I went through Terminal 5 yesterday and fortunately I didn’t need to post a letter, but I did need to do the present-day equivalent, find a rentable computer terminal to check my email. My search for an Internet Café was similar to the above authors search for a post box. Many people gave me assurances that such an Internet Café must exist inside the terminal, but no one was sure where it was. The canceled British Airways flight and lost bag that I was subjected to during my round-trip to India gave me some leverage to be able to talk my way into a posh BA lounge where I used a computer terminal for free. I would have much preferred to have simply and quickly paid to use a computer terminal at an Internet Café rather than waste precious minutes negotiating with a BA manager.

The other critique about the new terminal that I can offer is that at the final security check point when entering the terminal there was an x-ray machine with an automated tray return system that seemingly had never been tested with the pressure of a long line of real-world customers. The system was failing badly no matter how urgently the staff kept trying to explain to the endless stream of passengers how to manage the angular grey plastic trays. All the customers I observed seemed to be very uncomfortable with how to load and unload their possessions with the new system. There was very little space for people to reassemble their possessions after they passed through the machine. After inadvertently nearly dumping the contents of another passenger’s tray on the floor since she had pulled her tray off the conveyor onto a narrow shelf along the conveyor, I resorted to literally dumping the contents of my own two trays on the floor just so that I could get out of everyone’s way and put my shoes back on. I could offer several suggestions for how to fix this, but I’ll save my words.

I do request adding convenient rentable Internet terminals (the Internet age equivalent to pay phones, please, in all airport terminals) and fixing the automated tray return system in Terminal 5. My other experiences in the new terminal were good. As a work of public architecture, Terminal 5 is quite dramatic, bright and spacious and it should look fantastic for many decades to come.

the score is now official

London=0
Anywhere else=1

Being english I have to say this: this is a terminal built by a private company to which few britons owe allegiance, or profit from share dividends. So how is this a national shame to us?

It seems to be a case of corporate mismanagement more than anything - plenty of examples of those the world over. Certainly, they could have done a better job and tested it more thoroughly.

The British Airways CEO apologising all over the terminal 5 building is a laughable affair too - BA doesn’t own the terminal, it only rents parking space there, so not much he can really do.

I have a couple of friends who work at a BA call center in the US. They were told by BA upper management that the facility was tested very thoroughly for nearly 6 months prior to its opening. Maybe this occurred and maybe it didn’t, but the unfortunate fact is that it failed when subjected to real world conditions. I’m not sure how it could have been tested under those conditions prior to opening, but I’m not an engineer.

What my friends have said is that they’re just as disappointed as is anyone else. They certainly don’t want to see people’s luggage lost, but there is only so much the customer service reps in the US are able to do. They’d love to be able to tell every caller where their luggage is and when it will arrive, but this information simply isn’t available to them. They’re not making excuses, just describing the situation truthfully.

They ask that, as frustrating as it is for people whose luggage is delayed, to please not take out their anger on the people on the phone. The customer service reps are on the front lines dealing with a problem that is not of their making. They are all hoping to avoid a repeat of the failure of the old luggage system in the other terminals.

The old system was completely outdated and the new terminal was very badly needed. Had the new terminal not been opened, there’s a very good chance that the problems that happened last year would be repeated, and probably to a much greater degree than what we’re seeing now.

despite dire warnings from passengers standing next to me in the US departure airport, I made a connection through Terminal 5 on Monday and it was quite delightful–a nice coffee at Starbucks, prompt departure, and my baggage was one of the first ones to appear at my destination.
okay, there was a bit of a wait to go through security; also my aching feet would have appreciated a down escalator to the airplane rather than an extensive staircase. But greatest fear of lost or delayed baggage was not realized.

This brings to mind the grand opening of the Denver International Airport in Colorado a number of years ago. Evidently their baggage system was actually throwing bags off the conveyor belts, so lost baggage was the norm rather than the exception. Security lines were a disaster for ages after 9/11. I remember standing in line for almost 5 hours that October because EVERYONE had to funnel down to about 6 x-ray machines for the entire airport. And try finding a mail box in that airport– or pretty much ANY U.S. airport for that matter!
Terminal D at Dallas-Ft. Worth had it’s problems when it opened too. Personally, I still don’t care much for Terminal D at DFW. I fly out of Dallas regularly, and I hate when my flight is in or out of D because you have to walk a thousand miles in that terminal. The security lines seem to work better there, but the other terminals are much more convenient walking wise.
And you would think that an airport as large as DFW could put ONE eating establishment OUTSIDE the security area so that when people are taking you out to the airport, that you might be able to sit down and have a bite or a drink with them before leaving. I would much rather sit with them for an hour than by myself in the cold desolate terminal. I always hate it when I take my son out there to catch his flight back to the coast…. we never get enough time together as it is, and there we are waving bye at security knowing he will sit by himself for the next hour & a half waiting for his flight to board. It always tears my heart out sending him off like that, me coming back home, and knowing he’s sitting there by himself. At least at the Denver airport there are places you can sit with your friends and eat or visit before passing thru security.

Congratulations!!!! Will they have sorted this mess out till the London Olympic Games???? Even so, I doubt that 4 years will be enough to prepare for that demand in 2012. Maybe it is time to consider to suitability of London

well i meant not just because the problem with T5 is causing BA with mountain hight of luggages behind, prior to the opening of T5, my luggage was lost till now still unknown by BA, I checked in on Mar 14 from hk to rome transit at London Heathrow. So don’t blame the T5 openings will you, it is just you malfunctioned system that cause us the travellers all kinds of bad experience and inconvenience.

You have no moral and whatsoever to us as your customer, by apologized what else you can do for us? All BS.