The Absolute Sh*t Hole That Is London Heathrow Airport

[baboon]

You smell funny. Try to reply in a mature manner at least.

Edited July 7, 2007 by baboon

[kratindaeng]

You smell funny. Try to reply in a mature manner at least.

I try, but the Baboon from Chumpon, replies with mature manure (Marketable in Chumpon?) Are the 'Thai' Baboons in Chumpon laughing and joking, behind your back also? no offence baboon, just having a laugh, take care.

Best regards

KD

[CbrLad]

Well I've never seen staff ever talking to passengers whilst chewing gum but the overall impression is that nobody smiles. This is typical of all of London really especially on the Tube and outside. I expect most of that because I think most Londoner's are generally miserable and I can certainly understand why. But there are simply too many people allowed in that airport who aren't travelling. As for the long lines I'd say it's similar or slightly worse to what I've seen in America. Overall the security experience is generally quicker than those I've experienced in America but I've never had to walk outside the terminal to get to my check in area before. What are you suppose to do if it's raining?

So then is it just Terminal 3 that's like this? I definately want to avoid T3 next time.

T3 is bad at the moment because of reburbishments. T1 and T2 are shit holes that are well over due for reburbishment too. I reckon knocking them down would be a good start, which I understand they will do to T2.

But what you have written above is so true of the UK in general (sorry to my pommy mates). Customer service is poor, they have the attitude that they are doing you a favour rather than you doing them one by giving them a bloody job. This is everywhere, not just the airport and the tube, but shops.

The worst exerpiance I had was being accused of shop lifting at my local boots. I went to buy some things, 1 person serving, 3 gossiping around the counter. I lined about, about 10th in the line, and after 5 minutes got the shits because it moved only two people, so put my stuff on the nearest shelf and left. I got physicaly stopped about 20m down the footpath and accused of stealing. On the way back into the shop I showed this thug where I left the goods, but no off the the manager. This prick searched my bag and found nothing, offered no apology for the false accusation or the poor service so I ripped into him. The clown then had the hide to say he didn't have to put up with personal abuse and that if I continued he would call the police and have me charged. Look around the UK most shops have similar signs. Maybe if the stopped and thought why customers go so pissed off they could solve the problem rather than coming down heavy handed with threats. The UK is an odd place indeed.

Oh one other thing I hate in shops is you go to the local Tesco (Sainsburys where ever) and it seems as if the staff have 'right of way'. In most places staff will avoid getting in the way of customers and give them the right. But no the just barge their trollys through. Then you get to the counter and have to pack your own bag, in Aus in most supermarkets they know how to do it properly, as they scan the put it in the bag. Simple, no double handling no trouble.

And lastly why do poms put up with queues? Everywhere. A queue is just a sign of a business that does not know how to surge to handle the customers. Ie if the queue gets long put extra staff on to cover the surge.

Anyway end rant.

[stiggy]

Heathrow

yup rude surly staff,,tut in the wrong direction and security are all over you.

On exiting airport sea of chewing gum and more pompus gits who feel a smile would kill them.

Before the whole pay peanuts brigade jumps in I usually fly Business it all goes to ratshit the second you leave/clear customs....

Its a sorry excuse of an airport period. in my own opinion.

Hate the place

[terry57]

Well I've never seen staff ever talking to passengers whilst chewing gum but the overall impression is that nobody smiles. This is typical of all of London really especially on the Tube and outside. I expect most of that because I think most Londoner's are generally miserable and I can certainly understand why. But there are simply too many people allowed in that airport who aren't travelling. As for the long lines I'd say it's similar or slightly worse to what I've seen in America. Overall the security experience is generally quicker than those I've experienced in America but I've never had to walk outside the terminal to get to my check in area before. What are you suppose to do if it's raining?

So then is it just Terminal 3 that's like this? I definately want to avoid T3 next time.

T3 is bad at the moment because of reburbishments. T1 and T2 are shit holes that are well over due for reburbishment too. I reckon knocking them down would be a good start, which I understand they will do to T2.

But what you have written above is so true of the UK in general (sorry to my pommy mates). Customer service is poor, they have the attitude that they are doing you a favour rather than you doing them one by giving them a bloody job. This is everywhere, not just the airport and the tube, but shops.

