flyingcrazy

Today I was returning to ABZ on the shuttle and sat next to a gentlemen who claimed to have 'insider' knowledge but didnt specify.
He said Terminal 5D is planned but part of its plans are dependent on ongoing UK-US negotiations over US pre clearance at British airports. Apparently an idea for 5D is for it to be the base of BA flights to the US and would be designed with state of the art US customs and immigration procedures. The custom facilities could be the like the ones at DUB whereby if a US customs officer wishes to search a specific bag he/she will press a button and the bag will be hauled off for inspection.
This makes a lot of sense as T5D could be designed with the space and the facilities for US pre clearance without having to force pre clearance into other parts of LHR.
I am guessing BA would constribute to the cost as it would be them who would benefit from this.

This left me wondering if AA/US will also move into T5D and if the new Terminal 2 could be planning such a thing (T2's opening has been delayed perhaps for this reason).

Nothing is official or confirmed just a man who could have been making all this up but seems sincere told me this and it made sense.

Thoughts?

Flexible preferences

Sounds great.

My only initial thoughts are would T5D be big enough? There are a LOT of US flights. How would they all fit in one terminal? (a small one at that if it is the same size as T5C)

Edited to add: on second thoughts, they might do it. There are about 30 flights a day to US, so if staggered throughout the day over say 12 gates...

flyingcrazy

I got the impression that T5D will be much bigger to accomodate this.
I think there may be two plans for it one with US preclearance (big T5D) and should US pre clearance negotiations break down a scaled down T5D.

Flexible preferences

Ah thanks, my edit coincided with your post. I think it would need to be bigger, because the rush of morning arrivals from US. Sounds great though. VS wouldn't like it much!

shorthauldad

Sounds lovely ... except I thought someone had noted on a recent thread that the latest LHR expansion plan made no mention of T5D at all (sure this was the thread that discussed the proposed increase in charges at LHR)?

HilFly

They wouldn't have to arrive into T5D - just depart from it.

tdng

Surely the morning rush of arrivals would not matter as these have no bearing on pre-clearance. It is only the flights to the US which will determine the size of the terminal and the inbound aircraft can be from anywhere. 30 flights in a day from 12 gates sounds manageable (I have zero expertise in this area though).

I think this would be a great idea if it happened however I vaguely remember someone saying that one big reason this has not happened before was due to the the cost of accommodating the CBP personnel in the local area which would still need to be overcome. Thinking about it though, don't HAL now own a lot of houses in the Sipson area that could be used for accommodation as they can't use them for the original purposes they were intended for?

flyingcrazy

Putting two and two together (my excellent detective skills?) I think that perhaps these increases in charges could be to part fund US pre clearance at LHR.
The other thread and the charge increases however have made no mention of the construction of T5D nor of US pre clearance. However I suspect that maybe the new Terminal 2 could possibly host US pre clearance at some point in the future.
I certainly hope Boris Island will have US pre clearance when it is built ^

flyingcrazy

Yes I think it would need to be sizeable so as people dont miss their flights and/or connections etc. I certainly hope it would be well structured enough so it would be a 'pull' factor into LHR and not be so badly organized that is became a 'push' factor from LHR. It would be a risk of course.

VS may yet benefit if T2 gets US pre clearance which I believe may be possible.

Flexible preferences

Hadn't thought of that. There still is a bit of a morning rush for USA departures I think.

flyingcrazy

Dont the bulk of US departures leave early afternoon?

flyingcrazy

Haha but surely the same BAA planners who have thought up this are still planning for that original purpose.
The high cost of living in London has been a big turn off for the US government in this case however I think BAA, BA, VS etc will contribute to the costs.

FlyerTalker6245

When there was all the secondary screening for US departures, did they not all leave from T5B for a while? (Note it may have been so long ago that not all the flights had moved over by that point?)

Dan72

I'm doubtful this will happen and sounds like a combination of some sourced comment with huge amounts of wishful thinking. Heathrow airport would have to cede a lot of commercial space to US CBP, who would pay? The UK Government would have to agree to the operation. Others (VS) would be unhappy about the absence of a level palying field for all and am doubtful US CBP would agree to an arrangement that was tied to a commercial partner (I'm even doubtful this would be allowed, they are not allowed to provide fast track). I'm also doubtful that the CBP would be interested in such an enormous operation, BA's transatlantic flights, are the mainstay of its schedule, in addition to the huge numbers they leave petty much throughout the day, that's a lot of CBP officers on overseas accommodation and allowances. I just don't see it happening.

noniron

If it can happen in DUB/SNN, then why not at LHR and a dedicated T5D would be perfect for O/B departures to the US.