jday

Are BA borrowing a CX plane?

KARFA

It's just on one of the remote stands on the section between T5C and T3. You will often see CX and VS planes on those stands at the south end. There aren't enough air bridges on T3 so often aircraft are towed to remote stands during turnaround before being towed back to T3 for boarding.

Jetstreamer

I don't think that is a T5 gate. Lots of airlines park aircraft in the area around T5C. You often see VS, QF, AA egg parking aircraft around there.

corporate-wage-slave

It's also a place where any Qantas jets spend their time. The A380 is typically a little further over, nearer T3, and these days its rare to get any of their other aircraft, but this photo looks to be the area between the usual A380 haunt and T5, which Cathay and AA uses for those services with a long turnaround time. So they'll offload their passengers at the gate, get towed over in the early hours of the morning, and then get towed back to the gate in the middle of the morning or later.

Very occasionally a non BA / IB service will use T5: there was an easyJet diversion some years ago, and because it had domestic passengers it came into T5A gate 3 (or thereabouts). Unfortunately I wasn't able to photograph it.

msm2000uk

The LHR-BKK often boards from a Remote Stand at T5, and it is usually surrounded by AA and CX planes.

Bear in mind, the CX planes spend around 10 hours on the ground before moving, so they're deposited in the remote areas - likewise the TG A380, QF A380, various VS aircraft, et al.

M

Heathrow Tower

The stands 581-583 'belong' to T3, and are used for remote parking for long-turnaround T3 flights...usually Cathay.

It's the same for stands 590-596....QANTAS tend to use 594.

None of these stands have piers.

JamieABZ

[QUOTE=msm2000uk;28347731]The LHR-BKK often boards from a Remote Stand at T5, and it is usually surrounded by AA and CX planes.

Bear in mind, the CX planes spend around 10 hours on the ground before moving, so they're deposited in the remote areas - likewise the TG A380, QF A380, various VS aircraft, et al.

M[/QUOTE

Oh, any reason why the BKK often gets a remote stand?
Only asking because I'm on it in a couple of weeks - I hate being bussed.

corporate-wage-slave

Essentially it's luck of the draw, they won't bus the larger jets if they can avoid it, and therefore the previous longhaul 767s were often selected for bus services. Now the 777-200s are at the wrong end of the pecking order. Another factor is the percentage of connecting passengers, which again doesn't work in favour of BKK, despite your own connection, since bus gates are supposed to close down at T-20 on the dot, unlike airbridges.

I think the A10 bus gate isn't too bad, once you realise the gate won't close until T-20. So just saunter down to A10 at T-25 and you will be in your seat far faster than the schlep out to B48. It's under 5 minutes from all the T5A airside lounges. If you are the sort to hang around in A10 for 40 minutes then unsurprisingly it isn't a good experience.

ahmetdouas

I just get a seat nearby with my pretamanger and itsu and watch the BBC news = ) Time can fly. Now if only the Heathrow Free Wifi wasn't so slow!

msm2000uk

[/QUOTE

Oh, any reason why the BKK often gets a remote stand?
Only asking because I'm on it in a couple of weeks - I hate being bussed.[/QUOTE]

As CWS has said, it's luck of the draw.

However, my assumption has always been that it's a leisure flight (3 class on an old 777-200) and thus BA feel they can 'afford' to bus passengers.

All that being said, CW is ok on the older birds (smaller IFE screen) and the MF crews to BKK have been the best I've ever experienced.

M

JAXBA

You'd think that, but in July 2015 I had the pleasure of being bussed on both arrival and departure for my JFK flights in F. I quite like the bus myself, but it really can be 'luck' sometimes…

BA6501

The AMM/BEY are quite often A10 jobs too.