1,000 bags are still going missing every day at T5

The full catalogue of errors that led to the shambolic opening of Heathrow's new £4.3billion Terminal 5 can be revealed today.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled and tens of thousands of bags went missing during a series of disasters on 27 March, which unions claimed could have been avoided.

It comes amid revelations today that British Airways is still losing almost 1,000 bags a day - in Terminal 5 alone - as passengers transfer between flights.

Unite union said the airline was losing on average 932 bags daily belonging to transfer passengers, with little end in sight.

National secretary Steve Turner said: "The system... is still resulting in significant numbers of bags not being reunited with passengers. It will happen today and it will happen tomorrow."

This amounts to around four per cent of transfer passengers regularly losing their bags at Terminal 5.

The airline refused to confirm the number, claiming it did not release daily figures, but said the situation was improving.

A BA spokeswoman said: "Our baggage performance at Heathrow is significantly better than it was this time last year. No airport or airline in the world will ever have a perfect baggage performance but T5 is already a great improvement on the way in which other terminals work at Heathrow."

The latest revelations came as airport operator BAA presented a list of shame to MPs at the Commons Transport Committee, detailing the problems with the terminal's opening.

BAA chief executive Colin Matthews blamed many of T5's opening problems on BA, amid revelations that staff had not been given proper training.

He said that although BAA "remains reluctant to engage in a blame game" it puts much of the responsibility on BA, but admitted that BA might have a "different viewpoint".

Mr Matthews revealed key talks between BA and BAA had broken down in the final stages before the opening, and also blamed construction overruns for the problems.

It also emerged that BA ground staff had not been given proper training on new systems, and that bosses had made a massive miscalculation in the number of staff who needing security checks.

Emergency contingency plans in case of problems were also given to the wrong people, meaning faults could not be rectified quickly on the day.

But union bosses immediately attacked BA and BAA, saying neither had given any consideration to their views.

Mr Turner said: "British Airways and BAA were working together over the opening but there was a complete failure to consult the trade unions."

Mr Matthews said a number of key factors had since been introduced. These included: improved monitoring of baggage-handling performance; and speeding up staff through security.

BA said overall performance had significantly improved since the opening of Terminal 5, but it admitted that staff training had not been as effective as hoped. A BA spokesman said: "The final sets of onsite training were, in hindsight, not as effective as they could have been, as they were in part compromised by delays to the building programme.

"Despite those building delays we still carried out more than 28,000 days of staf f training for our 6,500 Heathrow customer-services staff in how the terminal would operate and new working practices."

Both BA and BAA said that lessons had been learned and the terminal was now running much more smoothly.

LUGGAGE CHAOS: THE NINE FAILINGS

* Communication between BA and BAA failed with no joint crisis plan in place.

* Baggage system became gridlocked as staff checked in luggage quicker than it was loaded onto planes.

* BA ground staff not trained on how to drive "jetties" - which connect planes to the airport - leaving many stranded and without power.

* Contingency plans, including those to respond to baggage system failures, were not given to the right people.

* Staff delayed at security points because there was up to 50 per cent more employees than expected, exacerbated by the breakdown of an X-ray security machine.

* Construction of T5 overran, leaving work still to be done after it opened.

* BA ground staff not trained on new systems which led to delays in directing planes to designated parking slots.

* Sixty employees were late on opening day because of troubles in staff parking.

* Eight staff delayed in logging onto baggage system because of faulty setup.