If we cannot get this right, what chance do we have f getting the olympics right??

Ken S, Weston super Mare, Somerset

I don't really understand why everyone's complaining. Of course it is ridiculous to have to wait hours for your luggage, but this has always been the case with LHR, and has nothing to do with system breakdowns at T5. I fly long haul from other LHR terminals 5 or 6 times a year (sorry, environmentalists) and routinely wait for close to an hour for my luggage to reach the carousels. And clearing immigration takes equally as long, due to an inability to properly staff the desks.

I travel via LHR (as opposed to LGW, which is generally much better) only because my work buys my tickets and gives me no choice. Anyone who deliberately chooses to fly to/from LHR gets what they deserve, as it's reputation for consistently being the worst airport in the world must be well known by now.

Johnny, London, UK

This and other events in recent years increasingly remind me of Robert Ludlum’s “Gemini Contenders” in which a secret government agency plotted and executed the downfall of the enemy. It was done through the infiltration of specially trained subversive executives who led vital large corporations into complete incompetence and chaos.
Yes, yes I know – it is only a story!

Jo, Devon, England

2000 The Millenium Dome
2008 Terminal 5
2012 The Olympic Shames

GJB, Slough, Berkshire

It’s a British thing. Muddling through and not completing the last 10% has been a feature of British culture for a long, long time. Once you look at the country from afar, it becomes clear.

It all starts at the top. It’s no use blaming the individual when the country is led poorly by career politicians. There is no vision for the future, no shared commitment for the common good, no motivation to excel and, most importantly, no hope for the young. The lack of leadership and the lack of hope permeate perniciously into the minds of us all, except those few gifted self-motivated individuals who can and will rise above everything.

The result is an acceptance of mediocrity at all levels and a lack of accountability. Companies are run by self-servers with little imagination, middle managers are only in it for the money and focus always on protecting their backs and the worker is unsupported, badly trained and poorly selected, with the result that nothing works as it should.

John Court, Melbourne, Australia

So utterly predictable. Britain used to be known for its organisation skills; now its a cesspool of incompetence. This kind of screw-up is why I finally left my home country in 2004; the whole place seems to need some professional help - preferably the managerial kind.

Charles Watson, Los Angeles, CA

No point in comparing Heathrow to HK or Singapore. You need to compare the general level of efficiency in these places compared to UK which is now well known for organised chaos!

Ed Cowie, Sydney, Australia

Suggest BAA and BA management urgently catch a flight (with hand-baggage only please!) to Singapore Changi and see how it should be done. I pass through Heathrow and Changi 10/12 times a year and truly dread the Heathrow sector. What a truly awful place which T5 alone cannot hope to change. My heart goes out to the many BA staff who have slaved to ensure the success of their T5 showcase. Of course what is really needed is the replacement of the arrogant BAA senior management.

DEREK aDAMS, Pattaya Beach, Thailand

And this is what they promised us: BA has exclusive use of T5 and it is the new terminal’s almost completely automated baggage system that has really engaged Walsh’s attention. His staff have been testing the system continuously since August 2006 "Really, what we have here is an extremely sophisticated baggage system with a terminal built around it. Believe me, what we have is a big step forward.” Telegraph, March 3rd 2008

Willie Walsh, Chief Exec of BA, said: "We can't wait to open the doors to our customers on March 27 next year. Terminal 5 is a fantastic opportunity for British Airways and will transform our operations with less queuing, faster baggage systems and better punctuality. "Our customers will have exclusive use of Terminal 5 and this will allow us to offer unparalleled standards of comfort and convenience. "This week marks the start of the next phase with the beginning of six months of rigorous testing and staff familiarisation." Sept 2007

John Dee, London,

Let's look at this problem from a broader perspective: Why do so many millions of people find it necessary to be jetting around the world? Shop clerks and factory workers in the developed world are today more internationally mobile than the elite classes of a hundred years ago. This has got to stop; the planet can't sustain it.. People in prosperous nations simply have too much money. Perhaps airfares need to be taxed by, say, a thousand percent. It has nothing to do with snobbery or class distinction. It's just a fact: there are too many people living a luxurious, globetrotting lifestyle. You want a holiday? Check out your own backyard.

