It is 6.30 on Monday morning at Heathrow. In the Star Centre, a windowless
central operations room lined with banks of screens showing Heathrow’s many
chokepoints, the first of three daily telephone conferences is taking place –
this one to anticipate glitches in a day that will see about 210,000
passengers, 1,300 flights and 50,000 vehicles arrive or depart from the
world’s busiest international airport.
The Terminal 1 service manager reports a heavy flow of passengers as
businessmen fly off at the start of the week. The engineers report that two
jetties for arriving planes are out of action. The baggage manager says 300
bags that have missed connecting flights are lying in a reclaim hall.
Somebody else says that several jumbos full of passengers with onward
flights will be arriving close together, so every security lane in the
Flight Connections Centre must be open. The disembodied voice of Greg Ward,
the operations director, then praises everyone for a “fantastic” weekend’s
work and urges them to ignore the protest camp against Heathrow expansion
that has appeared on the airport’s northern fringe.
“Keep focusing on the everyday operation,” Ward implores them, “because it’s
going to be the best summer we’ve had.” I catch my breath. “The best summer
we’ve had”? To most observers, it has been Heathrow’s summer from hell.
Almost daily a politician or business leader has labelled Heathrow a
national disgrace that is damaging Britain’s stature and competitiveness.
Passenger surveys have voted it one of the world’s worst airports.
Newspapers have been full of travellers’ horror stories. The Competition
Commission is investigating whether to break up BAA’s monopoly ownership of
Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted after a litany of complaints from airlines.
The phrase “Heathrow hassle” has entered the lexicon, and commentators have
vied to produce the most colourful put-downs – a “really expensive mall
with planes”, “customer service reminiscent of the worst days of
nationalised British Rail”, scenes “reminiscent of Nairobi slums”. Heathrow
has also been described as an airport “bursting at the seams” and “held
together by sticking plaster” – and that came from Tony Douglas
before he resigned as BAA’s chief executive last month.
BAA – owner of this little-loved gateway to Britain – has become an
even juicier target since it was taken over by the Spanish company Ferrovial
last year, so in an attempt to defend itself it agreed to let The Times
spend a day behind the scenes.
What I find during 13 bewildering hours spent rushing along Heathrow’s
labyrinthine corridors, down into cavernous basements and through countless
security checks, is indeed a wretchedly outdated airport. But I also learn a
little about the murky world of aviation politics and the conflicting
agendas of its major players. And I develop a grudging sympathy for BAA,
caught between the public’s ever greater demand for (hassle-free) air travel
on one side and – on the other – an increasingly powerful
environmental lobby and ever stricter security regulations.
The Times photographer and I join Ward, a burly 34-year-old former
Ford production manager, for breakfast in an office plastered with
performance charts and a sign that declares “Delivering Operational
Excellence”. He explains that the Star Centre receives reports from each
terminal every 15 minutes, and that he receives text messages on the length
of Heathrow’s queues every hour of every day, even on holiday.
He believes in “measurements”, not “perceptions”, and what his measurements
tell him – despite all the anecdotal evidence to the contrary – is
that 91 per cent of Heathrow’s passengers waited less than 10 minutes to get
through security in July, and that figure has not dropped below 95 per cent
in August. In the past year he has opened 13 more security lanes, making 68
in total, and employed 600 more security officers, making 2,500 in all. He
still needs 250 more security officers but that takes time, he insists,
arguing that he needs 10,000 applicants to find 300 good recruits.
I am sceptical, but the only long security queue we find as we tour the
terminals is in the Flight Connections Centre (FCC), temporarily overwhelmed
by the almost simultaneous arrival of two large jumbo jets. Short security
queues do not automatically mean happy passengers, however. There are the
usual snaking lines in front of the British Airways check-in counters, for
which BAA has no responsibility. There is also an embarrassingly long line
of at least 200 disgruntled overseas passengers waiting in the FCC while
just four immigration officers check their passports. Eight other counters
are unmanned. Again, BAA says it can only request – not demand –
more immigration officers.
BAA also argues, with justification, that it is not responsible for
restricting passengers to one piece of hand luggage containing no liquids,
gels or sharp objects – another source of intense irritation. Ward
claims that despite all the publicity more than half Heathrow’s passengers
still arrive with prohibited items, and nearly a quarter ignore the
compliance officers who advise passengers what they can and cannot take on
board before they reach the scanning machines.
