I survived Heathrow’s T5, but am still waiting for my bags

On my way to Rome a few days ago, I passed through London’s Heathrow airport (LHR), where I picked up a silver-covered “A-Z Guide to Terminal Five.” Referring to the opening of the airport’s newest terminal, a state-of-the-art landmark designed for the exclusive use of British Airways, the booklet begins: “27^th March 2008: An amazing moment in history.”

I’ll say. Opening day at the terminal was so amazing that it may have permanently discredited England’s flagship air carrier, which had to cancel hundreds of flights and search for thousands of lost bags due to operational glitches at what has become known as T5. British Airways personnel referred to the turmoil as T5 “teething problems,” but British transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick went further, calling Heathrow a “disaster area.”

An unnamed European foreign minister lost his bags in T5 and I did too. My itinerary called for flying on BA from JFK in New York to Heathrow on Monday, then changing from Terminal 4 to 5 on Tuesday morning to catch an onward flight to Rome. The layover was relatively brief, so I checked my bags straight through.

If still cutting its teeth, T5 is a looker. Designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership and built for nearly $9 billion, the terminal is all glass and silver, with the same exterior-on-the-interior approach the acclaimed architectural firm used at the Pompidou Center in Paris. It’s got more designer shops than Rodeo Drive and two floors of BA lounges that feature an Elements Spa and buffet restaurant with refectory-style seating. But you’re out of luck if you don’t have a frequent flier card with BA club privileges, because none of the other airlines has a lounge in T5.

As for my bags, I got one about 24 hours after I arrived in Rome, though I had to wait around at home all day because the baggage retrieval service couldn’t say when they’d make the delivery. This morning I heard that the other two pieces are still in London, so I’m still waiting. It would be nice to have them, since I just moved into an apartment in Rome and have nothing to put in it, or to wear, or to brush my teeth with.

A nice lady with a German accent at a lost luggage phone center in Milan, Italy, told me that BA travelers are given a $90 allowance for buying essential items to use while they wait for their bags to be delivered. But people who live in the destination don’t qualify for it, presumably because they have what they need at home.

Next time, I’m flying Alitalia to Rome, bypassing Heathrow altogether. The Italian carrier used to be terrible, but there’s still faint hope it may soon be taken over by Air France-KLM, which could signal improvement. I wonder if the Germans and French would be interested in BA …

— Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

[Photo: A passenger plane takes off and flies past Heathrow's new Terminal 5; Adrian Dennis / AFP/Getty Images]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3, 2008 at 1:40 pm by Susan Spano and is filed under Business Travel, Europe, Frequent Flier, Great Britain, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.