The worst exerpiance I had was being accused of shop lifting at my local boots. I went to buy some things, 1 person serving, 3 gossiping around the counter. I lined about, about 10th in the line, and after 5 minutes got the shits because it moved only two people, so put my stuff on the nearest shelf and left. I got physicaly stopped about 20m down the footpath and accused of stealing. On the way back into the shop I showed this thug where I left the goods, but no off the the manager. This prick searched my bag and found nothing, offered no apology for the false accusation or the poor service so I ripped into him. The clown then had the hide to say he didn't have to put up with personal abuse and that if I continued he would call the police and have me charged. Look around the UK most shops have similar signs. Maybe if the stopped and thought why customers go so pissed off they could solve the problem rather than coming down heavy handed with threats. The UK is an odd place indeed.

Oh one other thing I hate in shops is you go to the local Tesco (Sainsburys where ever) and it seems as if the staff have 'right of way'. In most places staff will avoid getting in the way of customers and give them the right. But no the just barge their trollys through. Then you get to the counter and have to pack your own bag, in Aus in most supermarkets they know how to do it properly, as they scan the put it in the bag. Simple, no double handling no trouble.

And lastly why do poms put up with queues? Everywhere. A queue is just a sign of a business that does not know how to surge to handle the customers. Ie if the queue gets long put extra staff on to cover the surge.

Anyway end rant.

jeessuss,

im so glad i have never been there, have never wanted to go there and never will go there, as it truly sounds like one huge depressing bog hole and no wonder los and australia are full of english punters.

all those people that tell me to stay well away must be right id say.

and that <deleted> airport sounds like it needs blowing up.

[TakingAVacation]

Most UK airports have now been contracted out to the Gestapo. All staff have been trained to be aggresive and surly.

...

Yes, and if you're sporting a dark tan from a recent trip to sunnier climes, whatever you do, ...DON'T RUN THROUGH THE AIRPORT !!!

Edited July 8, 2007 by TakingAVacation

[pnustedt]

In part I would echo the OP's sentiments but the situation can only improve when T5 opens in April 2008.

Heathrow T3 is a disgrace to the UK.

I recall Chris Patten saying, when leaving HK, that he recalled when leaving UK they were talking about building a new terminal for Heathrow, when he went to HK they were talking about building a new airport, HK's airport was open and is magnificent, they were still talking about a new LHR terminal in UK. He left HK 10 years ago!

[JimsKnight]

I'll never forget my train on the way to LHR suddenly backing the speed right down on the final approach to London Euston (apparently caused by a suicide near the railway line?) had me miss my flight. Yet I still had 45 minutes to spare on arrival at LHR, I had no hold luggage, only hand luggage. Still refused access to the boarding gate by some Arabic jobsworth obviously having no notion of helping someone who is not of his ilk!

When I see these programs where people are fully late to the last minute and are allowed on board it still niggles me.

Off-topic.

CBR man. Those staff should be fired.

Unlike Thailand, where having a job in the retail sector is something to be proud of (or at least they seem happy doing it) in the UK, only dead-beats, the school leavers / College kids tend to go for this kind of work. Compared with Thailand where sales assistants in the cities are earning 12,000 baht a month (well above the Thai poverty level of 5,000 baht) are doing relatively well for themselves. The UK companies pay their retail workers around the NAT. MIN wage (which is actually on the poverty level, especially if you own/rent property). The work is quite boring yet easy work for crap money.

The attitude of UK staff, especially the new generation of kids tends to be dreadful I'm afraid. Even in the banks I've seen it! Young people are different now and have a very acidic mentality to other people ie get what you can culture. Call it moral decay, call it dumbed down thinking, I for one have very little time for such people. You can see the EU reports that implicitly show how the growing-up in the UKs is the worst place for most kids these days. Its these kids that turn into such folk we are seeing in the shops and airports.

And that is one factor as to why LHR is such a sht hole.

[gwynt]

PeaceBlondie.

I think you deserve a nice Irish saying for your kind words.

May your troubles be less

And your blessings be more.

And nothing but happiness

Come through your door.

My feeling exactly, when I have to travel to the UK,one a year, I cannot wait to leave London and return to Wales where people actually smile and are interested in your well being, albeit west Wales which is closer to Ireland than england which suits me fine

[bkk_mike]

Admittedly, I've never had issues with the vending machines at the airport (other than the rip-off prices), but Heathrow needs to be sorted out.

It is almost 6 YEARS since I last went through Terminal 3, and didn't notice at least one non-working escalator or travelator (either to/from the tube or to/from the gate).

Maybe, since I only go to the UK 4 or 5 times a year, I happen to land when they're fixing them, but somehow I doubt it.

