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| BA cancels 34 flights from new T5 | |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| British Airways has cancelled 34 more flights from Heathrow's Terminal 5 the day after it opened but says passengers will be able to check in hold luggage. | |
| Hold luggage was suspended due to a baggage backlog at the £4.3bn T5 on its first day in operation. | |
| Willie Walsh, chief executive of BA, which has sole use of T5, said: "We sincerely apologise to those customers who have suffered disrupted journeys." | Willie Walsh, chief executive of BA, which has sole use of T5, said: "We sincerely apologise to those customers who have suffered disrupted journeys." |
| Thousands of travellers have been forced to stay in hotels overnight. | |
| The airline advised customers to check its website, www.ba.com, for service updates. | |
| BA cancelled 34 flights on Thursday and passengers had to wait up to four hours to reclaim their luggage. | BA cancelled 34 flights on Thursday and passengers had to wait up to four hours to reclaim their luggage. |
| It's such a disgrace to this country that it should be such a shambles Passenger Ena Goodman Passenger fury over T5 'shambles' | |
| In a statement, the company said the backlog had been caused by a number of factors, including delays at the staff car park and at security hold-ups baggage handlers. | |
| Local Conservative MP David Wilshire, who serves on the Commons Transport Committee, said it was not clear who was to blame - BA or the airport's owner, BAA. | |
| "The problem in getting to the real truth of this. | |
| "'Not my fault, guv, maybe his fault guv' is, I think, a bit of the problem," Mr Wilshire said. | |
| "And we won't get to the bottom of this until we know a bit more. What we have to find out is why this has happened and make sure it's put right and hope that this is really a starting glitch. People have been let down, let's be honest about it." | |
| Angry scenes were seen in the airport's airside arrivals area on Thursday, with pushing and shoving in "chaotic" passport control queues, the BBC's Priya Patel reported. | |
| Travellers emerging from the baggage hall told her that no luggage was coming through on carousels from arriving flights, and some complained that they have been waiting two to three hours for their bags. | |
| BA offered passengers on cancelled flights £100 towards the cost of overnight accommodation, but travellers reported that local hotels were charging up to twice that figure. | |
| BA TERMINAL CHANGES 27 March: Domestic and most European flights move from Terminal 1 to T527 March: Long-haul flights from Terminal 1 move to T527 March: Miami service moves from Terminal 3 to T530 March: Algiers moves from Gatwick to T530 April: All Terminal 4 long-haul go to T5 (except Singapore, Bangkok and Sydney)17 Sept: Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Nice and Helsinki move from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3Early 2009: Singapore, Bangkok and Sydney move from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3 Source: BA Heathrow upheavalT5's economic importance | |
| 'Teething problems' | |
| The suspension of luggage check-in was just the latest problem to hit passengers hoping to leave T5 on its opening day. | |
| BA earlier announced "initial teething problems" with car parking provision, delays in staff security screening and staff familiarisation had resulted in a backlog of baggage. | |
| This led the airline to cancel a number of flights in and out of the terminal, including services to Munich, Frankfurt, Paris and Brussels as well as Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. | |
| Some passengers waited for up to four hours for bags | |
| A further technical fault also meant seven flights left T5 without luggage on board. | |
| The BBC's transport correspondent Tom Symonds said the backlog was caused by problems with the airport's three-stage luggage processing system. | |
| The first stage - the fast bag drop - was working as planned, he said. But the second stage, an underground conveyor system, had become clogged up. | |
| This was being blamed on staff failing to remove luggage quickly enough at the final unloading stage. | |
| In a statement, the Department for Transport said it expected BA and airport operator BAA "to work hard to resolve these issues and limit disruption to passengers". | |
| BA has set up an information line for T5 passengers: 0800 727800 | |
| Have you been through Terminal 5 today? What was it like? Do you work there? Tell us about the new terminal at Heathrow airport. | |
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