In Terminal 4 we watch an Asian man desperately trying to squash his
wheeled-suit-case into the size-checker, and breaking its handle as he tries
to yank it out again. Bradley Wilkins, a compliance officer, politely sends
him back to his airline counter to check it in. Wilkins, who is just 16,
reckons that about 5 per cent of passengers respond angrily when he stops
them. One told him he was “about as much fun as a pork pie at a Jewish
party”. A couple of times a day he will have to summon a supervisor.
Carol King, a security officer who trains colleagues to do body searches, said
a few passengers even object to being frisked, though most eventually
comply. She has never found anything suspicious – just objects
deliberately planted on people to test the searchers. She says that
criticism of Heathrow’s security checks is “totally unfair. Our job is to
keep people safe, and we do it to the best of our ability”. Sometimes the
worst thing about searching passengers is their personal hygiene – “You
are up close and personal with everybody and it’s not always pleasant.”
In the Terminal 1 reclaim areas we find the pile of 300 bags sitting
unattended in a corner. Richard Wazacz, BAA’s 33-year-old head of logistic
operations, admits that Heathrow’s baggage-handling record is “unacceptable”
but – unsurprisingly – he insists that the airlines are to blame.
Wazacz takes us into a control room lined with screens showing bags whizzing
along miles of subterranean conveyor belts before tipping into baggage
chutes. He shows us a map of the belts that looks like tangled spaghetti. We
visit a thunderous cavern to watch bags descending an extraordinary
helter-skelter that takes them 60 metres down into the bowels of Terminal 1,
and from there along a mile-long tunnel to Terminal 4. It is a “stone-age”
system, he concedes.
The airlines’ responsibility is to load and unload the bags from planes.
Wazacz claims that 55 per cent of bags miss their connecting flights because
of delays getting them on or off aircraft. He says the airlines have an
informal agreement with BAA to unload all bags within 25 minutes of landing,
but the three British carriers – Virgin, BMi and BA – achieved
that only 78, 66 and 34 per cent of the time in June. He will not say which
is the worst of the three, but it is obviously BA whose baggage-handling
operation is undermanned and heavily unionised, and whose record this summer
has been lamentable. It has lost one bag for every 36 passengers. It was
recently forced to truck thousands of mislaid bags from Heathrow to Milan to
sort them out, and came bottom of an industry league table.
From the antiquated depths of Terminal 1 we soar to the ultra-modern heights
of Heathrow’s new control tower, twice as tall as Nelson’s column, where we
watch plane after plane coming in over London to land, each 2.5 miles and 90
seconds apart. More than 40 land each hour. A similar number take off on the
parallel runway. Heathrow’s two runways are used to 98.5 per cent of their
capacity, which is why one small glitch – bad weather, a security scare –
can cause disproportionate chaos.
Leaving the tower we meet Shaun Cowlam, Heathrow’s logistics director. He was
a brigadier who ran the British Army’s logistics operation during the 2003
invasion of Iraq, and says the scale and complexity of running Heathrow is
very similar. We challenge him on other perceived shortcomings of the
airport – broken escalators, trolleys that won’t push straight, filthy
lavatories.
He says that by the year’s end he will have introduced 14,000 new trolleys
equipped with Radio Frequency ID tags so they can be tracked and taken where
needed. He says he has permanently manned each of Heathrow’s main lavatories
to “try to introduce pride in ownership”, but complains that the toilets are
sometimes blocked by asylum-seekers flushing away their passports.
Cowlam, 50, laments Heathrow’s relentless bad publicity. “I worry that our
workforce is constantly at the bitter end of some of the comment and
observations,” he says. “They know that much of what’s said is factually
incorrect and doesn’t represent the truth. It’s not as bleak as it is made
out in the press.”
A visit to the airport’s nearly-completed Terminal 5 is mandatory, of course,
for that is BAA’s remedy for Heathrow’s fundamental problem: it presently
funnels 67 million passengers a year through geriatric facilities designed
for 45 million.
We are escorted by Mike Forster, 53, BAA’s head of strategy, who is enormously
proud of a project he has nurtured for ten years. The £4.3 billion terminal,
designed by Richard Rogers and opening in March, is indeed magnificent –
vast, bright and airy, with Britain’s largest single-span roof, enough floor
space for 50 football pitches, a six-platform railway station and much else
besides. Forster angrily rebutts recent reports that it will have just 700
seats to allow maximum space for BAA’s money-spinning shops. It will have
9,000, he insists.