Lindsay George Gray, Owen Sound Ontario, Canada

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Paul K, THORNTON-CLEVELEYS,

What you fly out of Britain, make it a one-way trip, huh? Life’s too short to put up with Police State UK. Can you believe planes taking off with luggage? When does disenchantment and bloody-mindedness become sabotage?

Andrew Milner, Karuizawa, Japan

Singapore and Hong Kong and Germany would probably do it better, but as some people point out, this is one of the biggest moves in history, and it is run by BAA and BA, so together they can easily mess it up.

I am sure it will be great, but I am really glad I am flying Virgin tomrrow as I was thinking about BA T5, and I have 4 months in India, so I need the hold luggage.

Talese, Londontown,

so guttered.

Nat , Kent, UK

Clearly both BA and BAA simply did not plan for problems. More staff should have been put into position just in case. BA thought T5 would reduce their staff levels. It looks like the reduced them far too early.
At least the finger printing was stopped in time. One reason never to fly BA if you have to be treated like a criminal each time.

Paul Davis, York, uk

I programmed the luggage software and it's not my fault it went wrong! I didn't have resource. And anyway, I was away skiing! My mate Craig did the SQL work and he says it's not his fault either. In fact, we blame the passengers -- they had the wrong size of bags. Stupid passengers.

Brett, Gloucester, UK

Was planning to go to Hong Kong today but after seeing T5 during the Trials, decided to cancel. I knew there would be problems though not on this scale. Unlike T4, there is no space for marquees on the T5 forecourt! I feel so sorry for passengers who have been disrupted yet will not be fully compensated. Who in BAA will be sacked? Why can Beijing, Singapore and even American Airlines in New York open huge terminals without problems but not London? Will BAA now claim that Heathrow's problems will be solved once T6 is built?

John, London, UK

To Matt from Toronto

I was just one of today's protestors. I live locally and like many others got to and from T5 by bus. OK!!!

We protest because a Spanish company, the aviation industry and the Govt wish to bulldoze our communities - wipe us off the face of the earth.

And the Govt intends to do all this whilst bleating it cares about the planet. And no we can't move - our homes are blighted. And no - we didn't know all this post-industrial hell would occur when we moved here over 30- 40 years ago.

christine shilling, Harmondsworth, Middlesex

I used to work for BA. Now I avoid them like the plague.

imj, Reading, Berks

Truly pathetic - another entirly predictable UK failure.

Zero professionalism, zero testing.

Never ever fly BA or to LHR - sheer bungling amateurism is the only expectation.

Bob Brown, Carlsbad, USA / California

welcome to banana republic Britain
Surely everyone knows just about nothing in this country works as it should

mike gee, bourenmouth, uk

Denver could not open their new airport because of baggage problems, Sydney was a disaster when their new bag system was installed before the Olympics and Hong Kong came to a standstill on its first day. Give the people a chance to iron out the wrinkles - Singapore had the luxury of taking all the time they needed before opening their terminal and T3 there has very little traffic yet, so if thing are going wrong it wont be so obvious.

Bill Atkins, Rehoboth Beach, USA

BAA is owned by a Spanish Company.
Need there any more to be said?
Except that this ownership be reverted to BRITISH control by the BRITISH Government?

David Michael, London, UK

As a frequent tourist to London, and a former airline employee, I have loathed flying into Heathrow, and now I see that other US carriers are eager to take the gates at the other four terminals, thus adding more congestion and chaos. I prefer to fly into Stansted, but with extremly limited access to US carriers, we are forced to contend with LHR or LGW.

Tom Coxe, Palmer Lake, Colorado USA

Night flights do occur over London. I think 16 are allowed to come in before 6:30. Big jumbo jets from Asia fly nice and low over the length of London and wake everyone up near their path. But of course, causing this sleep depravation for thousands of people each night is essential to the economy of England....or so the government tells us.

