Following my recent post prior to T5 launch, it was interesting to see how the other airlines reacted to the chaos and disruption at BA, seizing the opportunity into a marketeer's dream to emphasise that not only is the airline and levels of service are key differentiators, but also the terminal from where they fly to, encapsulating the whole idea of an airline experience as being more than just check in and inflight services.
Here's Virgin's response:
"Virgin Atlantic flights are unaffected by the ongoing disruption involving BA flights at Heathrow Terminal 5.
Virgin Atlantic's new Terminal 3 features fast and seamless Check-In for all passengers via the new , and a new private security corridor for Upper Class and Flying Club Gold Card passengers - who are able to whizz through the new Upper Class Wing and into the Clubhouse in minutes."
...and from BMI:
flights take off as scheduled from Heathrow’s Terminal 1
"bmi, London Heathrow’s second largest airline, is continuing to operate all flights as scheduled from its main hub at Terminal 1 despite disruption at the newly-opened Terminal 5.
Problems at Terminal 5, which opened to passengers yesterday (Thursday 27 March), have resulted in significant delay and disruption to BA flights operating from the new facility. In contrast Terminal 1, which now has 40 per cent less passengers to accommodate following BA’s move to Terminal 5, is running like clockwork as is bmi, the principal competitor to BA at Heathrow.
bmi operates all its services from Terminal 1 to key UK and European destinations such as Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Belfast City, Brussels, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester.
Nigel Turner, bmi chief executive officer, said: “Heathrow’s reputation has taken yet another blow with operational failures causing serious disruption at the brand new Terminal 5, which was built for the sole use of BA at a cost of £4.3 billion.
“But the fact is that BA’s problems at Terminal 5 do not mean that the whole of Heathrow is in meltdown. We and other airlines continue to operate normally from the main Heathrow central area.
“One in every eight flights at Heathrow is a bmi service and yesterday we had a punctuality record of 94 per cent flights on time, reaffirming our position as Heathrow’s most punctual British airline.”
From 'the world's favourite airline' to 'the world's least favourite terminal'.
p.s. Ian Shaw, Paresh Gandhi, Louise Veryard and I will be travelling out through T5 on Monday so no doubt a further update will ensue (IF we get there that is!)