You're Leaving?

Yup, with summer winding down it's time to get back on the road again. Once again I find myself in LHR's T5 waiting for an onward connection. This will be a short in-and-out trip, back at the weekend so nothing too onerous.

Seems like a pleasant day here in London. The sun is trying hard to come out for more than just a fleeting appearance, so I may have actually caught the end of what, by all accounts, has been a less-than-stellar summer here in the UK. However, looks like there are supposed to be thunderstorms tomorrow in Stockholm with showers later in the week, so I may yet get to see some rain. Actually, given how dry our summer is in California, I won't mind that too much.

(No dogs were harmed in the creation of this blog, but one at least seemed a bit disappointed at my impending absence.)

New T5 A Resounding Success .. Unless You Have These

Yup, the first full day of service at the newly opened T5 was, predictably, a disaster. I say predictably because it happens at pretty well every new airport (Hong Kong and Denver, to name but two) pretty well every time. And interestingly, it always seems to be the baggage system that blows up.

In classic "I'm All Right Jack" fashion, British Airports Authority is blaming British Airways, and vice-versa. One runs the baggage system, and one is responsible for handling the bags ... cue finger pointing, left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, everyone shrugging and saying "not my fault guv", etc.

By mid-afternoon, BA was refusing to check anyone's bags, and by days-end they had cancelled 34 flights on top of it all.

All I can say is I'm glad I wasn't there, and that I have no plans to be going through there any time soon! From watching the BBC news tonight, the queues were long and fractious. One passenger was complaining that he waited in one queue for 3 hours only to have the desk close as he got close to the head of the line. Surprisingly, he wasn't being interviewed whilst throttling some hapless BA employee, but only because they a) appeared to be in short supply and b) travelling in packs for safety.

Worst. Terminal. Ever. At least, until the next one opens somewhere.