Sarah, London,

And to think I was considering a switch from Star Alliance airlines to BA... I think I'll stick to Senator facilities at the other - almost but not quite as dysfunctional - terminals.

Farrukh, Woking, UK

The bottom line is that there is no excuse for the performance of T5 today. None. It was a poor showing indeed. I feel entirely qualfied to make this assessment because: (i) I have managed large projects and recognize that you can deliver complex projects, on time, that work as intended and (ii) I am typing this from home after spending hours at T5 today before discovering that my fight was canceled. Mind you, I only discovered the cancellation after stepping out of the queue to ask someone. There were no announcements about what was going on with the baggage system. None of the BA or BAA staff wandering aimlessly about seemed interested in describing the situation to anyone.

Matt , Reigate,

I need to go to UAE next week - after the chaos at T5 today and the prospect of being finger printed, I've just booked a flight on SilverJet. Good luck BA....

Steve, London,

If I had been a traveller these days at T5 I would have been extremely upset with the wording used by BA which has partly been mirrored by the articles: 'glitches', 'teething problems'. There were not just one but several system failures on the first day after a long testing phase. For me this is an unacceptable level of unprofessional project management.

Why is BAA allowed to run so many airports in the south of England?
The most important thing to them seems to be that the shops look as glitzy as possible. The rest of the airport looks run down and is badly managed.

Antje, Twickenham,

Perhaps there was an inside protester. The opposition seems to have run smoothly enough.

Sarah Phillips, Angers, France

Reminds one of the Monty Python song in which the hero is "so worried about the baggage retrival system they've got at heathrow".

Laura, london,

Teething problems are expected with new terminals. No amount of trials or pretend flights can prepare an airport for the real deal. All brand new terminals worldwide first had problems when they opened.

As for the protests, I find it hilarious how these people will protest airport expansion, and then pollute the air they are trying to save, by driving home in their vehicles!

If these protesters care about the environment so much, they should stop using their cars, and wake up to the fact that aviation represents only a small fraction of the world's pollution.

Matt, Toronto, Canada

Yet another great Spanish success story. Where is Sir Francis Drake when you need him?

Peter, Genova, Italy

I thought they are not meant to be flying around over London before 5am!!! As usual rules are made for some to ignore.

Andi, London,

The second picture states:
„The day began well with the first flight to land, from Hong Kong, arriving eight minutes early at 4.42am”

I am sure those people living under the flight path have been as happy as BA and BAA about the early wake-up call!
I hope there will be no extension of nightlights and runway alteration for those who currently live under the flightpath.
For those who will be living under the new flightpath once a new runway is build – GET THE MESSAGE !

matz, London, UK

The world's best airport according to a great range of travel magazines is Hong Kong. They had the same problems with the baggae handling system in the first few days. Even in very efficient Switzerland things like that happen when big new infrastructure projects go on line. At Zurich Airport the underground 'metro' connecting the the old Terminals to the new did not work propperly for weeks with passengers stranded in carriages for hours missing the their flights...
I'm sure that LHR Terminal 5 will a fantastic gateway to Britain once these minor problems are resolved.

Wolfgang Jaeger, Zurich, Switzerland

Landing at 7.45am & not getting your bags until 9am would be considered as an "Express" service at Toronto's airport, and you did get your bags, an added bonus !!

Give it a few days & all will be well......

Jeff Taylor, Hamilton, Ontario

Odd that a completely computer-controlled operation should fail totally on the first day of operation. We had a similar problem a few years ago with the new Denver Colorado airport. The computer controlled high-speed baggage handling equipment went crazy, flinging luggage around, and ripping bags to shreds. A lot of people said that this is properly the job of unionized baggage professionals, but airport management felt that progress demanded the process be automated. It took a few months to straighten it out. Whether baggage there is still being lost and damaged by computerized robots or whether they were forced to reintroduce the human touch, I don't know, but the folks at Heathrow have reason to hope that within a few months the new terminal will be functioning just fine.

