If BA gets a third runway, it will just have more bags to lose. Why expand when airlines are inefficient, failing and cutting flights? The oil problem is not temporary. A third runway will be a white elephant; BA is just looking for investors short term, the consequences are long-term.

Claire Moran , London , UK

I used to work fo BA and their number one thing is on-time. So what if you leave behind 30-40 bags a flight. The company never involves the staff who work the front lines and the back offices to resolve issues even at T5. The Mangment team at Ba never consult the front line Staff big mistake.

John Costa, Detroit, USA

Who is actually responsible for the luggage at Heathrow? Is it BA or BAA? If it's BAA then BA, being the largest user of Heathrow, will always suffer proportionately more.

Dennis, Newcastle upon Tyne, England

I fly frequently with BA and I must say I haven't had any problems with my luggage. The facilities at T5 are far better than the other terminals, and you can speed through check-in/security from the tube really easily. If you don't like BA, don't fly with them, but I'll continue to!

Andrew, London, UK

I do not think this is rubbish at all... yes a few of you may have positive experiences, but most of us do not! Everytime I have flown them, they lose my luggage for a week minimum and the worst part is, when you call to complain...there is no one there to answer. I have issues pending since 2006!

Madhuri Mohinani, Los Angeles, USA

BA used to be a quality, reliable flagship airline.
Nowadays, shareholder-driven focus as opposed to passenger service priorities take precedence;
BA has detuned and turned into an unpleasant experience - pretty much a direct representation on how the UK has also deteriorated in general.

Robert, Dubai, UAE

Mr Rees-Jones comments re:arrivals processing at Terminal 5 is interesting. Passengers flying in to Bucharest's Otopeni airport are usuall clear of the Arrivals hall in less than 15 minutes.

In the 90s, I used to clear London City & be at my car in less than 3 minutes.

Room to improve..

Richard, Bucharest,

Is the problem with the airline, or the company/people employed to handle the bags? I have travelled regularly on business for the past 25 years or so. I have had four losses of my bag in the last 18 months. All of them with Air France at Paris CDG. Do the airports need to employ more staff?

David Hodge, Pardaillan, France

I think this is rubbish, i have flown BA like Mr Ward over 100 times in the past with no problems, you must be using statistics from when T5 opened. Also as far as on time goes they did have problems but i think a lot of that was T1 and T4, i recently flew from T5 and it was on time and very good.

Peter, Aldershot, UK

Last week a delay in a Cathay Pacific flight from HCMC to HK meant that I missed my connecting BA flight to Heathrow and was put on the next flight, one (!) hour later. Everything went smoothly, and my luggage arrived safely and on time. All credit to BA and Terminal 5!

Allan Richardson, Halver,

I fly BA quite regularly, transferring at Heathrow. I'd guess my bags are delayed on one flight in every 3 or 4. BA once sent my case to Guadalajara (Why?!) where it sat for 4 months. (Compensation: 10,000 miles... I have 300,000 of those already!) The tracking website is rubbish: it isn't updated.

Michael Erwin, Paris, France

T5 is a fantastic airport and British Airways have been in the past choked the congesed terminals at Heathrow. These numbers are old news and do not reflect the new terminal. Yes they had some problems at the start, but both BA and BAA are working hard to make this a terminal we can all be proud of.

David, Twickenham, UK

"The worlds favorite airline"? Who're you kidding?!!!....

Emerald, London, UK

Does this compare like with like? Eg. is most lost luggage due to transfers and do BA have more inter-connections than most? Are BA flight delays a problem with Heathrow and therefore BAA? Also MaryAnn, I suggest you factor in safety and maintenance before switching airlines!

mike, athens,

Quick stats lesson, A Ward: coin toss, 50:50 chance heads/ tails. If I throw H/H/H, the chance of H/T is still 50:50 on each toss, but the chance of this SPECIFIC outcome is 1/8 (8 possible outcomes from 3 coin tosses - T/T/T: T/T/H: T/H/H etc) - a 5% chance of losing your bags = 95% chance of not.

simon, richmond, uk

I can't understand why the board hasn't given Willie Walsh the boot. He really deserves to be chucked out. The Terminal 5 fisaco should have been enough, but now this confidential report is the icing. You can bet I and many other travelers choose BA last. I'd rather fly a 3rd world airline.

MaryAnn Masucci, London, UK

Reminds me of Henny Youngman's remarks at the baggage counter in JFK. He had three pieces of luggage and requested that one go to Berlin, another to Paris and the last to Tel Aviv.
On being told they couldn't do that his reply was,"Why not you did it last week!".

Harriet Greenwood, Vancouver, BC, Canada

BA lost our bag 8th July at Terminal 5 still no sign of it. All we've had is a letter saying that they understand our frustration and annoyance and thanked us for contacting them and giving them the opportunity to respond! Not much fun in 40 degrees of heat in the clothes you've travelled in.

Alastair Mair, Edinburgh,

I recall a poster campaign for BA many years back:

The poster slogan read something like:

"Breakfast in London - dinner in new York"

Some wag had added to one poster;

"Luggage in Johannesburg".

Leigh Vernier, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Arnold Ward,

Your logic in suggesting having flown 100 times you should have lost your bag 8 times is akin to saying 1 in 4 people in the world are Chinese, so every third person I meet should be Chinese.

Brandon, St Andrews, Scotland

Terminal 5 is excellent, there has clearly been a lot of thought put into its layout and operation. Queues are short and move quickly. The building is very light and spacious with excellent facilities. The best feature is that you can get to it from the M4 without joining the queue on the M25!

Andrew Read, Bath, UK

Yet again my bags are lost somewhere in Heathrow. Arrived at 06.00 (early ) after a good BA flight giving them two and half hours to transfer my bags to my connecting flight - they never made it despite the fact the airport was not that busy - through security in three minutes.

Jenny Love , Ettingen, Switzerland

I must have flown BA well over 100 times in the past two decades and have never lost my luggage, when according to these statistics I should have lost luggage at least eight times - it doesn't add up.

Arnold Ward, Weybridge, Surrey, UK

I recently arrived from Geneva into Terminal 5. It took me just 20 minutes to disembark, clear immigration, collect my luggage and reach the underground station! You can't beat that performance anywhere. It sounds to me that the Times is reprinting old news.

Gwilym Rees-Jones, Richmond, UK

I think BA's management is just out of its depth. One gets the same sense of failing leadership as with a failing local council - things go wrong at the top, and you notice it in every little thing that happens at ground level. It's amazing the shareholders are so sanguine about it all.

Iain, London,