However, the worst times were the two occasions when I landed, and the baggage area had NO trolleys.

Edited July 9, 2007 by bkk_mike

[technocracy]

Could agree more with the OP. Heathrow is an absolute sh*thole of very large proportions.

It has absolutely woeful links to the centre of London. It a full hour from the centre and if you unfortunate enough that you have to change to get the picadilliy line (like everyone who arrives in Euston) you have to manhandle you bags up and down escalators, stairs and a few 5-10 minute walks thrown in for the pleasure!

Of course there is the Heathrow 'Express' which take you to the arse end of nowhere otherwise known as Paddington! All this for the minimal fee of £25 return!!!!! Oh yeah it might take 15minutes to get to Paddington however it then take 30-40 minutes to get anywhere else - so a tube ticket suddenly makes far more sense.

There a no direct trains, a taxi to pretty much anywhere will cost in excess of £30 and even £10+ to a local hotel! As for parking .. .. £100+ per week (or maybe two weeks) but you have to get a 30 minute bus journey to go and get your car. Then if you're in the car the joy of the M25 or M4 awaits you!

As for all this <deleted> about it 'being designed in the old days' - HORSESHIT - so was Schiphol Rijk (and Don Muang for that matter!), if you've never visited Schiphol you'll miss the fact that they've upgraded and change the airport over time and not only have a train terminal at the airport, but reasonable taxis and buses all right outside the terminal. In fact go to most European airports and you'll see this is the case.

On the design note - 1 runway - 4 terminals . .. oh yeah great idea! That's why every single flight you ever get into Heathrow end up flying in circles in the holding queue - you might get in the airspace on time - but you'll be f*cked if you think you'll land on time!!! If the government had any balls they would of done what they did for Shiphol - bought all the surrounding area land and demolished it all to make it into a modern airport with multiple runways etc.

Basically the place has been neglected and left to run down - even flying as Business class ain't enjoyable since the lounges are over crowded and because of this worn out also. Free Internet. . .. pah don't be stupid - £10 pounds please.

What exactly will happen when the Olympics hit town - god knows!

Thankfully I have no plans or envisage any need to return to the UK in the near future!

[ashacat]

Last year i took my wife to the UK and we landed in Gatwick. No one told me i could take my wife through the UK passport holders queue until i got right to the front of the other queue, 3 hours later

Haha! Exactly the same thing happened to me! She was waiting for about 2 and a half hours, only when she was finally getting stamped in was it pointed out that she could go through the UK passport holders gate. How annoying.

[Trevor]

Compared with Thailand where sales assistants in the cities are earning 12,000 baht a month (well above the Thai poverty level of 5,000 baht) are doing relatively well for themselves.

Sales assistants in Robinson, Sukhumvit earn Baht 6,500 including commission. They are paid the basic minimum wage plus a few scraps as a sales incentive.

As for the UK, well it's a hopeless case, really. Beggars belief why the country should be so rich. The best people left for greener pastures in the English-speaking world over the past century, to be replaced by dusky immigrants, asylum seekers and assorted scroungers and terrorists who enjoy biting the hand that feeds them. Not to mention the losses of talent sustained in two world wars.

The younger generation are brought up with their minds (and bodies) addled on vaccinations, pharmaceutical (and illegal) drugs, and a perverse junk-food diet, even in schools. Customer service is very poor. And the professional classes are incredibly arrogant and staid in their ways. The NatWest bank will close your account if you dare to inform them their clocks are running fast and hence closing the doors early on customers (Salisbury Branch, 2003).

As for Heathrow airport, well it's a national disgrace apart from the 1993-completed terminal 4. Yes, terminal 3 does shunt departing passengers out into the elements, simply to avoid the queues of Indians and Africans with large amounts of luggage checking in for flights. The lifts don't even state what facilities are on each floor -- it's beyond their tiny minds to place a 'Departures' or 'Arrivals' sticker next to the floor number. The luggage trolleys are ancient, too small, and jam-up. A shambles which could have easily been foreseen decades ago, and planned-for. Gatwick and Stansted have taken some heat off Heathrow, but intercontinental airlines don't favour them. And even they aren't that great.

Edited July 10, 2007 by Trevor

[baboon]

On the design note - 1 runway - 4 terminals . .. oh yeah great idea! That's why every single flight you ever get into Heathrow end up flying in circles in the holding queue - you might get in the airspace on time - but you'll be f*cked if you think you'll land on time!!! If the government had any balls they would of done what they did for Shiphol - bought all the surrounding area land and demolished it all to make it into a modern airport with multiple runways.

