BA boss admits Heathrow terminal farce 'not good enough'

British Airways boss Willie Walsh today vowed his company ’would not rest’ until Heathrow’s Terminal Five was working at a ’high standard’, as airport users continued to complain of delays and poor service.

The chief executive, who has ignored calls for his resignation in the wake of the chaos, admitted again this afternoon the airline’s performance had ’not been good enough’.

Mr Walsh revealed the much-criticised baggage handling system had encountered problems not thrown up in testing and that 15,000 lost cases needed to be screened for security before being returned to their owners.

The CEO said in a statement: “Since Thursday, when Terminal Five opened, we have made clear that the service we have provided has not been good enough. We apologise sincerely to our customers.

“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 have more than 400 volunteers from across the airline supporting this effort.

“This work takes time as delayed bags must undergo enhanced levels of security screening. Much of this process has to be done manually because we have been unable to use the Terminal Five baggage system to process these bags automatically.

“We are sorry for the disruption and inconvenience caused to customers whose flights have been cancelled or whose bags have been delayed. We will not rest until our service has been restored to the high standard customers rightly expect.

“We continue to work towards increasing the number of services in the days ahead.

“Both British Airways and BAA have invested an enormous amount of time and effort to create Terminal Five. We remain confident that these early difficulties can be overcome, and that the terminal will be highly valued by customers and our staff in the near future and for many years to come.”

He was speaking on a day when 37 flights were cancelled and his press office said it ’could not promise’ there would not be more.

While many customers said they had had no problems, others complained they only learned of cancelled flights on their arrival.

John Gaskell, a 55-year-old businessman, said a check-in worker had to ask him the spelling of Scotland’s third largest city, Aberdeen.

Mr Gaskell, who was going home with his family after a skiing trip to Grenoble, said: “I am not impressed with the staff, you would have thought BA would put the smartest and sharpest employees in the front line on the opening days.

“There seems to be a lack of education. One I dealt with had to ask me how to spell Aberdeen. They are obviously new and not fully-trained.”

Kerry Johnstone, 35, said she arrived this morning to discover that her scheduled flight home to Copenhagen had been cancelled.

The marketing manager said she was facing an eight hour delay which she only got to know about 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.”

Angry taxi drivers at arrivals complained of hour-long waits for passengers whose planes were stuck on the runway without explanation.

Chauffeur Kevin Nally said: “My passengers arrived from Miami, but I can’t collect them because they are still on the plane. It’s coming up to an hour now and they’ve just called me to say they are finally allowed to get their luggage.

“There are 15 flights landed and not one of them has been able to collect their bags. There’s a lack of information. No one is saying why there are delays. At other airports you get tannoy announcements saying what the problem is. I’ve heard nothing. We are just stood here scratching our heads.”

“At least they have given us free parking for six hours. At one point it looked like we’d need all that.”

A taxi driver, who did not wish to be named, said he was in the same position, losing time and money.

He said: “I can’t believe they’ve spend this much money on something that doesn’t work. It’s an absolute joke. How can I run a business standing around for hours? If I try to pass the extra costs of waiting onto my customers they’ll get even more angry.

The BA press office said it was not aware of long waits on the tarmac and would investigate.

The spokeswoman added that half of flights were arriving on time, and the rest were landing within the 15-minute window.