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Old March 27th 08, 05:04 PM posted to uk.transport.london
Mizter T Mizter T is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: May 2005
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Default Heathrow's new Terminal 5 opens today


On 27 Mar, 01:59, Mizter T wrote:

And one thing can be certain - there will be much said and indeed much
to say about it. Already BAA have put the plan to fingerprint all
passengers flying from T5 on hold because of concerns over compliance
with data protection laws, whilst anti-third runway protesters plan on
holding a 'flash mob protest' at T5 at 11am today.

(snip)


When I wrote the above post I almost included a comment along the
lines of 'wonder how long it'll take for it to go SNAFU', but then
decided that T5 should be given the benefit of the doubt. After all,
I'd read about extensive testing of the baggage handling facilities
that had been going on for months before opening, and the T5
information pack does state that whilst the new system is state of the
art, it does not use any untested technologies because of the
increased risk for foul-ups.

However things have not gone to plan today at T5 - the baggage
handling system is causing grief - some highlights....

* delays of up to four hours in getting arriving baggage onto the
luggage carousels
* seven flights have taken off without passengers' baggage on board
* 34 flights cancelled so far

....and now all baggage check-in has been suspended (BBC report as of
1720).

Of course these glitches will be sorted over the coming days and weeks.