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Software glitch hits Heathrow T4 baggage system

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Flying today? Not with those cases you're not

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Heathrow's Terminal 4 was yesterday hit by a software glitch which affected its baggage-handling capacity, the knock-on effect of which means that some passengers travelling have been told to leave any hold baggage at home.

BAA's website currently offers: "The Teminal 4 baggage system is temporarily experiencing a reduction in capacity caused by a software problem. While every effort is being made to rectify the problem, you may experience some delays when departing today.

"If you are travelling through Terminal 4 today, please check with your airline before leaving for the airport and consider minimising the amount of hold luggage you check in for your journey."

Specifically, British Airways says:

The following passengers flying from London Heathrow Terminal 4 on Wednesday 20 February should not bring luggage to be checked in.

Longhaul passengers in the following cabins
· World Traveller (economy)
· World Traveller Plus (premier economy)
As well as all transfer passengers

Passengers who do bring baggage to be checked in will not be able to travel.

BAA told the BBC it had technicians working all night to fix the unspecified problem and was "hoping that everything will be sorted out soon".

BA, meanwhile, assured that "passengers due to fly from T4 are eligible for a refund, can re-book to a different destination or travel on a later date". ®

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Latest Comments

Blame it on Emirates

Somewhat suspicous that T4's baggage handling goes down just as T3's get's upgraded to RFID for Emirates... "Oh, you didn't want me to install it on that machine as well...?"

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Baggage mess at Terminal 4

Nearly ten years ago, after many disastrous experiences with BA and British airports, I switched all my intercontinental and European travel to KLM , and I continue to find them (and the airport at Amsterdam) more helpful, reliable and pleasant. However, this month after a complex journey with my wife through South-East Asia and Australia in Business Class,, we were obliged to switch our return journey (to Oslo) to travel through terminal 4 and BA. Alas, they were as bad as ever:

a. All our luggage was lost at Terminal 4 (and most of it still is, three days later)

b. The main BA lounge at Terminal 4 was out of action "for technical reasons"

c. The BA staff for the London-Oslo flight turned up at the gate only at the moment the plane should have left and then spent their time laughing with each other. Only when passengers insisted on getting information did one of them take up a microphone and explain that there would be half an hour's delay (which soon became an hour).

People who comment that economy class passengers get especially bad treatment are probably correct, but business class passengers have no reason to like BAA or BA either. Who on earth dared to choose the slogan "The world's favourite airline?" or to claim that Heathrow was the world's most popular airport?

Graham Dukes

Oslo

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CDG?

No, never CDG! It has to be the only airport in the world that's worse than Heathrow. Especially if you're flying Air Chance. Amsterdam or Frankfurt would be my choices.

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luggage

Let them send your bags, counter to counter, on another carrier, at *THEIR* expense. Then you just collect them at the counter at the distination airport; or better still have them courrier them to your final destination. You get to your hotel, etc; and the bags are waiting for you.

Hah. Better for them to sodomize their passengers.

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Just say no...

to Heathrow.

In my experience its just crap, and I simply can't see any good reason to make that place bigger. Even avoiding the obvious aspect of 'greenness', and how the gov claims to want to reduce carbon emissions, its just such an awful design of a place and such a pain to use.

My choice for any transfers is Amsterdam, as the Dutch seem to know how to run a big airport effectively.

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