P/R Disaster @ Heathrow Airport

If you've ever been frustrated at spending weeks training to implement a new system or open a new facility - this is why we do it. This is also why our Best Buy had approximately 3 employees per customer the first week, and why there were actually managers in sight. When a local chain store chain can get it right, an international airline ought to have a clue.

Heathrow Horror Show | Autopia from Wired.com:
"Two hour waits, broken elevators, and 15,000 misplaced bags. It's just another day at London's Heathrow Airport.

Last week, amidst much hoopla and self-congratulation, British Airways opened it's glittering new $8.6 billion Terminal 5 at Heathrow. The size of 50 football fields and capable of handling 30 million passengers a year, the modern, airy glass and steel extravaganza was supposed to be the answer to the chronic congestion that has made Heathrow one of the most detested airports in the world.
. . .
Many of the early shift baggage handlers reporting for work on opening day couldn't find parking spaces at the new terminal or got stuck at security checkpoints, creating a huge staffing shortage. Those who did make it in either couldn't log into the computerized baggage sorting system or didn't know how it worked (not good news if you handle baggage for a living). As a result belts began jamming up, and the first three flights of the morning took off without any luggage on board at all. Instead, those bags piled up at the terminal.

While the baggage handlers were struggling to get luggage from the terminal onto outbound flights, they also had to figure out how to deal with bags coming in on arriving flights. This didn't go so well, with some passengers waiting 90 minutes for luggage to arrive at baggage claim. Front line employees trying to manage the chaos claim that their desperate calls to supervisors went unanswered.

But wait, it gets better. Planes were forced to sit idle at the T5 gates while British Airways baggage handlers struggled to get them loaded and unloaded, which meant arriving flights had no place to park and began piling up on the tarmac. This made getting the right bag onto the right plane still more complicated, creating more delays, which in turn meant that even more bags piled up inside the sorting system. Lather, rinse, repeat.
. . .
Baggage was the main issue, but plenty of other stuff went wrong at Terminal 5, too. Check in desks were closed when the first passengers arrived on opening day. Escalators and elevators didn't work. Self pay kiosks in the parking garages malfunctioned. And as icing on the cake, a flashmob of "Stop Airport Expansion" protesters descended on the terminal that morning, forming the occasional conga line and further annoying passengers who were undoubtedly already wanting to kill someone.

The final tally at the end of the weekend: 15,000 bags sitting somewhere in the bowels of Terminal 5, hundreds of flights canceled, and a complete public relations disaster for British Airways."

Emphasis added.