Heathrow, 'a bit of a dump,' airline executive says.

At the Chicago O’Hare International Airport, passengers with spare time can get a massage at the Back Rub Hub, peruse artsy gifts at the Field Museum store or dine on ginger salmon at a Wolfgang Puck outpost. Such options should be a relief to delayed passengers–and at O’Hare there are bound to be plenty of them wandering the terminals.

O’Hare is the nation’s worst airport for delays, according to an analysis of 2007 Bureau of Transportation statistics for 100 of the largest airports. It earns this unenviable title based on delays related to security, late aircraft, the national aviation system, cancellations, carrier problems and weather. We also factored in the percentage of flights with on-time arrival and departures.

In Depth: America’s Top 20 Time-Draining Airports
The Midwestern hub, which transported 30.8 million passengers last year, ranked last in three categories: late aircraft, air traffic control and cancellations. Its best showing was in the percentage of arrivals category–66% of its flights arrive on time, giving it a rank of 92 out of 100 airports. To translate that into time lost, O’Hare flights in 2007 were delayed by a cumulative total of 2.5 million minutes due to a late aircraft.

Chronic delays like these are nothing new, but as the national aviation system struggles under the weight of outdated infrastructure and the airline industry tries to cope with financial turmoil, congestion and delays worsen.

Source:Forbes.com

As for American Airlines, that was unbearable, and I will never be travelling with them again.

I’ve been travelling with AA throughout the US since the sixties.. i’ve always found their service fine ( business class ) and their aircraft pristine..the only thing i can fault with them is their Stewardesses are a bit long in the tooth

Anyone ever been through Perpigan Airport S. France??? Its like a foreign Legion Fort in the middle of Nowhere…..

I am sure that travelers who experienced the recent Heathrow Airport terminal 5 mess probably had a lot of negative comments to make about it. When flights are canceled and baggage is lost, it’s hard to stay positive. So we complain, and then complain again when our complaints aren’t heard.

This is exactly what happened when I flew with American Airlines back in November. Flights were cancelled, baggage was lost and I was feeling pretty low. I complained many times, but achieved nothing.

Perhaps before some big-wig at American Airlines whinges about the state of Heathrow, he should look at the state of his own company first. I am not Heathrow’s biggest fan, especially not when travelling out of terminal 3, but I can put up with, as I am sure many other passengers can. As for American Airlines, that was unbearable, and I will never be travelling with them again.

Just returned from Perth and Singapore, booked with Swiss about a year ago. Connection via Zurich was brilliant, no hiccups and no nightmare LHR, especially now, thank go I didnt travel with BA via term 5.

Well, oddly, in the past 5 weeks I’ve used Terms 1,2,3 and 4. All are getting a bit tired now, the carpets are threadbare in places. Paintwork needs attention etc. But, I got my baggage on time!
Terminal 5 (Which I have not been inside) looks like a concrete council toilet designed by a blind man in the dark. Grey, dismal, boring, sad and outdated.

Shouldn’t have cut back at MAN, apart from sharing check-in desks with EZY I can’t see many problems.

I hear the staff their passengers deal with are delightful! :diablo:

Whos axing UK airports left right and centre? That might be a slight exageration as their UK network was never that big anyway!

London Gatwick = Axed
Glasgow International = Axed
Manchester = Cut-back
Newcastle = Axed before it even started

Whos axing UK airports left right and centre? That might be a slight exageration as their UK network was never that big anyway!

A dump or not, it certainly appears to be over loaded. Whatever BAA’s “£4 billion” will do to alleviate that remains to be seen…

All the 4b will do is move the bottleneck from the terminals to the runways/taxiways. It might be a more pleasant experience for the passengers (eventually, some day), but it won’t add more flights. Not during peak hours anyway.

A dump or not, it certainly appears to be over loaded. Whatever BAA’s “£4 billion” will do to alleviate that remains to be seen…

LHR is a dump though…

I know a pilot who can’t say it enough…:dev2:

So that’s why they are axing UK airports left, right and centre and sending their passengers to Heathrow…:rolleyes: