Heathrow Terminal 5 opens for passengers

No lesser mortal than the Queen of England opened Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, a facility that cost amost 9 billion US dollars and will allow the processing of some 35 million passengers annually. Initially the terminal will only serve British Airways passengers.

Airlines to BAA - we want to break you!

The UK Aviation authority that manages many of the key airports in the UK is under fire from several angles, not the least of which are many of the top Airlines in England.

The Times Online reports that most of England's top carriers: BMI, EasyJet, Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic are now calling for the breakup of BAA.

The angry airlines appear to be responding in part to BAA's recent decision to increase airport fees.

Airline Complaints up for UK Airlines

The Times of London is reporting that complaints are up for UK Airlines. These complaints often reflect customer demands for payment for expenses like food and lodging that happen when flights are delayed. It appears that above normal fog levels at Heathrow Airport may have caused some of this increase.

I'm not very sympathetic to those who feel that the Airlines are not coming through appropriately given the current sets of global circumstances. Many Airlines are now operating in near-bankrupcy status. My experiences with bumps and delays usually result in "above reasonable" compensation by the airlines such as full tickets for single flight bumps and free meals and lodging when flights are missed. We missed a flight on a trip to Hawaii in 2005 - partly due to our own fault - and we were immediately re-routed at no charge so we got in same day. United acted above and beyond and I appreciated this effort. My dad was flying on 9/11/2001 and had the cost of his ticket refunded even though he chose to drive home rather than take the delayed flight (this was also United).

Why do we hold the Airlines to a higher standard than other service providers?