The business stories that matter, by Fortune's Colin Barr
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March 31, 2008, 1:12 pm

British Air left holding the bags

British Airways’ big airport makeover isn’t going so well. The London-based carrier canceled flights for the fifth straight day Monday as it tried to fix the baggage system at its new terminal at Heathrow Airport. British Airways has canceled more than 250 flights since Terminal 5 opened last Wednesday, Bloomberg reports. The airline dropped 14% of its scheduled service Monday, and about 15,000 bags have been stranded over five days, Bloomberg says. The mess, which echoes problems at UAL’s (UAUA) United Airlines a decade ago when it opened a new airport in Denver, comes as British Air rivals Delta (DAL) and Continental (CAL) have begun flying to Heathrow under a new Open Skies treaty.

British Air says the luggage system is “generally working well,” though the suitcase backlog suggests the new terminal has a ways to go beforeĀ it lives up to claims BA has made on its Web site. “The majority of British Airways flights will begin and end at Terminal 5,” the airline says, “helping to make journeys as seamless and relaxing as possible.” Someday, maybe.

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Colin Barr covers business and finance for Fortune.com. Previously he was an editor at TheStreet.com and author of the weekly Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street column, and an editor at Dow Jones Newswires.
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