klymen

SIN is a dream... A good one!

economyman

On Sunday I made an international to international connection at T5. Fast track had a longer queue than I have ever seen but it only took about 5 minutes, the problem was security. At the bottom of the escalator both queues (fast track and regular) fed into the same escalator (instead of fast track into the right and regular the left as was the case in the past) and at the top people were crowding - it became a bit of an issue with people right in front of me stopping at the top of the escalator. Anyway, there was no fast track security to be spoken of as it was too full and it did not appear to be policed. I managed to find a reasonable queue in the end but it still took a good 10 minutes.

I am considering going land side later this week on my return but I'm wondering whether I will save time overall which would be the point of it at the end of the day.

corporate-wage-slave

As you noted, this was in respect of an international to international connection, and in that situation it is generally best to stick to advertised route. As you found, though it looks somewhat congested, it normally feeds through fairly quickly and if anyone timed it they would normally be through in 10 minutes or so. I was in LHR on Sunday and it was congested by normal standards, purely from the summer holiday traffic and catching up on previous disruption (e.g. the extra PHX flight).

If you had gone landside - and it's realistically only sensible if you are an adult with Fast Track and an EEA biometric passport - then you could still get hit by slow security, even South has its blips sometimes, and you have a longer conformance time (35 minutes as opposed to 22 minutes, depending on circumstances). There's a lot more walking involved through baggage reclaim, furthermore the route landside arrivals to departures isn't intuitive, the lifts are in the wrong places, however if you do it, best turn left out of arrivals. Psychologically it may feel faster going landside, since you're always moving, but there's quite a lot of moving to get through!

So in short, unless the congestion had fed down past the Fast Track entrance, which I've only seen once, then it is best to stick to Flight Connections.

KARFA

Doesn't sound good economyman. I think someone else made the same point recently about crowding at the top of the escalators and it being dangerous.

On the escalators, you mentioned that both normal and fast track were feeding in to the same escalator, do you mean both were working but that normal and fast track were being fed on both, or that only one was working so all went on the same one?

KARFA

I will do. Have yet to have a bad experience under the new system yet, but I think I have only done a T5 INT-DOM twice since then and both at very off peak hours. I am doing one in a few weeks on the Tuesday after the bank holiday when I come back from NYC with my sister and her other half so around 0945 when I expect it to be busy. I imagine we might be landing oursleves and going to south security if it looks busy, but the complaint will certainly go in.

Tobias-UK

As a result of this change I've decided to have a look at the competition and have just booked MAN-IAD-MAN direct with United for a trip toward the end of the school holidays. I am not prepared to be standing around queuing waiting to pass through conformance/immigration/security.

This is a stupid enhancement. It is at those very busy times these extra conveniences are essential - what on earth is BA doing? They are clearly not interested in smoothing the journeys of their so-called premium customers.

I had a 3 hour connection a week or so ago (with my father), from landing to getting to my MAN flight I had just 30 minutes in the CCR because of these (and other) enhancements and gates/staff not being available.

Time is money, if BA are going to keep wasting mine by these silly enhancements and lack of staff then my money will be going elsewhere.

Excuse the rant!

economyman

You're probably right. That was my underlying impression despite the queues and I have a old pre-biometric UK passport still (not for long).

How is that? I have been offloaded at International connection when arriving 30 minutes before departure.

economyman

I didn't notice if the other one was working as both queues were being fed (cordoned) on to the one on the right. You have a point - maybe it was under maintenance.

corporate-wage-slave

That was presumably to a C gate and you had checked baggage? It varies according to the precise connection. At 30 minutes, if you didn't have checked baggage, they should have at least rung the gate. I've been allowed through on 8 minutes.

Nightbus to Dalson

I've seen a passenger punch the red button to stop those escalators as they were so crowded at the top that people couldn't get off.
Very poorly managed area.
They opened the cordons & piled everyone in front.
I was a good 25 mins getting through security that day with next to no staff in charge of lines & an indulence of them discussing their social lives the other side

crazyarmadillo

on our INT-INTconnections from BRU to the US departing from T5, we always exit (UK passport holder) and then enter again. SO less stressful and also used as a smoke break.

With a couple of trips coming up soon with a rather tight (2 hour) connection from T3,(taking into account lounge time ) it looks like we may have to use flight connections.

So I am correct in reading through this rather depressing thread that INT - INT still gets a premium line for Business/F/Status, but it all merges at security, but all in all quicker than going to T3 landside.

BTW - I wish the tube would be more regular to T3 - last time we waited nearly 20 mins!

You would think that with the numbers of people flying increasing last year, that the airport would want to invest further in its infrastructure.

corporate-wage-slave

I'm not completely clear what you are doing here, but T3 Int to T3 Int has no major conformance issue (just a quick swipe for Positive Boarding and it takes no time at all) and though there is a Fast Track security it isn't always open. It doesn't matter since it's fairly fast there most of the time. So you'd only need to go landside to smoke and it would normally take longer landside. The exception can be first thing in the morning after all the AA (etc) flights come in, but it will be obvious from the outside when this happens - they queue people back from the entrance - so you'd be free to go landside if necessary.

crazyarmadillo

Its my age I blame

I just wasn't sure how this enhancement applies to INT-INT arriving at T5 with a connection in T3.

Re-reading through the thread this enhancement applies only INT- DOM.

corporate-wage-slave

OK, well if you meant T5 to international T3, then that's different to my earlier post, which related to a different location. There is Fast Track for T5 to T3, and it's almost always open, it's on the left side and is clearly marked. The process there is after leaving the bus, boarding pass scan, Fast Track security and then you're quite close to the lounges. In that location the peak time is about 7pm when the larger Asian services are leaving, less so now that the BA ones have gone to T5. Rest of the day it's quite quick. And yes the rest of the thread is mainly about T5 international to T5 domestic.....

crazyarmadillo

appreciate you help again! What a pain for peeps travelling INT DOM tho....