BA chief exec, Sean Doyle, is reported to have written to his Heathrow boss, Thomas Woldbye, on Monday (May 18) over the “unacceptable” impact on customers. Sources with knowledge of the correspondence are reported by the Financial Times to have disclosed the carrier is seeking financial redress from Britain’s largest airport.
The FT reports that British Airways has been hit by three baggage breakdowns at Heathrow this year. This is reported to include 7,000 items lost over half-term and 4,000 at Easter.
Mr Doyle said 20,000 bags missed their flights last weekend, sparking delays, spoiling trips and hitting customers’ confidence in BA.
An insider told the FT: “We can’t keep absorbing the consequences of repeated Heathrow system failures.”
BA calculates that the cost of returning lost items or replacing them has amounted to £10m so far this year.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “We are really sorry for the inconvenience and frustration caused by the baggage incident last Friday.
“The system’s reliability is fully restored, and we have been working closely with BA to reunite bags with their owners.”
They added that the airport’s baggage system operates with 99% reliability despite Heathrow operating at full capacity.
The spokesperson said: “We will continue working with airlines and their ground handlers to minimise future incidents and drive opportunities to make baggage performance even more reliable.
“We hope the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) will see the value these improvements will deliver for our customers and support future investment.”
The CAA in March partly rejected the airport’s plan to hike its average passenger charge to pay for a multi-million pound upgrade.
Heathrow had proposed an increase of 17% to £33.26, but airlines criticised the idea, arguing it would result in higher ticket prices. The CAA said it would raise the charge by 1% instead.
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