RichC, Boston, MA

Dan from Richmond writes:

"With the best will in the world this is a massive flagship project with technology which has not been used before - What more do you want?. Amazing something of this magnitude finished on time. That is the real success."

1. If the technology has not been used before, it should be rigorously tested before going live. In a well-managed project, the testing phase is one of the most critical. If something as basic as not recoginising staff IDs is failing, then this was clearly not done properly.

2. "Amazing something of this magnitude finished on time. That is the real success". If the success of a project is measured by finishing it on time, then yes. However finishing it on time at the expense of it working properly is failure.

3. "Comapre this project to similar accross the world and then criticise". See the other comments - this suffers badly in comparison.

You can talk this up as much as you want, but from what I read, this has been screwed up.

Ed, London,

please use the correct terminology... you do not land at a terminal, you arrive... you land on the runway...

paulc, gloucester,

What did anyone expect? BAA are running it!

Simon, London, UK

so much for all the testing and money spent in trying to make it work properly before the big day!!

Pad, Rickmansworth, Herts

When the Munich airport moved from Riem to Erding in the 90ies during the one night bussines resumed the next morning without any troubles at all. Remember this was the transfer of a whole airport not just the opening of a new terminal. So it can be made if properly planned.

mischa, munich, germany

Does anybody know what it takes to get this kind of project moving?! I can't stand it when people jump on the band wagon of slagging off a project because it is high profile and money has been spent. Everybody does everything correct first time right. Just because you passed you driving test should that negate you from having a scrape? Comapre this project to similar accross the world and then criticise. If there is a few teething problems in the first few days it should be expected. True, you could suggest baggage should be up and running - and I blame this on our involvement in Iraq! - Cheers Steve.
With the best will in the world this is a massive flagship project with technology which has not been used before - What more do you want?. Amazing something of this magnitude finished on time. That is the real success.

Dan, Richmond ,

Singapore's T3 (comparable size, maybe less passenger capacity) opened in Jan 08 with no glitches of the kind reported here. Makes you think when BA says these "teething problems" are "not unexpected." Others seem to expect the problems too, but solve them beforehand...

Quek, Cambridge,

Why does this remind me of the opening of T4 and T4(S) at Madrid airport. The first few days there were chaotic, with planeloads of passengers hurrying from one gate to another as the gate changes were announced, baggage problems, long journeys out to the satellite terminal and buses & staff vehicles cruising round the tarmac looking for the right aircraft. Great looking architecture though. Now we're just left with rubbish baggage handling, long walks everywhere, not a single non-restaurant seat withing sight of a departure board, jetways that cannot connect to planes and walks through building works if your plane arrives after midnight. Shame they forgot the people.

I expect T5 looks great as well.

Mark, Madrid/London,

Maybe it's not the investment or the company's fault but the complete and utter incompetence from the operator's staff.....?

david, Malaga, Spain

Eco-mentalists at Heathrow protesting airport expansion and bringing their own cups to fill with free-trade coffee............is anyone else's skin crawling?

Scott Millson, Toronto, Canada

Another flagship project in the UK and the inevitable failure that follows.

How can something as crucial as the baggage handling system be put into use before being thoroughly tested. If I was in charge of that aspect of the project I would have had thousands of bags an hour going through it for several days before signing it off as working.

Joe, Edinburgh,

No, Steve, I disagree that Iraq caused it. The baggage system failure is obviously another symptom of the global credit crunch. It's too many people being led into sub-prime baggage deals... I say don't help them down at T5, it'll only increase the moral hazard!!! ;-)

John R, AUBURN, Washington

I blame terrorists and the fact that we invaded Iraq!!!! sorry but it seems that every story that is published here at the moment, someone can turn it into a rant about Iraq so I thought I would be first!!!

Steve Williamson, Manchester, UK

As expected, chaos in Heathrow edspite the massive investments done....

laia barcelo, london,