Heathrow has 2 runways in operation.

[figaro]

OK, I agree with you guys that Heathrow generally, is the pits.

Also agree that people in London especially, and in the UK generally, are a smelly, ill mannered, unfriendly, surly, lot.

But, then, why does London get so many tourists?

Part of the attraction that London has for tourists of course accrues from the British art of self promotion; that rubbish about Harrods being the classiest department store in the world, the Rolls Royce being 'the best car in the world ( when it really is an over rated , archaic, gas guzzler) plus Wimbledon being the greatest tennis tournament on earth - when it actually is the most exasperating, pretentious, sports event that I can think of; with all those rain delays that that cause so much frustration to competitors and spectators alike.

People from the US visit the UK to imbibe refinement and 'culture' kinda like country yokels thinking that they’ll better themselves by visiting the lord’s manor. To an extent, Aussies visit the UK for similar reasons.

But, why on earth do people from India and (say) Singapore visit a place like the UK?

Shopping in Hong Kong and in Singapore is definitely better than it is in London.

To the best of my knowledge Indians and people from Singapore aren’t particularly interested in the over rated London theatre circuit. Why do non US tourists visit a place like the UK?

Referring to bad mannered, rude people; personally think that Hong Kong ranks up there right along London and Paris.

[bruceboy]

At Heathrow you have trouble finding any staff who speak English as their first language. :whistling:Last time I landed at Heathrow I thought I had been accidently rerouted to Karachi. You politely ask one of them for a hand with your lugage and they just glare at you

[operator]

A normal evening at Heathrow airport and a legion of weary travellers pour through Terminal 3, down the stairs and on.

For many, it's their first taste of Britain and, sheep-like, they follow signs that direct them to the train - a route billed as 'the fastest way to central London'.

The only trouble is that the moving travelator has broken down ('out of service due to maintenance work'), so, instead, they have to haul their luggage hundreds of yards along an ill-lit, narrow underground corridor that is being renovated and smells of sewage.

At least the diversion gives them time to appreciate a series of glossy wall-mounted advertisements for a bank - involving a subtle analysis of different opinions.

There is a photograph of a piece of broccoli over which the word 'good' has been printed. Next to it is a slice of chocolate cake, bearing the word 'bad'. The two photos are then repeated with the adjectives reversed after which comes the punchline: 'There's always more than one way of looking at the world.'

But not, it seems, at Heathrow.

Consider, for starters, the views of Kieran Loughran a 37-year-old from Chiswick, West London. He's just one of the 68 million people who use Heathrow every year, who had the misfortune to pass through Terminal 4 recently. 'Parts of this airport look like a refugee camp,' he observed. 'It is grey, dismal, depressing and expensive, an embarrassment to Britain.'

Then there's Caroline Lovat, 50, from Shenley, Herts, an experienced flier. 'I've been to dozens of different airports in the past six months and this is by far the worst,' she says. 'Heathrow is particularly drab and depressing when you arrive. First impressions of Britain are awful.'

Or what about Londoner Ahmet Tekcan. The 22-year-old has been waiting at arrivals in Terminal 4 for two hours to greet a friend whose flight has been delayed. There's only a handful of seats, so he and dozens like him are perched on the floor.

'It's uncomfortable and tiring,' he says. 'I can't move in case I miss my friend coming out. There's plenty of room for shops - but not for seats. It's rubbish.'

Indeed, such is the strength of feeling when it comes to Heathrow even Tony Douglas, the airport's chief executive, felt moved to admit that what he sees in the terminals make him 'cringe'. 'Quite frankly, at times,' he said in an interview, 'it is held together by sticking plaster.'

(Right sentiment, wrong substance. It's gaffer tape. Go to Terminal Three and look down - that's what's been used to repair rips in the grey, worn carpet.)

This admission of failure came before the recent terror threats, which once more threw Heathrow into chaos, turning the check-in halls into scenes reminiscent of refugee camps, while families heading abroad at the start of the school holidays face huge delays from more stringent security checks.

Of course, one could argue that it is hardly the airport's fault that the action of a few fanatics has necessitated tighter controls. But one might equally point out that American airports face an arguably greater risk on a daily basis, and after the initial delays in the wake of 9/11, have poured enough resources into airport security so that passengers face minimal disruption.

