T5 dogged by delays and disruptions

British Airways is facing further disruption at Heathrow's new Terminal 5 (T5) this week.

The opening of the £4.3 billion facility has been marred by major problems with its state-of-the-art luggage system, along with flight cancellations and delays.

A BA spokesman said the company was pleased it had not had to scrap any more of Sunday's scheduled flights on top of the 37 it announced earlier.

But asked if it would make a public pledge about the resumption of full service, he said: "No. You would just use that as a stick to beat us with if it didn't happen."

Heathrow's showpiece would be running at 87 per cent capacity on Monday and Tuesday, and passengers would be informed early of any cancellations or delays, BA insisted.

But Kerry Johnstone, 35, said she only discovered her flight to Copenhagen had been delayed by eight hours by reading the electronic board.

She said: "There was a two-year-old child screaming next to me, and when one of the staff tried to make light of it, I said that was exactly what I felt like doing. I feel like having a full-blown tantrum, but I'm too old.

"I don't blame the staff because they are being very good. One of them told me that the CEO had said it was all on his head, and yet they had not seen him once."

Many other passengers said they had experienced good service and efficient check-ins.

Chief executive, Willie Walsh, who has ignored calls for his resignation in the wake of the chaos, admitted again on Sunday that the airline's performance had "not been good enough".

He said 400 staff had volunteered to come in on their day off to begin dealing with the 15,000 lost cases which needed to be reunited with their owners.

Mr Walsh said in a statement: "The baggage system is now generally working well. From time to time problems have developed that were not encountered during the extensive trials.

"These issues are being addressed as they arise by a team of engineers and IT specialists from BAA and BA.

"A backlog of undelivered bags has built up. This backlog is not affecting the day-to-day operation of the baggage system, and we are making every effort to reunite delayed bags with their owners.

"We will not rest until our service has been restored to the high standard customers rightly expect."

Meanwhile, the Unite union has said Heathrow workers' had raised concerns about problems at T5 over a long period of time, but they had "fallen on deaf ears".

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