British Airways blunders from crisis into disaster with the regularity of that other accident-prone British icon, Frank Spencer.

Whether it is removing the Union Jack from tail fins to price fixing fares to disciplining employees for wearing a crucifix or eating a muffin, BA never seems to get it right. Even when the airline does nothing wrong it still seems to get sucked into the big stories – it transported the plutonium from Moscow that was used to kill Alexander Litvinenko, for example.

Willie Walsh, the chief executive, likes to joke that the airline is the “nation’s favourite headline” – a reference to its former advertising slogan, “the world’s favourite airline”. But BA’s blunders are not a joke but a national disgrace. As our flag carrier the message it has sent out in the past two days is not attractive. Britain is apparently a country that spends £4.3 billion on a vital piece of infrastructure only to discover it does not work and cares little about the victims.

Despite its 25-year battle with Virgin Atlantic, BA has stubbornly refused to learn from the public relations masterclass Sir Richard Branson has given it. Imagine how Sir Richard would have handled the Terminal 5 debacle: he would have been there in person, camped out on the seats with the passengers.

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BACKGROUND

• T5: 'More akin to a band-aid applied to a severed limb'

• Heathrow chaos to continue over weekend

• Heathrow T5 chaos: travellers' tales

• Commentary: what a shambles

• Your views on BA - the world's least favourite airline?

Multimedia

• Pictures: Heathrow's Terminal 5 chaos

Related Links

• BA faces huge fine for misleading travellers

• Unions had warned BA over chaotic move

• Your views on BA - the world's least favourite airline?

Multimedia

• Ben Webster on BA and the blame game

• Heathrow Terminal 5 - the first day

• Video tour: inside Heathrow Terminal Five

For all the publicity stunts, it is difficult to see Sir Richard turning irate passengers away with just a coffee voucher.

BA’s problem is that it has yet to realise that it is a private company. Its staff appear to have missed the 1987 privatisation and have carried on as though BA were still a nationalised industry, with all the tolerance of management and service standards that implies.

BA’s management spent months negotiating with baggage handlers to agree terms for the move to T5. Agree terms? It is likely that many of the problems stem from employees refusing to budge beyond their job descriptions.

The mess will be cleared up in a few days and BA will get back to normal – at least until the next episode of this long-running farce.

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