Besides, here in Britain, criticism of Heathrow is more commonly excused by the claim that when Terminal 5 opens next March then what has become known as the Heathrow Hassle will be consigned to history.

'Terminal 5 is very much the golden key that will unlock many of the legacy challenges that we continue to have at Heathrow,' Douglas has promised. 'I'm the guy who built Terminal 5, so I spent 4 1/2 years of my life on creating the future, the gateway to the United Kingdom that we can all be proud of.'

But others are far less confident. Indeed, among the business community there is growing concern that the problems facing Heathrow are more to do with mismanagement than anything else - a direct consequence of its operators trying to get maximum returns for minimum investment.

Heathrow is operated by BAA, a company bought by Ferrovial, the Spanish construction group, for £10.3billion last summer. The acquisition left the company heavily burdened by debt, a price it evidently considered worthwhile for control of Britain's leading airports.

For as well as Heathrow, BAA also owns Gatwick, Stansted and Southampton airports which, taken together, handle 90 per cent of passenger-traffic in the South-East. Meanwhile, its three Scottish airports - Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen - handle 80 per cent of passengers north of the border.

Given this near monopoly, critics say there is little incentive to improve the experience for the passengers. After all, if they don't like it, where else can they go?

It's a point that was recently raised by both British Airways and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic. They urged the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to impose limits on the dividends that BAA's Spanish owners could 'strip out of the business', claiming that a dividend cap was necessary to ensure cash is reinvested into British airports rather than lining pockets in Madrid.

Evidence given by British Airways to the CAA as part of its five-yearly review of our airports says it was 'concerned' that BAA now has a 'highly leveraged financial structure'. It added that it believed measures were required to 'protect the integrity of airport operations from the possible consequences of this structure'.

The subsequent CAA report noted: 'It (British Airways) suggested that the regulated business should be ringfenced... and that there should be a cash lock-up, restricting the payment of dividends or other means of stripping cash out of the business in defined circumstances.'

Virgin also told the regulator that the level of cash extraction required by Ferrovial to service the huge debt it took on to buy BAA 'should be examined as a possible public interest issue'.

They are not alone in this belief. Paul Killik, senior partner at London stockbrokers Killik & Co, regularly flies through Heathrow and says that service has suffered in the past 12 months.

'I feel that Ferrovial overpaid for it and they are trying to squeeze every last penny out of it that they can,' he says. 'I am highly critical of the acquisition. They had to borrow huge amounts of money to buy it and have subsequently got stung by rising interest rates which has led them to look to cut costs.'

Specific criticisms of the Heathrow experience tend to focus on two areas. First, that commercial interests dominate those of the travelling public. Forget public seating, today it's all about packing in as many shops and restaurants as possible.

Sir Terence Conran, the restaurateur and design guru, was responsible for creating the interiors of the Terminal 1 building in the Sixties and says the change in approach is pronounced.

'According to the design brief in those days, the priority was a concern for the users' comfort and, in particular, to relax and put at ease people who, at that time, might have been anxious about air travel,' he recalls. 'These days, it seems, every square inch must be turned over to retail space, and that is sacrificing travellers' comfort. My general impression of Heathrow is that it is a pretty unpleasant place.

'What I find extraordinary is that once you get away from the central shopping areas, which are reasonably well-maintained and clean, then it's really dirty and grubby.

'If you visit some of the outlying areas, you'll find floor tiles held together with gaffer tape and rubbish left lying around. In the so-called lounges, the upholstery is frayed and light fittings are broken. The feeling you get is that unless it's generating income, they simply don't care about it.'

Sir Terence continues: 'At the root of this is that BAA knows perfectly well that it's the airlines that will get the blame. People don't understand that BAA is responsible. If the lounges are dirty when you're on your way to boarding, or your bags don't arrive, you blame the airline.

'But the worst thing of all about the condition of Heathrow is that it's such a hugely bad advertisement for this country. Here we have Gordon Brown commissioning the Cox Report on the value of design to this country and its economy, and yet the first impression that one gets of this country is of this squalid, cheapskate place which is just out to fleece travellers.'

The second criticism is that BAA's attempts to implement changes to security at the airport have been nothing short of disastrous.

The problems can be traced back to last August and a security alert that saw travellers banned from carrying liquids (and just about anything else) in hand luggage.

Of course, teething problems and delays were unavoidable initially but, a year on, passengers are still regularly facing lengthy queues to have bags searched and scanned.

Michael Snyder is chairman of the City of London's policy and resources committee and says that these delays dominate the conversation of visiting business leaders.