Terminal 5 will absorb 30 million passengers a year, permitting the
redevelopment of the rest of Heathrow. Work has already started on Terminal
3’s forecourt, Terminal 4’s refurbishment will begin when BA moves into
Terminal 5, and phase one of a £1.5 billion terminal called Heathrow East is
intended to replace Terminals 1 and 2 in time for the 2012 London Olympics.
Forster says he feels a “passion” for transforming Heathrow. “We know Heathrow
should be better and we have a plan to make it better. Our belief is that by
the time we have worked it through Heathrow will be a place the UK will be
proud of rather than fed up with.” The condition, of course, is that the
Civil Aviation Authority, which is presently reviewing BAA’s tariffs for the
next five years, allows it to double landing charges to pay for its £6.2
billion investment programme. That is why BAA is so eager to blame others
for Heathrow’s present shortcomings – and why the airlines have a
vested interest in denigrating BAA. The stakes are huge.
At 7.30pm Ward is alone in his office, still working and still full of figures
that defy popular perceptions: 76 per cent of flights leave Heathrow within
15 minutes of their scheduled departure times, and 23 per cent within an
hour. Another text pings up on his mobile. It says that the only security
queues that had exceeded ten minutes that day involved transfer passengers,
that there had been two emergency landings (neither serious), and that the
protest camp had caused no problems.
The 300 bags were still sitting in the reclaim hall, but Ward was content.
“It’s not perfect, but it’s a world apart from what it was a year ago.” The
travelling public may or may not agree.
Heathrow is a joke. Most airports are these days but LHR is definitely the worst. The current 'security situation' is a convenient excuse for the airlines and the airports to disguise their inefficiency, incompetence and woefully inadequate staff levels. Blaming each other for the problems is just another smokescreen. The increasing commercialisation of the terminals is the indicator of what BAAs real priorities are. Anyone who has been faced with a huge queue and only one open check in desk will probably realise that the increased check in times has more causes than 'enhanced security'.
Adrian Vines, Sudbury, Suffolk, UK
The reason LHR is in such a sorry state is not because of a lack of will on BAA's part, but due to the short-sighted successive UK governments. LHR should have been abandoned in favour a completely new airport built to the east (Kent, Essex or Thames Estuary) of London YEARS ago.
Paris thought of this in the 60s when CDG was built, Kong Kong, Kansai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur et al have all replaced ageing airports with state-of-the-art facilities.
BAA are doing their best with a short-sighted, slopey shouldered government, blame-culture airlines and nimby protesters who like cheap flights but aren't prepared to have a decent airport.
Marios Patrinos, Reading, UK
Surely nothing can compare to the attitude of LA's domestic airport staff and the airport overall inefficiencies?! They are only interested in catching up on their live stories and taking their break. Forget about waiting for announcements about delays and cancellations ... that's not their problem!
Carol, Melbourne,
I find it hard to believe people still checkin luggage. I've carried on ONE bag for the past 9 years - no problems at all. It amuses me to see people lugging so much luggage when they really need a few changes of clothes and some money.
B, Auckland, New Zealand,
Try transferring flights through any airport in the States and see how many times your checked bags get lost. It's practically guaranteed.
ZP, Dublin, Ireland
Jemma from california, I took your advice and looked at Wikipedia. If you do the same you will see that Heathrow is the busiest INTERNATIONAL airport in the world. And if you read the article again you will see that it claims exactly that!
No doubt you will cite one or other US airport as being busier and with all the domestic US travel you are probably right. Talking of domestic US travel, Americans should be used to bad service, delays and being treated like cattle. I lived in the US for a while and I can safely say domestic air travel was the worst part of my time there, shame because the rest of my experience was very good.
Sonia, Guildford, UK
I have to admit that Heathrow is very old and could be a hassle to navigate around for visitor. However, it's really refreshing that the security check is very efficient, easy to understand and fast. US airports should take notes.
Kenneth, Chicago, USA
>Why do you Brits continue to believe Heathrow is the busiest >international airport in the world? It is NOT. Nor has it ever >been. Look it up. Wikipedia will help.
