News: Volunteers wanted to test new Heathrow terminal
Flights > News > # 1481 (24/09/2007)
Heathrow Airport wants 15,000 volunteers to help test out facilities at the new terminal five building.
Airport operator BAA said it wanted to ensure the terminal "runs like clockwork" when it opens in March.
A free lunch and goodie bag are on offer to those who take part in the six-and-a-half-hour dress rehearsals which will run for six months from today. The first four weeks, which according to BAA’s website are booked up, involve groups of 30 to 100 people being marshalled through the airport.
But leading up to the building's opening, BAA will be looking to use groups of up to 2,250 people to try out the facilities as if they were operating live. Each participant will be allocated an imaginary flight and then required to act out their particular passenger role.
BAA said the trials had been designed using lessons the company had learned from the security and baggage delays faced by passengers at other terminals over the past few months.
A BAA spokesman said: "We want to make sure the terminal is safe, secure and works like clockwork before we open, and we need volunteers to help us do that."
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Comment:
What an outrageous cheek!
We can understand that there will always those who appreciate the novelty of being amongst the first people to step inside such a glorious new building, but quite frankly, an offer of a free lunch and a goodie bag for taking up a full working day, is totally insulting and derisory, especially considering the vast profits which BAA have already raked in off their long suffering passengers and tenant companies.
BAA claim that they want these facilities tested as if they were operating live, but how could such tests be realistic if they are only ever likely to include students, retirees, the unemployed, the terminally bored, and a few curiosity seekers? Let's not forget that this is not some kind of open house event - BAA want human guinea pigs to give up a whole day of their time, just so they can make sure that everything works properly, before their paying guests arrive at the end of March next year. How is this so-called sample group ever going to generate the kind of scenarios which cause long bottlenecks at security queues, unless they recruit these mercenaries direct from the tunnels of Tora Bora?
