Generally, I'd rather set fire to my hair and put it out with a shovel than attempt to ask a taxi driver at LHR to take me to an LHR hotel.
I know what you mean. I made that mistake once from T4 when I stayed overnight for a flight in the am from T1. I asked taxi driver to take me to the HI.
Boy, did he moan and groan and make a big deal about it ... never again!
Moderator: Flying Blue (Air France & KLM), France and TravelBuzz!
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I had a slightly hectic two days sequence, ending in T5 yesterday evening. I started off Tuesday morning on an AF flight from CDG to LCY, going back from T2 to CDG yesterday at 12:50, and taking the last BA flight back to T5 at 20:15 ...
Check-in and bag drops in CDG 2B were horrible and the staff manning the counters were, let's put it mildly, very green, taking about 15mn per passenger, at least for the ones who were in front of me.
Catering on the flight was also very bad : some type of smoked fish that I regretted even touching. Anyway, we arrived at T5B, and of course the Captain had to apologize for the brand new airbridge being broken ... 15mn later, stairs were brought to the aircraft and we were able to disembark, walk thirty yards in the rain (we were thankfully spared being bussed) and then walk up into the building.
I took the Hoppa bus to the Sheraton Skyline and could see that, contrary to the buses from T1/T2/T3, half of the buses had no mention of a destination, just their number, such as H53, H57, while the other half had only a partial list displayed at the front of the coaches, so you really had to check your destination carefully. It doesn't seem that it would take a lot of effort to have clear signage.
Posting from the Work and Entertainment Zone in the F lounge T5. It's really ruvvery, I am well impressed (also with the view of the apron and rwys, a BA 747 landing on the northerly rwy as I type). My only question has to do with the bacon baguettes. Whilst it's probably a good idea to have food on offer buffet style, and the mushroom baguettes are veggie-friendly, unfortunately I've found the bacon baguettes to be rather dried out and not all that great really. A step down from the chef's theatre at Gate 1 even.
Sorry to be pedantic but this is important!
I might add, gentle readers, I've just disappeared deep into the bowels of this wonderful, calm, relaxing, pleasant place to source a half glass of the Noble cuvee. Delightful. All in the name of research, of course.
BTW I zoomed through North Security right of the HEX within two minutes and T5, to my naive eye and unchecked Tumi, seems quite the place this cloudy morning.
So who is permitted to use the short-cut door out of Customs, bypassing the long trek past the shops?
If you are exiting at the south end (luggage belt 11 end) there is a door on your left, which takes you straight out to Krispee Kreme and the lift to the Arrivals Louinge.
There seems to be someone manning it, but the Poles in hard hats just march through on their donut break, as do crewmembers and other staff. Unchallenged. Can we do the same? Is the detour to the jumbo Toblerone and dodgy champagne shop optional?
Anyone tried Club Galleries North yet?
I was so impressed with CG South a week ago North has to be special in order for me to switch this afternoon
Used Galleries North on Monday during my first T5 trip. Impressive lounge offering - the breakfast spread far surpasses anything I've seen from BA (those bacon rolls are yummy!). The shower suites were a bit rough around the edges (I'd have had a very long snagging list if they'd been installed in my house.... ), but otherwise Galleries North is good - and very convenient for domestics
Not used Galleries South yet (that's tomorrows job...)
So who is permitted to use the short-cut door out of Customs, bypassing the long trek past the shops?
If you are exiting at the south end (luggage belt 11 end) there is a door on your left, which takes you straight out to Krispee Kreme and the lift to the Arrivals Louinge.
There seems to be someone manning it, but the Poles in hard hats just march through on their donut break, as do crewmembers and other staff. Unchallenged. Can we do the same? Is the detour to the jumbo Toblerone and dodgy champagne shop optional?
That is the staff exit only. You need to show a staff ID to use those doors (short corridor).