I've just done that :
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_busiest_airports_by_international_passenger_traffic
and it says no. 1 is Heathrow with 61m, no. 2 is CDG Paris with 52m. JFK is no. 19 with 20m. These are based on 2006 stats.
Yang, Shanghai, China
Don't blame the staff. British transport terminals were designed or have been modified for shopping. The travelling is a necessary inconvienance to them. The checkin area at LHW is deliberately small so people will not wait there but proceed through checks so they are surrounded by shops with time on their hands.
All it takes is one large check in queue and the whole thing goes out of tilt.
TIP at LHW its often better to walk outside in the road rather than walk through the airport and have to snake through the checkin queues.
Train stations, e.g. Waterloo, Kings Cross, Victoria are no better as they too have been filled with shops which impede movement of people.
Terry, London,
Jemma from Redondo beach. I have checked Wikipedia and LHR is the world's busiest international airport. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_busiest_airports_by_international_passenger_traffic
Richard, London, UK
Heathrow originally had six runways arranged in a "Star of David" pattern. Now it has only two. I don't know how an airport with only two runways can be the busiest in the world.
D. J. Roberson, Seattle, USA/Washington
Heathrow needs help. More security staff is the main thing. But it's not the worst airport in the world, my pick for that honour is Newark NJ. But anyway, as passengers we can do more to help ourselves. I travel weekly, so I've perfected the art of travelling light and using hotel laundry services if need be. I always check-in online so my only wait between landside and airside is security. I have my own reusable zippered plastic bag that fits in the correct amount of toiletries. So generally departure isn't so bad. (It does help being able to use the BA business lounge, admittedly). Heathrow needs to get better. It does need another runway or alternatively other London airports to take more flights to avoid delays and the knock on effect a single delay can have. It needs to install more travelators (I think that's what they are called) because often flights are delayed by the huge distances people have to walk to the gate - not great if you're elderly and infirm.
Steve, London, UK
I guess it's how you define busiest international airport .
Atlanta - most passengers.
Heathrow - most international passengers.
LA - most originating and terminating passengers.
Wouldn't all passengers into Heathrow be international - I mean to say you'd have to be nuts to fly in there if you are already in Great Britain.
Dave, Santa Cruz,
Why do you Brits continue to believe Heathrow is the busiest international airport in the world? It is NOT. Nor has it ever been. Look it up. Wikipedia will help.
Jemma, Redondo Beach, California
I've just done that :
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_busiest_airports_by_international_passenger_traffic
and it says no. 1 is Heathrow with 61m, no. 2 is CDG Paris with 52m. JFK is no. 19 with 20m. These are based on 2006 stats.
Yang, Shanghai, China
Try visiting Helsinki's Vantaa Airport: the building is beautiful, the operation is fast, smooth, polite, ultra-clean and efficient. And the floors are laid with parquet.
By contrast, arriving at Heathrow, where the ground staff are not ready to meet the plane - "they are having a shift change" - or handle baggage, so the passengers have to stand around waiting for more than 40 minutes till the baggage carousels to start moving (Er, why can't they do the shift change in their own time?). As you finally move away from the tatty baggage claim hall idle and unkempt baggage handlers may be seen sprawling around sharing a joke, oblivious to the lousy state of their operation. Welcome to rip off Britain ...
Jonathan Stiles, Helsinki, Finland
Strange isn't it, that every airline in the world is absolutely desperate to fly in an out of this apparently awful, third world airport?????
And Jemma, don't make us look bad - you are wrong, just accept it.
Bill Atkins, Rehoboth Beach, USA
The problems by and large are not of BAAs making. Stupid 'security' rules. For example, you are okay with 3 x 100 ml liquid containers BUT not with 1 x 200 ml container?? Why?
Under capacity. T5 has been more than 10 years in 'planning'. The same people who complain about LHR are probably the same one's who say NO to any expansion, at least in their backyard.
John, Reading, UK
I use Heathrow a lot and its no worse nor better than most of the worlds large airports. It has good shopping too - my trousers split recently at Las Vegas Airport and I had to go back out through security and the only trousers on sale were in a golf shop - not very stylish! The wonder is that we can fly at all!
Arnold Ward, Weybridge, Surrey, UK
I regularly fly to Malaysia, which has a collection of gleaming, spacious and ultra-modern airports. The contrast with Heathrow is stark, and one wonders what thousands of visitors from 'developing' Asian countries (lots of which have stunning new airports) think when they arrive.
