Heathrow Terminal 5 loses hundreds of bags daily

Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 came under criticism again this week after it was announced that passengers transferring between flights at the new £4.3bn facility are losing their bags at a rate of over 900 per day.

The baggage handling system is being blamed by trade union officials for the problem, but regardless of the source of the trouble, one in 12 passengers are facing the possibility of being separated from their checked luggage. A senior Unite union shop steward and former baggage handler at T5 told MPs that on average, 932 bags are not redirected properly on a daily basis.

The figures show that the problem is greater for passengers who are flying into Heathrow to connect with another flight, and continues to be so three month’s after the new terminal’s opening. The Unite union data indicates that 80 of 1,000 bags on flights connecting from T5 do not make it to the aircraft, as compared to an average of 65-70 for the other terminals at Heathrow.

When T5 opened, more than 500 BA flights were cancelled when the baggage handling system failed. The cancellations cost the airline, which is the sole tenant in the new terminal the terminal’s sole tenant, approximately £16m.

BA blames the problem with lost transfer bags at T5 on the late arrival of flights, which are delayed due to runway congestion at Heathrow or late departures from other airports. Unite, however, is citing inadequate links between the terminals as part of the problem.

www.heathrowairport.com