Originally posted by MarkJ
In summary - BA deal with bags for BA and for other airlines too. They handle 40% of the bags at LHR.
Well in T1 domestic baggage claim airside last Friday afternoon there was quite a pile loaded up there airside by the exit: thought about taking a picture at the time, wish I had, might get a chance later this week.
There seem to be hoards everywhere.
The key thing about the documentary was that it seemed clear that BA has no contingency in these situations. Let's see now:
1. Fog, sure there was fog
2. Broken baggage belt... several days earlier
3. They are trying to converge the different baggage handling practices in preparation for T5
4. Baggage handlers on vacation due to the time of year
5. They let a number of baggage handlers go as part of cost a saving exercise
The only things that could not be planned for were 1 and 2, neither of which happened at the same time.
But like everything at LHR, as I've stated before, it's a house of cards, one thing breaks and it's a disaster because there is no slack to deal with contingency.
Interestingly the straw that broke the camel's back and the reason I moved almost all my longhaul from BA over to VS about 2 1/2 years ago was due to a BA baggage disaster at LHR. On that occasion, bad weather + broken belt = chaos + bye bye BA.
Howard