But yes, T5 will make everything better, let's just hope they really take their chance to renovate the rest of the place. And as always, don't forget the government's role in subjecting T5 to a ridiculous planning fiasco, which delayed it by years.
Alastair Stevens, Suffolk, UK
Jemma, Redondo Beach, CA
Anyone who cites Wikipedia as a source of reliable information iimmediately suffers from a very low credibility rating
Ian, Fremantle, Australia
Under an hour from the plane touching down to my front door in Holland Park- what Heathrow hassle?
Tom, London,
I recently passed through Luton and Heathrow Airports and found both to have incredibly high potential for catastrophe as it appeared very few HSE regulations and National laws regarding 'safety at the work place' were being abided by, other than 'No Smoking' signs.
A competent HSE inspector should take less than 1 hour to close both premises as being extremely hazardous to the public and workers who use them and I would suggest this be done immmediately, that is if anyone cares...!
Peter Mitchell, Nelson, New Zealand
Having recently come back from a round the world trip, and having visited around 50 airports, I can say that although Heathrow's not great, it's not nearly as bad as the majority of the world's airports. If you want to see chaos, queues and no order, go to Miami - surely the world's worst. If you want to see calm efficiency, go to Hong Kong - surely the perfect blueprint for a 21st century airport. Heathrow's not that bad, just try not to take any luggage!
Robert, London, UK
When are they finally going to close Heathrow and replace it with a sensible airport in the Thames Estuary. Much better place for it which will mean filghts do not have to pass over the whole of London (in prevailing conditions) before landing.
Bite the bullet
Michael, London, UK
Great article! When will the UK government wake up to the damage the "one bag" rule is doing as it is out of step with every other European country? Holiday travellers typically have checked baggage and a cabin bag for the flight. Business travellers who really need two bags (wheelie for clothes etc. and laptop bag) are being penalised by the UK government, resulting in more checked baggage (and risk of loss) and longer journey times (waiting hopefully for bags). This is hurting British business! Frequent business travellers are usually the best at complying with security and getting through it efficiently. Most of my US colleagues when travelling to Europe now come via Frankfurt rather than Heathrow as they don't have to suffer this silly rule which does nothing to improve security and stretches the already struggling infrastructure at Heathrow even further. Wake up Home Secretary - you can improve things! Please return us to a "two bag" state - like the rest of the world.
Graham, Berkshire, UK
'Why do you Brits continue to believe Heathrow is the busiest international airport in the world? It is NOT. Nor has it ever been. Look it up. Wikipedia will help.' Jemma, California
Jemma, Wikipedia lists Heathrow as the world's busiest airport by international traffic. I suggest you look it up yourself :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_busiest_airports_by_international_passenger_traffic
David, London, UK
My sister & i flew out of Heathrow to JFK last year and they were incomparable. Yes, Heathrow may be crowded but at least it is clean and serviceable. The first loos on arrival at JFK were shocking, filthy and blocked - you practically couldnt get through the door for the smell. We thought that it was remarkably third world as a gateway to the US. Heathrow had never been seen in a better light!
Alice Telling, London,
I flew out of Terminal 3 a few weeks back around lunchtime and found the experience fine for the most part.
Checkin took a few minutes but no massive queues (United Airlines) and Security was busy but I was through in less than 5 minutes which isnt bad considering.
Departures was overcrowded and quite stressful but manageable. Flight left on time without issue. Slightly dissappointed at the delays getting back in to the UK as only 2 immigration officers were in the EU section and around 10 elsewhere.
If you want a stressful airport experience try flying to the US and passing through immigration in Miami. That is a seriously long delay
Richard, Bournemouth, UK
Thanks Tony from Wombarra, NSW. Here in the real world next to Heathrow is the fact that it will happen anyway. Both security and efficiency. The facts in the article speak for themselves. Things will get better, but you may not ever see that because you will not be travelling here too often, eh? Tony. I'm sure when Sydney airport is handling that many passengers and flights the Antartic ice will have melted and Antartica will have been inhabited for a few thousand years. Can't wait for your response.
