London travel disruption

It took years of political wrangling and £4.3 billion to build but when Heathrow Airport’s new Terminal 5 open for business on Thursday it was supposed to be the ultimate passenger experience for British Airways customers. Smooth, efficient, comfortable, with none of the hassles, delays and lost baggage that have plagued BA this last few years.

Unfortunately the opening two days couldn’t have gone worse and long haul flights have not even started using T5 yet. One in five flights were cancelled today, with one in seven predicted to be cancelled tomorrow, over 100 in the first 48 hours over the new terminal being open.

British Airways and BAA (British Airports Authority) have had months to prepare but that still couldn’t prevent basic problems occurring such as staff not being able to park when turning up to work, not enough security staff to screen airport workers clocking on, and mechanical and human failures with the state of the art baggage system which meant many passengers were told yesterday they could only fly with hand luggage and nothing else would be sent on to them.

BA claims that the problems will be ironed out in the next few days but if you are booked to fly from Terminal 5 next week be prepared for some disappointment or a very long wait. If the backlog isn’t cleared quickly it could just build on itself.

To add to the potential travel misery of air passengers and Londoners in general the RMT and TSSA unions that represent workers on the London Underground have called a four day strike which will start in a weeks time at 6.30pm on Sunday 6 April. Pay and conditions seem to be the usual grievances, but a strike like that will certainly mess up the week for anyone trying to get to work or to and from Heathrow.

If you’re visiting London in the next week or so keep in mind that transport systems might not be operating in the way you hoped.