Sep 6, 2007
If you can avoid changing planes at London's Heathrow Airport, or if you can avoid flying into there at all, by all means do so
It's sad but necessary to sound an alarm about the virtual breakdown in luggage service at London's Heathrow Airport, largest of the three airfields -- the others are Gatwick and Stansted -- serving the British capital. Baggage-handling has so overwhelmed the staff assigned to it, that even a British publication, The Economist, candidly admits (August 11, 2007, page 11) that "thousands of bags are lost each day". That report is confirmed by numerous persons sounding off in the U.S. press about the nightmares they've encountered at Heathrow.
The notion of scheduling a one-hour connection to another flight at Heathrow has become ludicrous. The prospect that your luggage will be taken from one flight and placed on another within one hour is even less likely. A two-hour connection is still dicey, and only a longer interval is reasonably safe.
It will come as a surprise to some that Heathrow is not owned by the city of London or the British nation, but by a private Spanish firm, which purchased it last year (and borrowed to do so). Since it is highly unlikely that these entrepreneurs have the funds or the will to make major improvements, the crowds, the lines, and the baggage mishandling are all bound to continue. An airport that was designed for 45 million passengers a year is now handling 67 million passengers a year, and things will undoubtedly get worse before they get better. Try to avoid it.
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The notion of scheduling a one-hour connection to another flight at Heathrow has become ludicrous. The prospect that your luggage will be taken from one flight and placed on another within one hour is even less likely. A two-hour connection is still dicey, and only a longer interval is reasonably safe.
It will come as a surprise to some that Heathrow is not owned by the city of London or the British nation, but by a private Spanish firm, which purchased it last year (and borrowed to do so). Since it is highly unlikely that these entrepreneurs have the funds or the will to make major improvements, the crowds, the lines, and the baggage mishandling are all bound to continue. An airport that was designed for 45 million passengers a year is now handling 67 million passengers a year, and things will undoubtedly get worse before they get better. Try to avoid it.
Write and read comments about this post.
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
