According to BBC News there are now 15,000 luggage bags at the Heathrow Airport after the new Terminal 5 opened with great fanfare and then smashed the hopes and dreams of the British populace by having some serious flaws, including problems with the baggage system.
People have been stranded there for days now and 67 of today's flights out of 330 have been canceled. In the past three days a total of about 208 flights in and out of the airport have been canceled.
Why is all of this happening? Well, for starters, the terminal is so new that even the staff didn't know where to park or how to operate the sophisticated, highly anticipated machinery. The amazing new technology in the baggage set-up was actually so new that it had unknown glitches and eventually just failed. This article explains the problems: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7318568.stm, which are often so ridiculous that they're almost laughable, if not for the many passengers stuck for hours and even days waiting for flights.
The opening of Terminal 5 was met with great fanfare. The Queen officially opened the terminal, calling it "a 21st Century gateway to Britain." It cost 4.3 billion pounds (about 8.6 billion dollars) to create and there was even a specially-commissioned piece of music performed by a choir during the opening ceremony. And now, Terminal 5 is met with criticism, frustration, and anger.
Take this as a lesson: technology, efficiency, and a LOT of money doesn't always make everything better. There is a still a human factor to consider. Technology works as long as it works for us, for the betterment of the user. Why didn't Heathrow test the Terminal's sophisticated machinery and make sure everything was working right and there would be a smooth opening? Why were their so many laughable mistakes? It's all about money: companies want to spend as little as they possibly can. And no wonder! But at what cost? Surely they've raked up another few million in problems already.
Forethought, anyone?
