British Airways not happy with BAA

Today's Observer claims that, while BAA has been making sure that Terminal 5 has lots of expensive shops and Gordon Ramsay cooking pork chops, they've forgotten the airporty bit:

In documents seen by Channel 4's Dispatches programme, BA states: 'Only 34 of the 61 gates in T5 will enjoy pier service when T5 opens ... This is the lowest share of pier-served stands at any terminal at Heathrow. Two to two-and-a-half million BA passengers per annum will not enjoy pier service. That will require, at Heathrow's newest terminal, a coaching operation for BA that will transport more than the entire passenger load of all but a handful of the other airlines at Heathrow.'

BA also attacks the lack of aircraft parking stands, saying: 'On a typical day, BA will have to tow 13 aircraft several miles from one end of Heathrow to the other, then back again, at significant cost to BA. BA is also having to build the parking stands for these aircraft at its own expense of £30m to £35m. No other airline will have to move any aircraft away from the terminal in which it operates.'

BA complains that, because of cost-cutting by BAA, Terminal 5 will not be big enough for all its Heathrow flights. Around 8 per cent of flights will have to depart from Terminal 3, already the most overcrowded terminal at Heathrow, adding significantly to its load.

It's a compelling argument against trusting BAA with anything, much less a third runway.

Going long haul? Don't take bags, says BA

Suggesting ever more strongly that British Airways has ceased to be an airline and turned itself into an experimental theatre group, it's broken its baggage system at Terminal 4 and so has come up with a brilliant solution: if you want to take luggage on the plane, you can't travel:

The following passengers flying from London Heathrow Terminal 4 on Wednesday 20 February should not bring luggage to be checked in.

Longhaul passengers in the following cabins
· World Traveller (economy)
· World Traveller Plus (premier economy)
As well as all transfer passengers

Passengers who do bring baggage to be checked in will not be able to travel.

Now, if you're going longhaul - and have paid for an upgrade to premier economy - you might think you'd like to arrive at your destination with a change of clothes or two. Perhaps some spare shoes. A razor, and maybe nailclippers.

Tough.

Actually, BA does have a separate solution. If you really MUST take suitcases for a trip abroad:

"passengers due to fly from T4 are eligible for a refund, can re-book to a different destination or travel on a later date".

If you're planning a trip home, and have to be back at work in the next couple of days, it seems you're being given a choice of not turning up or dumping your stuff.

Can we stop them being the flag-carrier? It's really embarrassing now, isn't it?

Hotel Review: Heathrow Sheraton

So, once again I'm falling behind with my hotel reviews.

This is one of two Sheratons for Heathrow; not to be confused with the Skyline Hotel. Perhaps the Skyline is nicer.

To be fair, the hotel isn't wretched, but compared with what other hotels near Heathrow manage - like the Marriott, for example - it falls disappointingly short. The rooms are clean, the bed good. It's the communal areas where things fall down.

There's one kitchen servicing three eating areas, all of which abut each other; each have slightly different menus and there seems a genuine reluctance to allow people to sit in the bar and order from the "cafe" menu, for example. To be honest, nobody would want to sit in the bar anyway - it's dark and noisy and uncomfortable.

You wouldn't really want to sit in the cafe area, either - it calls itself a cafe, but it's just chairs in the recepetion area. It's like sitting in an airport check-in queue, in fact, but since the only other option was the laughably poor and overpriced restaurant proper, that's where we wound up.

I tried to order the only vegetarian dish on the menu; the woman glumly told me I couldn't have it. "We don't do that here. I don't know why it's on the menu."

I see. To be fair, she did tell me there was a different vegetarian pasta available, which I had, and was edible, but the appearance of a non-existent item on the menus, that nobody had even bothered to cross out with a Sharpie, sums up the general feeling of this place: nobody does anything more than they have to. There's no attention to detail; there's no sense of care or pride. That Sheraton allow this to carry on under one of their luxury brands - and charges a luxury price for it - is a blot on their record, I'm afraid.

Calls for consultation... quietly

It's long been a suspicion of those involved in fighting planning decisions that those who would hope for a positive outcome attempt to skew things in their favour by being selective about where they solicit opinions. A public consultation is good, but you don't want all the public chipping in.

In the old days, you could simply put the adverts for the consultation in an obscure part of a little-read newspaper, or post bills in the middle of nowhere. But what in the internet age? How can you show you seek participation, while not overly encouraging that participation?

The government is currently seeking opinions about expansion for Heathrow, to see if the public agrees with conclusions it has already met. There's a website set up to gather responses and - to be fair - there are banner adverts running on other sites calling for everyone to join in.

Here's one. Now, this looks like a fairly standard banner ad - you think you'd click on it, and it would take you to the consultation, right?

Except it doesn't work like that - you have to click right in that little 'click here' lozenge. Now, since most people will be used to clicking anywhere in a banner and being taken to the advertiser's site, chances are many people will have tried to click the advert, rather than the lozenge and - when nothing happens - assume the link is broken and not bother.

Surely the Department For Transport and the groups keen to tarmac over more of the countryside aren't so cynical as to deliberately create an advert which flies in the face of usability standards to reduce participation in the debate, would they?

You can find the Consultation page here.

Heathrow Terminal 5: Selling sofas while you miss your plane

Ominous reports from Terminal 5 at Heathrow, which is apparently crammed with shops, but nothing you could possibly actually need when flying:

“I want to be the first airport to sell a sofa,” said [Nick] Ziebland, ["retail strategy director" of BAA] dodging shopfitters at the Paul Smith store, which is waiting for doors from a French chateau.

