Spanish-owned airport operator BAA is using the opening of Terminal 5 as an excuse to delay the introduction of improved customer-service quality targets by up to two years, according to airlines protesting against the airport's shoddy standards.
Declining standards of service at Heathrow have turned the airport into what former chancellor Lord Lamont has described as "a national disgrace" and given rise to the traveller's ailment known as "Heathrow hassle".
Heathrow was built to handle 45m passengers a year, but now deals with 68m. The overcrowding - and BAA's failure to anticipate potential problems - led last summer to queues of 90 minutes or more to clear security and waits of up to three hours for luggage to appear on carousels.
And, as passengers have found out, changes to normal operating conditions, such as bad weather or heightened security levels, can throw Heathrow into disarray.
BAA is currently lobbying to raise the landing fees it charges airlines by 32%, from £9.05 per passenger to £11.97, but the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which regulates charges, has stipulated that any price rise has to come with a corresponding increase in service levels.
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Top of the list of mandatory improvements are queuing times. The CAA wants to install automated measuring equipment, allowing the constant monitoring of security queues. If BAA cannot reduce minimum waiting times to "equal to or less than five minutes on 95% of occasions", then financial penalties will apply.
At a consultation meeting last week, however, the airports operator requested a two-year delay on service improvements to allow "action plans" and "management systems" to be set up.
Sources within the company have warned of fears that the imminent opening of Terminal 5 could even cause a drop in current service levels - meaning more delays all round.
Paul Ellis, general manager of British Airways, thinks BAA is shirking its responsibilities. "It is paying lip service to customers' needs and will take real steps to improve service quality only when forced to do so by the regulators," he said.
Stephen Nelson, BAA's chief executive spoke of his "determination to put the interests of passengers above all", adding that £30m had been spent on raising basic standards and increasing security staff.