'In private conversation they are always discussing the latest disaster, the latest bad experience at Heathrow,' he said. 'The fact of the matter is that even in supermarkets they have realised that as demand for checkouts increases, so must the number of checkout assistants on hand. This doesn't seem to happen at Heathrow.

'This is purely a management thing - it isn't rocket science. People who are used to running businesses understand varying demand but BAA does not seem to be up to the challenge.'

Particularly infuriating for the travelling public is the defence that the number of security lines are limited by space. Why not just knock down a couple of shops, says Mr Snyder - a move that would make BAA money in the long run?

'If you get passengers through security more quickly then they will have more time to shop,' he explains. 'Given that the rents in the shops charged by BAA are turnover-based they will actually get more rent because they get more turnover. It's simple.'

Beyond personal inconvenience, there are concerns that if action is not taken immediately to improve Heathrow's reputation then real damage will be done not just to the airport but to the wider economy as a whole.

Heathrow is a hub airport where travellers not served by direct flights change planes to go on to their final destinations. If these transit passengers fall away too much there is a danger that some airlines will stop using Heathrow, reducing London's excellent air connections.

Baroness Valentine, chief executive of business organisation London First, fears that delays combined-with Customs checks and immigration procedures risk 'jilting world business leaders away from London and into the open arms of Paris, Frankfurt and even Tokyo'.

She warns: 'Business travellers' experience at London's airports has a potential impact on tens of thousands of UK jobs. Heathrow is often their first experience of the UK.

'If we let business leaders' negative first impressions become final impressions, they may opt to fly to rival cities.'

Of all the steps being advocated to address Heathrow's problems, the most often aired is the break-up of the BAA monopoly. This is being considered by the Competition Commission, to whom the matter was referred by the Office of Fair Trading earlier this year.

So how does BAA respond to such threats? With breathtaking arrogance, the billionaire head of Ferrovial, Rafael del Pino, has threatened that unless he is allowed to make more profit from Heathrow, then he might withhold funding to redevelop Terminals 1 and 2, severely jeopardising the airport's plans to cope with the influx of visitors for the 2012 Olympics.

In what critics have described as a crude blackmail attempt, he has demanded the right to charge airlines more for landing at Heathrow, despite the fact that BAA made profits of more than £750 million last year.

In the meantime, BAA insists that things will get better. Heathrow, it says, was designed to deal with 45 million passengers a year but is now handling 68 million. The pressure should have been eased by Terminal 5 - had it not been delayed by interminable planning rows - which will handle 30 million when it opens next year.

On the subject of travelators, lifts and escalators it claims that the machinery operates as it should

98.5 per cent of the time while adding that a further 500 extra security staff have recently been taken on to man checkpoints and reduce travel delays.

A step in the right direction, of course, but with the summer holidays just beginning and the terror threat once again paralysing services, there's a few million frequent flyers who'll take some convincing that there's happiness to be had at Heathrow - and not just hassle.

[mrtoad]

A normal evening at Heathrow airport and a legion of weary travellers pour through Terminal 3, down the stairs and on.

For many, it's their first taste of Britain and, sheep-like, they follow signs that direct them to the train - a route billed as 'the fastest way to central London'.

The only trouble is that the moving travelator has broken down ('out of service due to maintenance work'), so, instead, they have to haul their luggage hundreds of yards along an ill-lit, narrow underground corridor that is being renovated and smells of sewage.

At least the diversion gives them time to appreciate a series of glossy wall-mounted advertisements for a bank - involving a subtle analysis of different opinions.

There is a photograph of a piece of broccoli over which the word 'good' has been printed. Next to it is a slice of chocolate cake, bearing the word 'bad'. The two photos are then repeated with the adjectives reversed after which comes the punchline: 'There's always more than one way of looking at the world.'

But not, it seems, at Heathrow.

Consider, for starters, the views of Kieran Loughran a 37-year-old from Chiswick, West London. He's just one of the 68 million people who use Heathrow every year, who had the misfortune to pass through Terminal 4 recently. 'Parts of this airport look like a refugee camp,' he observed. 'It is grey, dismal, depressing and expensive, an embarrassment to Britain.'

Then there's Caroline Lovat, 50, from Shenley, Herts, an experienced flier. 'I've been to dozens of different airports in the past six months and this is by far the worst,' she says. 'Heathrow is particularly drab and depressing when you arrive. First impressions of Britain are awful.'

