It gets even better...

In message <65273sF2dvpdbU1@mid.individual.net>, at 18:25:00 on Thu, 27
Mar 2008, Gerald Oliver Swift <goswift@************> remarked:
>
>You've just got to laugh at these clowns!

According to interviews on TV news, they are sending people off to find
their own hotels, telling people with baggage to check that they can
have a refund [that's OK, I didn't really wan to fly there anyway] or
rebook later. Somewhat nervous looking stuffed shirt from BA basically
saying "obviously this was an impossible task to move here overnight,
this sort of stuff is bound to happen on the first day".
--
Roland Perry

In message
<249e306d-c0a0-433f-ae9e-65c40993c130@e10g2000prf.************.com>, at
08:16:03 on Sat, 29 Mar 2008, SB <s_byers666@yahoo.co.uk> remarked:
>One question: where does all the bags go that get left behind? Are
>they delivered eventually? What about people going on cruises?

They are delivered to the airport marked on the label. If the owner has
contacted the 'lost bags' department there they usually deliver by
courier within a day of it getting to the airport. If the owner has
moved on, I'm not sure what the exact process is.

>Or are they trucked down to Gatwick after 21 days and sold by auction -
>to the profit BA?

There's an auction for bags whose owners can't be identified. ironically
BAA was reported to be using bags waiting to go to the auction to test
the systems at T5.
--
Roland Perry

It doesn't seem to be getting better very quickly. Which seems to
suggest the problems are little more fundamental than a few baggage
handlers getting to work late on Thursday because they couldn't find the
way to the staff car park.

BBC now reporting: "British Airways plans to operate about 85% of its T5
services on Sunday, with 37 flights having been cancelled. On Monday and
Tuesday it hopes to run 87% and a "progressively larger flying
programme" throughout the week.

So still 10% of flights cancelled after a week, maybe. And a new influx
expected from T4 at the end of April. I was going to fly through in
early May (within a week of the transfer of additional flights from T4),
just to see what it was like, but I think I'll go via Schiphol instead.
--
Roland Perry

In message <Wyn0rtELL17HFA+A@perry.co.uk>, at 09:43:55 on Sun, 30 Mar
2008, Roland Perry <roland@perry.co.uk> remarked:
>BBC now reporting: "British Airways plans to operate about 85% of its
>T5 services on Sunday, with 37 flights having been cancelled. On Monday
>and Tuesday it hopes to run 87% and a "progressively larger flying
>programme" throughout the week.

86% running on Monday (340/394).
--
Roland Perry

In message <isn2v3lmucdngq4g2dj8asu6fnb138djtl@********>, at 23:06:02 on
Mon, 31 Mar 2008, DaveM <asma61@dsl.pipex.com> remarked:
>The thing I don't understand about this, is that if "teething problems were
>to be expected", why didn't they start out operating at 10/20/40/80% in the
>first place, while they got the kinks ironed out?

As far as I can see what they did first was move their T123 operations
to T5.

If they hadn't moved (almost) all of them, then there would have been a
huge increase in the number of people and bags transiting between T123
and T5, with months of extra confusion and re-configuration every time
another tranche was moved.

What they might have done instead was move the T4 stuff first, then the
T123 later. But maybe the problems would then have simply been hidden
and only emerged when the T123 flights were moved to T5 at the end of
April - at which point you'd have had 100% of flights trying to access
what appears to be about 60% achievable capacity, rather than 70% of
flights vying for that 60% capacity. [I think I read that the first move
was 70% of the job, and T4 was the remaining 30%].
--
Roland Perry