me the other day of a similar airport baggage system that gained notorious headlines when the airport first opened. Denver International Airport's system in the mid 1990s also turned out to be a disaster, and Tony may well cover that and the similarity with Terminal 5 in his IT projects blog.
As far as responsibility for Terminal 5's baggage woes are concerned, strategic planners, BAA IT representatives, and suppliers such as IBM and Vanderlande should by now be getting to the bottom of what caused the problems, whether they can be prevented from recurring, and ultimately, who was to blame. It seems from this story in Computer Weekly, that there are still some problems. As is often the case, it'll probably turn out to be a drip, drip, drip of problems - technical, managerial, strategic, ineffective or incomplete testing, and the usual dose of unplanned bad luck - that eventually led to catastrophic system gridlock.
Stephen Challis, head of product development at BAA, was quoted in this press release as saying that RFID "could significantly improve the efficiency of Heathrow's baggage system, delivering an improved service to both passengers and airlines alike. In partnership with the airline community, the technology could be rolled out across the airport, transforming the way airlines handle baggage."
In the light of the T5 debacle, never has so much been expected of an RFID trial. In six months time, we'll know whether Challis and others working on the RFID project have managed to salvage something of BAA's reputation. No pressure then....
By the way, that's the same BAA whose website currently carries the slogan, "The world's leading airport company."
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