Or what about Londoner Ahmet Tekcan. The 22-year-old has been waiting at arrivals in Terminal 4 for two hours to greet a friend whose flight has been delayed. There's only a handful of seats, so he and dozens like him are perched on the floor.

'It's uncomfortable and tiring,' he says. 'I can't move in case I miss my friend coming out. There's plenty of room for shops - but not for seats. It's rubbish.'

Indeed, such is the strength of feeling when it comes to Heathrow even Tony Douglas, the airport's chief executive, felt moved to admit that what he sees in the terminals make him 'cringe'. 'Quite frankly, at times,' he said in an interview, 'it is held together by sticking plaster.'

(Right sentiment, wrong substance. It's gaffer tape. Go to Terminal Three and look down - that's what's been used to repair rips in the grey, worn carpet.)

This admission of failure came before the recent terror threats, which once more threw Heathrow into chaos, turning the check-in halls into scenes reminiscent of refugee camps, while families heading abroad at the start of the school holidays face huge delays from more stringent security checks.

Of course, one could argue that it is hardly the airport's fault that the action of a few fanatics has necessitated tighter controls. But one might equally point out that American airports face an arguably greater risk on a daily basis, and after the initial delays in the wake of 9/11, have poured enough resources into airport security so that passengers face minimal disruption.

Besides, here in Britain, criticism of Heathrow is more commonly excused by the claim that when Terminal 5 opens next March then what has become known as the Heathrow Hassle will be consigned to history.

'Terminal 5 is very much the golden key that will unlock many of the legacy challenges that we continue to have at Heathrow,' Douglas has promised. 'I'm the guy who built Terminal 5, so I spent 4 1/2 years of my life on creating the future, the gateway to the United Kingdom that we can all be proud of.'

But others are far less confident. Indeed, among the business community there is growing concern that the problems facing Heathrow are more to do with mismanagement than anything else - a direct consequence of its operators trying to get maximum returns for minimum investment.

Heathrow is operated by BAA, a company bought by Ferrovial, the Spanish construction group, for £10.3billion last summer. The acquisition left the company heavily burdened by debt, a price it evidently considered worthwhile for control of Britain's leading airports.

For as well as Heathrow, BAA also owns Gatwick, Stansted and Southampton airports which, taken together, handle 90 per cent of passenger-traffic in the South-East. Meanwhile, its three Scottish airports - Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen - handle 80 per cent of passengers north of the border.

Given this near monopoly, critics say there is little incentive to improve the experience for the passengers. After all, if they don't like it, where else can they go?

It's a point that was recently raised by both British Airways and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic. They urged the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to impose limits on the dividends that BAA's Spanish owners could 'strip out of the business', claiming that a dividend cap was necessary to ensure cash is reinvested into British airports rather than lining pockets in Madrid.

Evidence given by British Airways to the CAA as part of its five-yearly review of our airports says it was 'concerned' that BAA now has a 'highly leveraged financial structure'. It added that it believed measures were required to 'protect the integrity of airport operations from the possible consequences of this structure'.

The subsequent CAA report noted: 'It (British Airways) suggested that the regulated business should be ringfenced... and that there should be a cash lock-up, restricting the payment of dividends or other means of stripping cash out of the business in defined circumstances.'

Virgin also told the regulator that the level of cash extraction required by Ferrovial to service the huge debt it took on to buy BAA 'should be examined as a possible public interest issue'.

They are not alone in this belief. Paul Killik, senior partner at London stockbrokers Killik & Co, regularly flies through Heathrow and says that service has suffered in the past 12 months.

'I feel that Ferrovial overpaid for it and they are trying to squeeze every last penny out of it that they can,' he says. 'I am highly critical of the acquisition. They had to borrow huge amounts of money to buy it and have subsequently got stung by rising interest rates which has led them to look to cut costs.'

Specific criticisms of the Heathrow experience tend to focus on two areas. First, that commercial interests dominate those of the travelling public. Forget public seating, today it's all about packing in as many shops and restaurants as possible.

Sir Terence Conran, the restaurateur and design guru, was responsible for creating the interiors of the Terminal 1 building in the Sixties and says the change in approach is pronounced.

'According to the design brief in those days, the priority was a concern for the users' comfort and, in particular, to relax and put at ease people who, at that time, might have been anxious about air travel,' he recalls. 'These days, it seems, every square inch must be turned over to retail space, and that is sacrificing travellers' comfort. My general impression of Heathrow is that it is a pretty unpleasant place.

