Heathrow T5 was 'national embarrassment'

The chaotic opening of Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 showed "serious failings" by British Airways and airport operator BAA, MPs have said.

The event in March was a source of "national embarrassment", the House of Commons Transport Committee said.

It said the problems, which included cancelled flights and thousands of bags going missing, "could and should" have been avoided with better planning.

The companies have apologised and said the situation had improved since then.

'Long queues'

Committee chairwoman Louise Ellman MP, said: "What should have been an occasion of national pride was in fact an occasion of national embarrassment."

When the £4.3bn terminal opened on 27 March, most of the problems were down to "insufficient communication" between British Airways (BA) and BAA, the report found.

It also criticised poor staff-training and system-testing by the airline company.

The 36,584 passengers who turned up on the first day faced long queues and had little idea about what was happening.

"When the baggage system failed, luggage piled up to such an extent that it was transported by road to be sorted off-site.

"According to BA, 23,205 bags required manual sorting before being returned to their owners," the report said.