Spymon

I know most people have got better things to do than pretend to be somebody else for a day, unless of course you happen to be in show business. Today however, I would pretend to be someone 20 years older than myself, turn into a woman and somehow find the baby change! It could mean only one thing, another Heathrow Terminal 2 trial is upon us.

With a 2PM departure to Cleveland ahead of me it was time to catch some last minute snaps and sightseeing. The old BBC building and a few shots of the good old London Underground are always fun to share, they are famous the world over after all.



DSC06885 by Spymon26, on Flickr


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After a short hop to Hammersmith it was time to change from pink to blue (or should that be blue to pink, this acting thing is not my cup of tea) and onto the Picadilly Line to Heathrow Terminals 1-3. The trip was uneventful bar an immaculately dressed BA flight attendant sat opposite me who like the rest of us was buried deep in her phone. I wonder how BA compares to UA?

We were soon at Heathrow and it was only a short walk to the terminal building from the station.


DSC06891 by Spymon26, on Flickr


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I was kindly dissuaded from taking the elevator as the escalator apparently offered a more scenic experience. They were not wrong, the majesty of flight was there in front of me, hopefully I would not be brought down to Earth any time soon.


DSC06893 by Spymon26, on Flickr


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It was soon time to check in and not being a fan of those self-service check in desks I decided to try and check in for my flight. I knew I was a good 4 hours early but better safe than sorry. Despite checking my instructions I was unsure where to go.


DSC06897 by Spymon26, on Flickr

I thought I was in the right place but it was hard to figure out where to go. I finally realised that behind all these fancy self-service desks, right at the back was a queue, it was long and slow moving with a United Sign on the monitor. Perhaps this was where I was supposed to be?


DSC06896 by Spymon26, on Flickr

Unfortunately I was not a First Class, Business Class or Star Alliance Gold so I would have to queue with everyone else for a change. Whilst I was waiting for what seemed like 40 minutes I got talking to a nice man who regularly travelled from the UK to India and Spain. His son was a pilot with one of the airlines and he made for good company during the painfully long wait to check in. If I had been allowed to I would have tried one of the self-service desks, surely even someone like me could have figured it out. I also bumped into a friendly chap with a bright yellow luggage tag on.


DSC06898 by Spymon26, on Flickr

There were all kinds of weird and wonderful luggage today. Thankfully I just had my carry on.


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I wonder what was taking so long, the ANA queue next to us was moving at a much better place.


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Finally I managed to check in and then off to security, well not quite as I made an accidental turn into Fast Track and was politely sent on my way to the next lane over.


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Security was quick and efficient, with good space and plenty of trays. I had agreed to meet my friend at the baby change, but where was it?


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I followed the signs but ended up at the lounge and they certainly weren't going to let me in there today on my Economy ticket.


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It was nice to see plenty of seating in case my old legs got tired with a long wait to go to departure.


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With time to kill I picked up a rather awful cup of coffee and a tasty chocolate muffin and after finally finding the baby change took a look around.


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With departure time approaching it was time to head over to the B gates where UA1305 would be departing today. Time for one last stretch before I being packed into that special seat, 43B a middle seat, my personal favourite.


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And I thought the escalators at T5 were long...


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At least I wasn't on the Denver flight.


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For some reason this cave like feature of the terminal was my favourite part, it had a special, almost secret quality to it.


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Self service boarding seems like fun, where should I go today...


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It was a beautiful sunny day in London, not as if anyone would believe me!


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I don't think they'll be needing these today.


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A quick stop at the rest room to freshen up.


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Time to relax before boarding is called.


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Maybe next time?


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This looks shiny.


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Back to my favourite spot again.


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It was soon time to board and it was a bit confusing with the screens saying one thing and not knowing on who's left or right I was supposed to be boarding on...

Unfortunately we hit a snag and the plane was not flying anywhere today. Instead we had to head back to border control and as an apology for the long queues we were given refreshments and a small gift, how nice.


DSC06941 by Spymon26, on Flickr


DSC06942 by Spymon26, on Flickr


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DSC06947 by Spymon26, on Flickr

And with that it was time to return to reality. In all T2 looks lovely, it was a shame the lounges weren't ready yet as it would have been fun to try and sneak in. The only negatives are that it is quite a trek over to the B gates and one poor soul was sprinting down the corridor linking T2A and B as he was somehow late for his "flight" which I found quite impressive. Also the mobile signal and WIFI was terrible everywhere in the terminal I checked. Hopefully this is something that they are able to fix before the real passengers start checking in.

exilencfc

He was probably delibirately made late. Well you'd hope so anyway.

Another interesting T2 report - I don't think anyone from FT has actually 'left there' in F yet! Maybe I will be the lucky one in a couple of weeks time?

Top of climb

Nice report and photos. Glad they haven't done the stupid T5 option of putting in a time-wasting transit between the main terminal building and the satellite. Seems a bit dumb they have "numbered" the lounges using the same format as the gate numbers though.

sky303

Cool report. What's this?

CLEHillbilly

I am curious about the route, was that a special UA charter? UA never flew LHR-CLE although CO ran CLE-LGW for a few years, but that was years ago.

enviroian

I was thinking the same thing! I remember when I lived in Cleveland in the late 90's taking the non stop 752 to Gatwick (if memory serves flight 28). When I read this I didn't realize they brought this flight back (albeit Heathrow).

At any rate great report!

CosmosHuman

I'll be flying into T2 this November on EI. Looking forward to all that newness.

Spymon

It's a travel adaptor, though it looks more suited to grinding pepper in an italian restaurant. Glad people enjoyed this fake TR!

GregWTravels

So you were supposed to be a mom travelling with a baby (presumably, otherwise why would you need the baby changing station), but didn't have any checked baggage with you? That is either the best-packing mother of a newborn in the world, or a woman who is seriously delinquent mother.

Good faux TR.

CMK10

Thanks for the report, definitely a fun read and a nice intro to T2.

A couple years ago I got to test the new ATL Terminal F. My "boarding pass" was for an ATL-CPH flight

14940674

United did not bring back the flight. The T2 trials have used many fake flights, including this one.


This was an excellent trial trip report.

Spymon

Thanks GregWTravels, I didn't understand the exact scenario either. Maybe the baby change is code for something I am too innocent to understand.

Thanks CMK10, glad you enjoyed it. Some people reported they were able to check in online for these fake flights themselves and use mobile boarding passes though I don't think that was part of the trial.

Thanks 14940674, glad you enjoyed the fake TR!

SYM

Great report.
Just curious, which restroom did you use (M or F)?

Spymon

Use your imagination, but there wasn't a queue if that helps.

Unfortunately I did not take a photo of what was to the right of the sinks!

Nice bathrooms and all automatic so they felt nice and hygienic.