'What I find extraordinary is that once you get away from the central shopping areas, which are reasonably well-maintained and clean, then it's really dirty and grubby.

'If you visit some of the outlying areas, you'll find floor tiles held together with gaffer tape and rubbish left lying around. In the so-called lounges, the upholstery is frayed and light fittings are broken. The feeling you get is that unless it's generating income, they simply don't care about it.'

Sir Terence continues: 'At the root of this is that BAA knows perfectly well that it's the airlines that will get the blame. People don't understand that BAA is responsible. If the lounges are dirty when you're on your way to boarding, or your bags don't arrive, you blame the airline.

'But the worst thing of all about the condition of Heathrow is that it's such a hugely bad advertisement for this country. Here we have Gordon Brown commissioning the Cox Report on the value of design to this country and its economy, and yet the first impression that one gets of this country is of this squalid, cheapskate place which is just out to fleece travellers.'

The second criticism is that BAA's attempts to implement changes to security at the airport have been nothing short of disastrous.

The problems can be traced back to last August and a security alert that saw travellers banned from carrying liquids (and just about anything else) in hand luggage.

Of course, teething problems and delays were unavoidable initially but, a year on, passengers are still regularly facing lengthy queues to have bags searched and scanned.

Michael Snyder is chairman of the City of London's policy and resources committee and says that these delays dominate the conversation of visiting business leaders.

'In private conversation they are always discussing the latest disaster, the latest bad experience at Heathrow,' he said. 'The fact of the matter is that even in supermarkets they have realised that as demand for checkouts increases, so must the number of checkout assistants on hand. This doesn't seem to happen at Heathrow.

'This is purely a management thing - it isn't rocket science. People who are used to running businesses understand varying demand but BAA does not seem to be up to the challenge.'

Particularly infuriating for the travelling public is the defence that the number of security lines are limited by space. Why not just knock down a couple of shops, says Mr Snyder - a move that would make BAA money in the long run?

'If you get passengers through security more quickly then they will have more time to shop,' he explains. 'Given that the rents in the shops charged by BAA are turnover-based they will actually get more rent because they get more turnover. It's simple.'

Beyond personal inconvenience, there are concerns that if action is not taken immediately to improve Heathrow's reputation then real damage will be done not just to the airport but to the wider economy as a whole.

Heathrow is a hub airport where travellers not served by direct flights change planes to go on to their final destinations. If these transit passengers fall away too much there is a danger that some airlines will stop using Heathrow, reducing London's excellent air connections.

Baroness Valentine, chief executive of business organisation London First, fears that delays combined-with Customs checks and immigration procedures risk 'jilting world business leaders away from London and into the open arms of Paris, Frankfurt and even Tokyo'.

She warns: 'Business travellers' experience at London's airports has a potential impact on tens of thousands of UK jobs. Heathrow is often their first experience of the UK.

'If we let business leaders' negative first impressions become final impressions, they may opt to fly to rival cities.'

Of all the steps being advocated to address Heathrow's problems, the most often aired is the break-up of the BAA monopoly. This is being considered by the Competition Commission, to whom the matter was referred by the Office of Fair Trading earlier this year.

So how does BAA respond to such threats? With breathtaking arrogance, the billionaire head of Ferrovial, Rafael del Pino, has threatened that unless he is allowed to make more profit from Heathrow, then he might withhold funding to redevelop Terminals 1 and 2, severely jeopardising the airport's plans to cope with the influx of visitors for the 2012 Olympics.

In what critics have described as a crude blackmail attempt, he has demanded the right to charge airlines more for landing at Heathrow, despite the fact that BAA made profits of more than £750 million last year.

In the meantime, BAA insists that things will get better. Heathrow, it says, was designed to deal with 45 million passengers a year but is now handling 68 million. The pressure should have been eased by Terminal 5 - had it not been delayed by interminable planning rows - which will handle 30 million when it opens next year.

On the subject of travelators, lifts and escalators it claims that the machinery operates as it should

98.5 per cent of the time while adding that a further 500 extra security staff have recently been taken on to man checkpoints and reduce travel delays.

A step in the right direction, of course, but with the summer holidays just beginning and the terror threat once again paralysing services, there's a few million frequent flyers who'll take some convincing that there's happiness to be had at Heathrow - and not just hassle.

What is the source for this story and when was it written, or are you the journalist?

If it is a new reports then it sounds like it hasm't changed since I was last there two years ago.