I cannot believe that anyone could write in to defend BA and Willy Walsh. At least twice a year we have a fiasco like this. It's time to face reality. Will BA stop treat ing passengers with contempt? No. Is Heathrow salvageable? No. Will the government bite the bullet, close it down, and build a proper airport off Southend (modelled on Incheon, Chep Lap Kok or Osaka)? No. Is Britain able to handle an event like the Olympics? Hahahahaha...

Chris Berry, London, UK

I just cannot understand how BA thought they were able to change terminals in only 3 hours? What a complete and utter shambles!

Our clients in our travel agency here in Australia are trying to avoid Heathrow at all costs, the beneficiary of this are Emirates who fly to Gatwick from Dubai.
I'll be doing the same if Pompey reach the cup final!!

Peter Scott, Belgrave, Victoria / Australia

I flew from Heathrows T5 to New York - JFK. Needless to say we arrived with no bags. When are me, my sister and my mother getting our luggage back? This is an absolute nightmare!!!!!! We are going on 4 days with no luggage and no answers. We have things in our bags that are priceless. Please give us answers! We are desperate.

Danielle, Long Beach, NY

I totally agree with the comments made by Elena above. British Airways and BAA have worked for a long time to bring Terminal 5 together. It has had a bad start, but I think things will start to calm down over the next week.

As for calls for Willy Walsh to resign, people should actually judge his performance from the last few years at British Airways. He has turned the airline around considerably, sorting out a huge pension deficit and strengthening the balance sheet. The man is brilliant at what he does, that is why he is known as Mr Ten Percent.

Yes Terminal 5 doesn't look great at the moment, but I cannot believe so many people start calling for resignations the minute something goes wrong. Get a grip!

I look forward to seeing British Airways back on track soon. Good luck and best wishes to all at BA!

Ryan O'Connor, Redbridge, Essex

I would like to hear if there is any truth in the "rumour" that BA are "alledgedly" arranging the transfer of luggage to a landfill site near St Albans as this will "allegedly" be cheaper than rightfully providing people with their luggage. I would of course like to hear that this is completely untrue and would welcome any comments on this either way. I was outraged to hear of such a suggestion. Given the farce that is T5 however, I am totally open-minded.

Alison Harper, Glasgow, Lanarkshire

What a shambles. Lord King must be spinning in his grave. I agree with an earlier post - BA desperately needs a credible CEO and Willie Walsh is not that man.

Roy, London, UK

What on earth is going on at BA? Despite being a Hong Kong resident where Cathay Pacific is the 'national' carrier, I have mostly flown BA (and BOAC before) for the last 40 years, believing they offer a better all-round service.

The latest T5 debacle leaves me to rethink. As my three teenage children prepare to fly back to the UK next week on BA into T5, I am anxious as to whether they will be able to collect their bags at the other end. Will they be left waiting for hours on end?

But even before the shambles, BA seem to have lost their way in customer service. Only last year, our 14 year old house guest was bumped off his flight at Heathrow because BA had taken more bookings than they can accomodate. When confronted by the boy's father, they were offered financial compensation on the condition they took no further action.

Both the boy's father and I complained to BA (I wrote directly to Willie Walsh) but neither of us got a reply.

TCHY, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Does it not strike HC that the Govt has developed "new and fiendishly clever ways of counting that completey differ from the way anyone else does it'? The RPI and the unemployment figures are two examples. Could it not be another incompetent minister with thr wrong figure rather than those on the ground?

Roger Tilbury, Worthing,

What is it still not working nicely at T5? It is smaller, cost much more & take a longer time to build than Beijing's airport new terminal. Anyone heard anything about baggage problems over there?
Unlike the Chinese goverment, wihch did not need to get the approval from it's citizens, as the BBC reporter pionted out. Then maybe London should try to get back to ask the public how to go about it.
Just don't take too long time & remember to save cost. That will make the travellers happy again. And the BBC reporter can avoid making dumb comments again!

Chen, Gothenburg, Sweden

I thought the PR spin of British Airways looked familiar.

Julia Simpson, British Airways' head of corporate communications left Downing Street last year, where she worked as an adviser to Tony Blair.

She will work hard to keep Willie in a job, despite the Gate Gourmet dispute of 2005 with 73000 stranded, baggage handler problems in 2006, Cabin Crew strike in 2007, the £271.5m in fines levied by US DoJ and UK OFT in 2007, being the Association of European Airlines worst airline in UK, and second worst in Europe for mishandled bags, the T5 fiasco, and the still awaited Pilot's strike.

Neil, London, England

simple--poor management and bad operational planning. eurostar spent two years planning at an operational level to move services overnight from waterloo to st pancras. in my conversation with a checkin agent at T4 3 wks before the move, she had no idea what was going to happen. so clearly someone dropped the operational ball at BA--there is nothing magic in doing simple, thorough planning. and guess what BA didn;t do it!
and yes, willie walsh should offer his resignation. whether the Board chooses to accept his resignation is another question.

james murphy, london,

It's clear that there is a dispute between BA and their baggage handlers that forms the foundation of this disaster. They've been quick to point out their lack of training and that they felt the new systems weren't adequately tested. No doubt the new baggage management technology a T5 is likely to lead to some job losses, and it's not hard to believe that some baggage handlers were probably determined to flex their muscles and make sure the opening was a failure. Well, they've certainly achieved their aim; I hope they're proud of themselves.

