HAL are enhancing T5

Old Aug 27, 2014, 12:41 am
  #76  
 
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Originally Posted by phol
The one thing that struck me about T5 is that whilst you are surrounded by shops, at no point are you actually forced to walk through one. Opportunity missed, HAL.

Maybe these enhancements involve plonking another branch of Dixons between passport control and security.
That's a good point that I hadn't thought about. Unless I am mistaken, when BA was in T1 with the much missed 'Zone R' area, when exiting one walked into a duty free shop or at least right near it.

H
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 12:44 am
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Originally Posted by Hoch
That's a good point that I hadn't thought about. Unless I am mistaken, when BA was in T1 with the much missed 'Zone R' area, when exiting one walked into a duty free shop or at least right near it.

H
Exiting T5->land there is a WDF, is there not?
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 12:44 am
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Originally Posted by Hoch
That's a good point that I hadn't thought about. Unless I am mistaken, when BA was in T1 with the much missed 'Zone R' area, when exiting one walked into a duty free shop or at least right near it.
Correct, the old Zone R (now Zone K) exited immediately adjacent to the duty free store, and virtually in it.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 1:48 am
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Originally Posted by ginger50
I am not sure I agree with you there. We don't know HAL's business model and so cannot speculate as to how they calculate profit from retail vs profit from customer services. If they get greater profitability from retail than customer services then they will tend to make CS the poor cousin. Witness the crowded nature of the transfer area.... knocking down a few shops and providing more space for passengers would not occur to an organisation fixated on retail rather that what should be their prime role.... getting passengers to and from aircraft.

Other countries are able to sort out their national airport hubs without them being crowded with shops and other stuff irrelevant to the task in hand, and those places have a much more open feel. I would cite HEL, SIN, HKG and KUL as good examples of this.

Personally I detest the stench of ghastly perfume that I am forced to walk through, I resent the fact that HAL force me to go past all of the shops to get to the lounge. I make a point of NOT buying anything there and waiting until I get to a shop that I need, when I need it.

I am sorry, but stuff their shops and their retail plans, if I have to pay more to get to my flight then I would welcome the opportunity!
It could be argued that the crux of the problem is the regulatory regime. HAL's airport fees are regulated and there is a limit to the profit they can make from those (any extra revenue above forecast is given back to the airlines as a discount). Their other stream of revenue is from retail - as that part is not regulated they maximize it. Combine that with ownership from investors who want a return, then the terminal gets stuff with shops to the full.

You're right - other airports haven't developed the same hassle factor as HAL (or GAL...or other former BAA airports) [although some Scandinavian airports are heading that way...like CPH]. I suspect they had a view on global competition more than BAA did in the day (it was a monopoly after all) and focused on passenger experience, including convenience, above retail exposure.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 1:56 am
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Originally Posted by Calchas
Exiting T5->land there is a WDF, is there not?
I forgot about that one.

Originally Posted by Genius1
Correct, the old Zone R (now Zone K) exited immediately adjacent to the duty free store, and virtually in it.
Yeah for my memory!

H
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 2:20 am
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Considering three of the airports I've used recently [ARN T5, ORD T5 & ZRH] all do the "dump you in duty free from security" trick, I'm really at a loss to understand why everyone thinks LHR is particularly bad.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 2:33 am
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Originally Posted by Jordan D
Considering three of the airports I've used recently [ARN T5, ORD T5 & ZRH] all do the "dump you in duty free from security" trick, I'm really at a loss to understand why everyone thinks LHR is particularly bad.
I have no issue with the T5 shops (although I rarely use them), I had a flight from MAN T1 a couple or so weeks ago - once through security you have to negotiate the duty free maze to get to the gates/lounges. Not an easy task for the uninitiated.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 2:37 am
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Originally Posted by Tobias-UK
I have no issue with the T5 shops (although I rarely use them), I had a flight from MAN T1 a couple or so weeks ago - once through security you have to negotiate the duty free maze to get to the gates/lounges. Not an easy task for the uninitiated.
LBA was like that, the duty free shop was straight after security and everyone had to go through. Now it has changed, there is still a shop you have to go through but it is about half way between security and the gates so not quite as bad.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 7:31 am
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
Slightly confusing quote there. There are two sets of escalators by South Security going down, one which everyone uses just outwith Harrods, and one that seems to be for my exclusive use inside the Harrods store. Regrettably for me (but no one else seems to have noticed its existence) the Harrods escalator was boarded up months ago. But the main escalator is and will remain in service. So in short nothing changes there: if you don't have access to the Millionaires' Door, turn left after South Security towards Plane Food, and around the escalator to go down, then straight on to the South Lounges escalator.

My understanding is that the Harrods escalator is being removed, in order to facilitate the WDF store is being moved slightly towards the apron (eastwards), and the relatively narrow stores on the west side will be gaining space by creeping eastwards.

Now that's good news for people who want to walk along the main drag between North and South because at the moment there is a pinch point on the front entrance side to WDF: there isn't a lot of space between the lifts/escalor gubbins and store itself. That's the area were staff are standing with the perfume drench. So if that corridor shifts over there will be a clearer rat run for anyone not in consumer reverie dawdle mode, with the escalator more central to the corridor.
I certainly miss it. I was hoping the boading up was temporary while they build around it. Do you know if a replacement will go anywhere else? Its always a bit of a bottle neck at the other one - a minor irritation but an irritation none the less.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 12:53 pm
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Probably less of a bottleneck if they switched the escalators round so that the "down" escalator was the one which was first encountered from south security.

Of course this may impact on the shopping experience, and facilitate people getting to gates, so we can't have that.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 2:04 pm
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 5:26 pm
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Originally Posted by Genius1
Originally Posted by Hoch
Unless I am mistaken, when BA was in T1 with the much missed 'Zone R' area, when exiting one walked into a duty free shop or at least right near it.
Correct, the old Zone R (now Zone K) exited immediately adjacent to the duty free store, and virtually in it.
IIRC, if you went through T1 main security, you were dumped into the duty free shop. If you went through Zone R security, you could avail yourself of a little corridor along the side of the duty free shop that meant you didn't actually have to walk through it. So theere was still an advantage to using Zone R security.
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Old Sep 2, 2014, 3:00 pm
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Originally Posted by Globaliser
IIRC, if you went through T1 main security, you were dumped into the duty free shop. If you went through Zone R security, you could avail yourself of a little corridor along the side of the duty free shop that meant you didn't actually have to walk through it. So theere was still an advantage to using Zone R security.
The Zone R (now Zone K) exit to the departure lounge does go into a sort of corridor, but part of it is open to the left had side to the World Duty Free store.

The main security search area exits straight to the departure lounge, with a smaller World Duty Free store to the left. I believe this was reconfigured after BA vacated T1 in 2009, however, when T1 domestic and international passengers were mixed.
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Old Sep 3, 2014, 7:10 am
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Originally Posted by Tobias-UK
I have no issue with the T5 shops (although I rarely use them), I had a flight from MAN T1 a couple or so weeks ago - once through security you have to negotiate the duty free maze to get to the gates/lounges. Not an easy task for the uninitiated.
Palma Majorca (Spain) is like that, through security and you have to walk through a Duty Free store before the main departures!
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Old Sep 3, 2014, 4:11 pm
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There are many airports like that. SYD T1 is a particularly notorious case, IMHO.
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