Heathrow terminal 5, part deux
A while back I posted on Heathrow terminal 5's project management philosophy. Unfortunately it turns out that the launch of Heathrow terminal 5 has gone tit's up. The stories are numerous, but for those who don't know the baggage system went wrong. Something to do with computers. Looks like the cunning plan broke down somewhere:
The system was designed by an integrated team from BAA, BA and Vanderlande Industries of the Netherlands, and will handle both intra-terminal and inter-terminal luggage and will actually process 70,000 bags a day.
I guess they do that by piling them all up in corner and not actually putting them on planes:
...28,000 bags had been placed in temporary storage by the end of the weekend
One interesting up shot is that via the BBC I found that David Miliband has a blog. He's the UK's Foreign Secretary and he has a blog. That's cool. The reason is that:
One foreign minister ... arrived merely to transit, but his bags are nowhere to be seen and it was whispered that it might take weeks. He asked me to pass on a message to BA/BAA: for goodness sake get your act together
...there's even foreign office photos on Flickr.