Topic: British Airways loses 15-20,000 bags since Thursday

[dmastous]

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/29/british-airways-lose.html

British Airways loses 15-20,000 bags since Thursday at supremely b0rked Heathrow Terminal 5

Posted by Cory Doctorow, March 29, 2008 11:11 AM

The much-ballyhooed opening of Heathrow's £4 billion Terminal 5 has been a debacle. British Airways has canceled 208 flights since Thursday, and has "stranded" between 15,000 and 20,000 bags. Area hotels are crammed with stuck BA passengers and are gouging on pricing, prompting BA to lift its stingy (and possibly illegal) £100 limit on hotels for stuck passengers. This is the terminal with the that just cancelled its crackpot fingerprinting procedure -- passengers are fingerprinted at check-in and at boarding.
And lest you think you might try to get there with a change of underwear by going hand-baggage only, think again. BA's baggage-checkers are being serious rules-lawyers about hand-luggage limits, forcing passengers to check hand-bags that are less than an inch oversize, dooming the luggage to the nonfunctional baggage system at T5 ......................

[OSU Buckeye]

Whoops!?      Some opening!   

[dmastous]

Apparently many flights are being delayed or even cancelled due to the mess, and hotels in the area are cleaning up. Gougeing people for twice their normal room rates.

[DrJ105]

You'd think the airlines or airport would put the poor people up in a hotel.  Or at least should.

Apparently many flights are being delayed or even cancelled due to the mess, and hotels in the area are cleaning up. Gougeing people for twice their normal room rates.

[dmastous]

You'd think the airlines or airport would put the poor people up in a hotel.  Or at least should.

Apparently many flights are being delayed or even cancelled due to the mess, and hotels in the area are cleaning up. Gougeing people for twice their normal room rates.

I think the airlines gave 100 lbs toward a room, but the hotels were charging double that.

[DrJ105]

Well, that seems pretty fair on the airline's part.  I saw on BBC last week that they weren't helping them out.  Guess the public outcry was heard.  Too bad about price gouging though.

You'd think the airlines or airport would put the poor people up in a hotel.  Or at least should.

Apparently many flights are being delayed or even cancelled due to the mess, and hotels in the area are cleaning up. Gougeing people for twice their normal room rates.

I think the airlines gave 100 lbs toward a room, but the hotels were charging double that.