Frustrated Fliers Turn Woe Into Web Hit

Posted on Apr 24th 2008 4:00PM by James Sullivan
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Pop songwriters tend to take on the epic subjects -- love and death and cosmic befuddlement. But it's the little things, the daily chores and tribulations, that take up most of our time and energy.

No one's writing songs about the rising cost of gas or commuter traffic. In London, however, headaches over the rampant problems at Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 5 have inspired two sufferers to address the issue in rhyme.

Tens of thousands of ordinary people have endured mass tedium at Heathrow, where the ballyhooed opening of British Airways' supposedly state-of-the-art Terminal 5 has been marked by a colossal failure of a sophisticated baggage-claim system, hundreds of canceled flights and excruciating delays.

Two transplanted New Zealanders saw the occasion as a ripe opportunity for comedy. 'The Terminal 5 Song,' their acoustic rap on the woeful debacle, has become a surprise web hit and may soon be released as a single. When Andy Baynes flew to Italy on British Airways for his wedding, the airline lost his suit and his bride's gown. Baynes, a better man than most, channeled his frustration into creativity.

The video he made with partner Tim Soong features the singer lamenting the loss of his bags, shaving in the terminal bathroom and parading around in his boxer-briefs and black socks. Fifteen hours in line, stuck in an elevator with an anonymous groper, and all he can get out of airline officials is a weak cheerio about the fact that the Queen herself cut the ribbon on the terminal.

"They needed a bit of a ribbing," Baynes said, "and we were happy to oblige."

Now if we can only get him to turn his attention to those impossible-to-open little bags of peanuts.

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