Williamcanuck, egham, UK
Tony from Wombarra, you may not have noticed that Sydney is near as can be to a terminus, whilst Heathrow is the largest transit point in the world. a small fraction of the human traffic that flows through Heathrow is handled by Airports like Sydney, even so trying to get through the AQIS checkpoints at Sydney is testing at peak times and delays can be long. If you want compare pleae make sure it is apples with apples, Heathrow has a very different set of issues, and though it may not be plain sailing all of the time there are worse, try JFK.
Michael Holloway, Sydney, Australia/ NSW
I have no problems with Heathrow (and I use it a lot), yes it is old and crowded, but shouting and violent confrontation with check in staff never helps any situation. You have to be realistic of Heathrows limitations and allow enough time for possible delays, plan ahead, listen to the news, only carry what you are allowed so you do not hole up others. Selfishness is the bigest problem, what does it matter if you have to wait a bit for your luggage, be paitent, the world will not stop just because you are delayed.
J Rose, Worcester, UK
Believe it or not, Gatwick is even worse. Having just passed through Heathrow twice and Gatwick three times, I am stunned by the lack of service and crowds. At the check in people jumps queues while coralling posts are left discarded in the corner (have a look at the Ukrainian Airlines queue for a vision of hell). At the security gates you often have 4 or 5 unused Xray machines and a bunch of Cockneys standing around bantering beside the lone working model. In the hall when you clear security there are twice the number of people as seats. The TV monitors show 80 percent of planes delayed and the heaving mass of people grows and grows until everyone is distressed. Buying a newspaper takes 15 minutes. There is nothing to entertain children. How can Britain get it so wrong? You step back into Sydney airport and they have it sorted out. Humourless yes, but way ahead when it comes to effiiency. You have third world airports now and are hiding behind the issue of security as an excuse.
Tony, Wombarra, NSW
Why do you Brits continue to believe Heathrow is the busiest international airport in the world? It is NOT. Nor has it ever been. Look it up. Wikipedia will help.
Jemma, Redondo Beach, California
I must say that Heathrow and BA have the coolest people working for them. It doesn't matter how hectic the days are, they never loose their politeness, efficiency and smiles.
Unlike staff of other European airports....
Beatrice Wagner, Brasilia, Brazil
Heathrow airport is horrible. We only use it because we have to and on at least 50% of the occasions, our bags don't make our connecting flight and are delivered to our hotel or to home at some point. We've been to lovely modern airports all over the world and it is depressing to think that many foreign visitors will have such an unpleasant first impression of the UK when they arrive here.
susan, powfoot, scotland
We flew to the UK via Heathrow, Never again will we fly thru this "jungle" of a Airport, my wife needed a Wheelchair, almost impossible to get one, the UK government should wake up and do something, otherwise the wise travellers will avoid the UK altogether.
George Levecque, Fergus, Ontario, Canada
"91 per cent of Heathrow’s passengers waited less than 10 minutes to get through security in July, and that figure has not dropped below 95 per cent in August.". I wonder if this includes the post security footwear check too? You know, the one with thousands of people coming through every hour who need to take off and then put on their shoes again, with around 6 seats provided for that purpose....
As a regular, and miserable, Heathrow traveller I simply can't fathom how the quoted statistic is being arrived at, but then I suppose you can massage the numbers to get any result you want in the end. I haven't spent 10 minutes in a Heathrow security queue for years - It's usually 5 or 10 minutes longer. Never mind, it gives me time to stand there and count the number of unused security lanes (usually a minimum of 3) and watch the staff milling aimlessly around the Security desk.
Matthew, Epping, Essex
Thanks for this report, now what can you do about investigating the 'snaking queues' at the airlines' check in desks?
alice, Moscow,
I have to say that, having used Heathrow twice in the last month, I've never had to wait long at security checks. The staff have been friendly, helpful and smiling. The shops are great to pick up last minute presents home.
Of course, the downside is how dirty and and old the buildings are.
Richard, Brussels,
Only 76 per cent of flights leave Heathrow within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure times, and a meagre 23 per cent within an hour - that should underline Mr Ward's “measurementsâ€, not “perceptions†strategy. The article above shows that; most are playing the blame game, BA is more of a national disgrace than Heathrow and, most importantly the next 5 years of refurbishments will be absolute hell if you're not flying from T5. I'll be using local airports as gateways to the UK in the meantime and look forward to " Operational Excellence' being delivered after 2012.
Trevor Sworn, Phnom Penh, Cambodia