There are practical shops alongside the luxury brands, but fewer than passengers might expect. “We’re not going to have a Primark . . . not everyday socks and underwear,” said Mr Ziebland

Who really wants to buy a sofa when waiting for a plane? Perhaps this is just a sign that BAA are expecting to port to T5 the long delays and discomfort which has made Heathrow a symbol of shame at the nation's gateway: you'll wait so long, you'll need to buy your own sofa to get comfortable.

It certainly seems so, to judge by the FT:

Even with the shops shut, trials have shown some passengers missing their flight; this is not representative and will be fixed, stresses BAA.

There is also going to be no capacity increase from the gleaming Richard Rogers-designed Terminal 5: as soon as it opens, other areas will be closed for much-needed refurbishment.

Maybe you should think about a one-seater rather than a sofa, to make sure there's room for you.

JLA strikes; LHR scolded

As Liverpool prepares for its year in the Capital of Culture glare - it's not clear if it'll be searchlight or spotlight yet - staff at John Lennon Airport are set to strike over a long-running wages dispute.

The offer - a percentage point below what Unions were looking for - won't be recommended to the firefighters, maintainence staff and birdscarers at JLA.

In other airport news, the Competition Commission has oked a rise in fees charged to airlines using Heathrow, but has also called for larger fines for the times when BAA screws up:

The commission says that during its inquiry it received “strong criticisms of quality of service, particularly at Heathrow.”

The problems were not all due to BAA but were also caused by other organisations at the airports including the airlines and the immigration authorities.

The report says, however, that “important aspects of BAA’s performance have been poor.” The existing regime for penalising BAA for weak performance based on service quality rebates paid to the airlines must be “extended and strengthened,” it says.

It criticises the present scheme because it omits “key aspects of performance, including maximum lengths of security queues, and the security arrangements for transfer passengers, airline staff and perimeter control points where performance has been particularly poor.”

BAA, of course, isn't happy at suggestions that it be made to compensate airlines more generously. Understandable, as Heathrow is such a shambles at the moment it'd be losing money like a drunk playing poker with cardsharks. It admits as much:

n a statement on Wednesday, BAA said that the commission’s proposals “introduce a high degree of risk” over plans to refinance its debt.

In other words: their capacity to foul-up operations would leave its future financial plans looking very dodgy indeed.

Glimpsing Terminal 5

BBC News has had a sneak preview of Terminal 5 at Heathrow, where they're testing the baggage system:

Security officer Mick Pearman, who gave the BBC News website a tour, explains: "We've got cases and bags just like normal but without passengers."

Actually, Mr. Pearman, cases without passengers and passengers without bags is also pretty normal for Heathrow.

Local schools visit Climate Camp

Scenes you don't usually see in Climate Camp coverage: Local schools visiting the camp. Heathrow Primary School would be one of three schools demolished to make room for the third runway.

Aer Lingus heads north

Aer Lingus have dropped their Shannon- Heathrow routes, in order to free up resources to operate a Belfast hub. It's their first hub outside the Irish republic:

The announcement is an early sign the newly-privatised airline company is ready to ignore local political fall-out when taking decisions it considers in its commercial interest.

Ian Paisley, the hardline protestant politician who heads the four-party executive at Stormont as first minister alongside Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander, hailed the decision by Aer Lingus as “a shining example of how competitive our economy is becoming”.

And whoever would have thought you'd hear Piasley welcoming the Irish flag-carrier operating on his patch?

Heathrow expansion protests - update

UK Indymedia are reporting that police are preventing the delivery of toilets and water to the Climate Camp - although there doesn't seem to be any reason for the legal settlement to be prevented from receiving services.

BA: Now loses passengers as well as baggage

We're not sure if BA have officially decided to turn themselves from an airline into some sort of Vaudeville act, but that's certainly the impression they're giving: they've now managed to start mislaying passengers, like the 83 year-old man who they left stranded in Heathrow. During his time there, he had a stroke, a serious fall, and is now facing a £20,000 flight if he wants to return to his home.

What was it PJ O'Rourke used to say about BA in those ads?

BAA suggests its poor organisation is a national emergency

BAA has apparently lost control of Heathrow to such an extent, it's pushing the Civil Aviation Authority to treat the opening of Terminal 5 in the same way it would a "terrorist attack":

Heathrow is at risk of further significant disruption to airline and passenger services following the opening of Terminal 5 in March next year believes BAA, the company that owns London’s airports.

BAA’s concern prompted the airport operator to ask its regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, to consider suspending a penalty regime relating to service quality that requires BAA to pay rebates to airlines if the airport fails to meet certain service quality standards. A BAA spokesman said that it would be an exceptional suspension, analagous to “what happened after a terrorist attack”.

If a company can't even open up a new facility without causing disruption on such a grand scale, there are two conclusions. First, there are too many flights using Heathrow. Second, it's time to ask if BAA should be allowed to continue to run an important part of the UK's infrastructure.

Curious times in the airline industry

The Chief Executive at Heathrow has quit, just a few days after telling the Guardian the airport was 'bursting at the seams'. The departure seems a little, shall we say, rushed.

Meanwhile, British Airways' chairman has criticised the current 'one piece of handluggage' rule, which was introduced last year in response to the need to make John Reid seem decisive:

"We recognise that security is the top issue for passengers, given the current threat from terrorist activity. But to be effective, security has to be credible. Current UK security requirements are no longer credible," he told shareholders at the company's annual meeting.

Mr Broughton said the one bag rule was not applied elsewhere in Europe or in the US, undermining its security credentials. But it irritated passengers and stretched Heathrow's creaking baggage handling capability, causing conveyor belt breakdowns, which in turn meant baggage being delayed. The rule "makes London an unattractive place, particularly for transit passengers. It needs to be changed as soon as possible."