Thanx for Terminal 5 update. Interested in your "my flight memory" program which looks terrific. And in updated baggage news for terminal 5 as I leave tomorrow for JNB via LHR.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tfung
Sitting in the arrivals lounge after arriving on BA26... Got to shake hands with Mr Walsh after getting off the flight, and got his autograph on my commemorative certificate.. Too bad I was only the 4th person to get off the plane, behind a woman and a guy travelling with his son... oh well..
Anyways, got mobbed by reporters after getting out into the arrivals area.. apparently I was the first guy to bolt through since I didn't have luggage... I hope they won't put me on TV with me saying something stupid.. haha..
IRIS worked very well and everything seemed to be working fine.. a lot of staff wandering around still though... The arrivals lounge is quite nice, although I thought the shower cubicles were a bit smaller than the ones in T4 and T1... But at least the water pressure was very good, and the towels they give out are bigger.. The Elemis spa is also apparently open, but no-one is here yet and its already 6am...
Moderator: Flying Blue (Air France & KLM), France and TravelBuzz!
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Taking the late departure to CDG tonight. Clearing security would have been quicker with the standard lane than at the fast track lane. It took about 15mn with three passengers in front of me at Security South ... Landside lifts are still operating in a haphazardly fashion, when they work at all, so I took the escalators.
Now, for the really important things , red wines in the F lounge and Champagnes are disappointing as they have been since the move to T5. No more Chateau Nenin, nor Chateau Beychevelle, and I haven't found the Batailley mentioned by brunos. The Billecart Salmon rosé has been replaced with a Jacquart Mosaique 2000 (Jacquart Mosaique NV is served on AF in medium-haul business class as well as in long-haul economy; it would be great to have it replace the bland Pommery in CE). I just hope that the catering is not as bad as it was from CDG last Wednesday.
No fast track at south security Mon 28 06:00 - fast track signs were all turned round - should the fast track be operating all the time or just sometimes?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wyvern
No fast track at south security Mon 28 06:00 - fast track signs were all turned round - should the fast track be operating all the time or just sometimes?
At that hour I suspect half the staff hadn't arrived!
I took a flight from T5 last Friday (2nd May) and found the queues pretty horrendous (30 minute wait to get through security) which is a little worry for a terminal which is only a month old especially if you consider that there are still BA flights operating out of both T1 and T4 which have not yet been moved across to T5. I realise May 2nd is a busy travel day in the UK due to the May Bank holiday, but still would have expected a faster security experience.
FWIW, I travelled on Eurostar relatively recently out of St Pancras and found the security queue there was 25 mins long which I felt was unacceptable for a brand new station.
What is going to happen in a few years time when both T5 and St Pancras will see further expansion of services. Were these building designed to last more than 1 year?
They could always consider manning 3 of the 6 security scanners, rather than the usual 2.
To their credit, I think maybe 4 or 5 were open. The queue however still crawled at a snail's pace (approx 30 mins), thus my concern about the future viability of the terminal. This time I was flying Y so no fast track for me!
Also the terminal still seems to have been designed as a shopping mall rather than allowing people to flow easily through the terminal. My partner who builds top-end hotels for a living and therefore is aware of how people should flow through a building was gob smacked at how badly the terminal is laid out.
The F lounge seemed visually quite nice, although having the wine and champagne and food bars separated from each other did seem rather strange as it means you have to traipse right across the whole lounge in order to get food and drinks for you and any other traveling companions. Was anyone thinking when they put this together?
Finally I have to comment on the air quality in the main terminal. It's ok, but considering we have not yet hit summer, I just hope it remains cool. Moving from the indoor part of the F lounge to the "outdoor" section should highlight what I am referring to.
WW gave evidence to the select commitee today alongside feedback from BAA.
On balance he performed well. Very direct and gave the impression of batting straight.
One piece of evidence warrants some interest. He said that the losses as a result of the T5 problems were not as great as those that would have been experienced compared to a delay. He said that it wasn't an option to simply delay for a week ro two - or month or two but would have had to have been a season's delay ie a delay until October. So in other words - on balance BA profited by not delaying.
Oddly no one probed the losses which WW set at £17m. A simple question would have discovered that this didn't include the 7.8% customer downturn since T5 opening and has clearly not been factored into the loss.
