Terminal 5 - British Airways
I had the pleasure of Terminal 5 this week and what a great job BA have done towards their brand; consumer and employer!
Well Willie, not only have you made a complete cock-up of one of the biggest events in BA's history (and the UK's), but you have done more to destroy employer and customer confidence/morale than I can remember.
Most people can live with things going wrong but when there is no way of finding out what the hell is happening it can make life pretty difficult.
We left Terminal 5 on Friday afternoon. Maybe the 2 hour late departure, 2 road closures and 45 minute flight delay, with no updates of when it was leaving meaning that we only just got on the plane should have been a warning? Maybe the further 45 minute delay when they had 1 too many bags in the hold and had to find it should have been a warning (I do wonder how they actually knew this!)? Maybe the ground staff who easily found the bag (so we were told) should have been a warning i.e. the hold was not that full making it so easy to find the bag! Maybe the poor French staff who had the biggest revolt since Bastille Day on their hands should have ran away rather than fight on?
Having now returned from Paris, to be notified that our luggage has been sent to Paris by ROAD is another warning? Maybe we won't see our bag ever again let alone in time for our flight out to Spain this weekend? Maybe the BA employees who we spoke to who consistently told us how the 'rank and file' had warned BA Senior Managers that Terminal 5 (T5) was not ready for the full flight schedule programme should have been listened to? Maybe the fact that most hadn't even seen T5 before their first day after it was opened should have been a warning to Wille Walsh; BA CEO?
Either way, Willie Walsh is hardly a great example of a leader to be proud of and should go the same way as French royalty on Bastille Day! Maybe this time he should have kept his head down and big mouth shut when promising the earth!!
But is his apology enough to save his job?
