Mixed up passports, luggage labels and LHR chaos generally

I hate having a dig at hard-working airport and airline staff who are doing their best to battle with the new security regime at UK airports. They are doing their best in very difficult circumstances. However, if you felt that their efforts were actually making aviation more terrorist-proof, you might endure the endless security queues, silly carry-on restrictions and general misery with a bit more sang froid. Here's an example from a trip I took to the States a week ago. I'm in the queue to check in for a BA flight to Washington - the electronic check in machine having refused to process my booking, I've been told by the BA member of staff to wait in the fast bag drop line regardless. A harassed BA employee is going up the queue, taking electronic booking forms and passports and taking them off to process them. She takes mine and returns two minutes later to hand me my passport and label my suitcase. Except it's not my passport and my luggage has been labelled - under someone else's name - for Basel, Switzerland. Feeling zombie-like after 30 minutes in the queue, it takes until I'm near the front to register. Luckily, the person who has been handed my passport, and is travelling to Basel, is two behind me in the line, and we exchange passports. Problem resolved? Well, not quite. The check-in assistant then labels my bag for Basel - there is another Mr Morrison travelling to the Swiss city - and hands me a Basel boarding pass. This time, I'm wise to it and I point it out. Bit of a boring story, I know, but it highlights the sheer inefficiency of the process and the stress and pressure airport staff are under. As I go wait in the hour-long security queue a few minutes later, someone in front of me is having an argument with one of the six or so staff behind a table whose job it is to stop anyone even getting into the security area with a tube of toothpaste. Bizarre.