RP, London, UK

I'd like BA to know that they have been the source of much amusement lately! Keep up the comedy ;)

Anthony Smales, Beverley, UK

Surely Willy Walsh must resign now, he's been an absolute disaster as CEO.

bernard weir, Lndon, uk

Another triumph for Britain! The Dome, Wembley and now T5. I can't wait for the Olympics!!!

Nick Wright, London, UK

I arrived on BA028 from Hong Kong on the first morning of terminal 5 opening. I think we were either the 2nd or 3rd flight in. We got our bags ok though it did take a long time for them to arrive. I'm heading back home to Hong Kong on Wed. 2nd and I am not looking forward to it. This is not an unfamiliar incident as the first 2 weeks of the new airport opening in Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong more than 10 years ago experienced a similar catastrophy of the baggage handling system. So how come they have not learned any lessons?
The constant apologies mean nothing! Get it sorted!!!!

Stuart, Sai Kung, Hong Kong

I constantly find it utterly incomprehensible that airports like T5 can produce such amazing cock-ups when excellent examples, like Beijing and Singapore, can get their terminals up and running without any adverse incident whatsoever.

Did those so-called managers at BA/BAA ever study how Beijing and Singapore managed their massive projects and get their assets up and running smoothly from day one? Isn't it just a simple thing to 'ask for help' even if it necessitates paying for the consultancy fee? I guess the only benefit is that, in time to come, this will be used as a prime example of project management disasters in in business school case studies.

Adrian, Singapore,

Here is a (speeded up!) video of my experience through Arrivals in Terminal 5:

http://clesh.com/videos/view/Terminal-1207041205.can/

Stephen Streater, London, UK

Terminal 5 should not be referred to as T5 but rather D5 - Disaster 5!

Marcus, Swindon, Wiltshire

I travelled from Miami to Copenhagen via LHR and disaster terminal 5. Ofcourse there was no baggage on our plane. How can you leave without anyones baggage and not even bother telling them before the plane takes of. I am travelling with my son who is 22 months old, and we have nothing. No clothes no pram nothing. We are leaving for Bermuda for 1 week and then onwards to barcelona on the 19th april and when I have spoken to BA about my baggage and what happens if my baggage still hasn't arrived by then, they just say that "we are sure it has arrived by then" I have been trying to explain to them that my situation is specific as my husband is a tennis player and we travel pretty much all year, and that my whole life is in those bags. I have asked to talk to someone who has answers but have been told that there is noone who can talk to me. Customer service dep refers to Baggage dep and vice versa. BA is a disgrace the way they ignore their customers needs in such a time. Shame on BA

Katty, helsingborg, Sweden

This job is too big for Mr Walsh

Tony, Brighton, uk

My husband travelled BA through Terminal 5 from Nairobi to Frankfurt because we love BA service and professionalism. His luggage was lost and the BA representative told him that he wouldn't likely get it for his trip and it would be sent back to Nairobi. No financial assistance for purchasing needed items, not even a toiletry kit was offered to him. The cabin crew announced over the loudspeaker that deboarding would be from the rear even without a thought to approaching a large group of deaf travellers of this fact. They tried exiting through the front. Food was well below standard--cold, old and dry.
BA, what the heck are you doing!!?!?!?!?!?!

M, Nairobi, Kenya

"A spokesman suggested that the discrepancy between the BAA and BA figures could be due to different counting methods."

Has BA developed a new and fiendishly clever way of counting that completey differs from the way anyone else does it...?

HC, London,

Whatever teething problems were encountered on the first couple of days, this illustrates that once a problem emerges for any reason, e.g. a backlog of flights caused by something as simple as bad weather, a false terrorist alert, etc, there is simply no capacity in the system to cater for a temporary build up of bags. Moreover once there has been a build up it takes an interminable time to resolve the problem, again indicative of a lack of spare capacity. Given that T5 was and still is not operating at anything like supposed capacity, this really does not bode well for the future.

John, London, UK

"A spokesman suggested that the discrepancy between the BAA and BA figures could be due to different counting methods.

For heaven's sake!

1, 2, 3, 4 .....

How do you do it differently?

Bill, Suzhou, China

By what business model does an employee who has lost his employer £50 million get to keep their job?

David Masu, Zürich,

This is the result of quite extraordinary incompetence. Baggage staff clueless about where to park their cars on their first day... Mr Walsh should do the decent thing and 'take off' from his position as British Airways CEO at the earliest opportunity!

Phillip Anderton, Poole, England

I wish BA and T5 team all the courage, strengh and fortune in getting this back on track as soon as possible. It's been a massive project and you deserve some gratitude. Don't listen to sarcastic remarks - most of their owners have to idea what it takes to get T5 up and running. Focus on the task and get it sorted. You can do it better than anyone else.

Elena, Guildford,