After it’s grand opening this week, Heathrow Terminal 5 has suffered a round of very bad press about numerous failures, including 34 flights being cancelled on Thursday and 36 flights being cancelled today (with more expected over the weekend).
A number of reasons have been given for this rather sorry state of affairs, ranging from staff car-parking problems to staff security screening to baggage delays. However, a baggage handler who was interviewed by the BBC news said that whilst BA claimed that ‘staff familiarisation’ was to blame, it was the inadequate training prior to the opening of T5 that was really at fault. The interviewee said that, “During the inadequate training days prior to the opening, any staff questions were bounced back with ‘I don’t know’ and ‘It will be clear on the day’”. The baggage handler also commented that, “Staff signage is non-existent and, quite frankly, how are we expected to help customers if we are not helped first?”
My mind boggles when I think of the logistics and planning required getting something like T5 up and running and I’m sure everyone would expect some teething problems - although perhaps not on this scale. However, if I were one of the T5 staff, I would certainly be feeling extremely frustrated, demoralised and de-motivated at this moment in time, as it seems many (if not all) of the problems are beyond their control. I wonder how the management team will deal with this fallout?
Is there a moral to this story? There are probably many but one of them must certainly be get it right on the inside before opening yourself up to the outside. Or to put it another way, make sure you can deliver what you promise.
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