Transit in London
While I have transitted at London Heathrow many times and across pretty much every combination of terminals, this was my first time at T5 so I was interested to see if there were any differences.
When I booked the trip I found the airline schedules gave a long connection of some 11 hours. I toyed with the idea of a side trip, but the only "safe" options were out and back on the same aircraft (ie limited to BA and BD shorthaul). I also toyed with heading into the city for some shopping. However when packing for the trip I decided to save weight and not bring cold weather clothes just for a couple of transits in colder climes.
So I decided to stay in the airport. As I would not be able to get the onward boarding pass until a couple of hours before departure of my next flight, this also meant no going landside to use the BA arrivals lounge.
With a new terminal and early arrival time we got a real gate and not a remote stand. Yay. That is very rare for me flying BA to LHR. We had a short train ride to the main terminal. The passage to flight connections was rather twisty when I recall the advertising about T5 having straight lines for passengers to progress through. I didn't have to wait long for a bus to T3. It took the bus rather longer to reach T3 than it took the 747 to taxi in the other direction! At this early hour there was no queue at security. Despite the total lack of queues it took 40 minutes from arrival at T5B to reach airside at T3. In peak periods I guess it would be closer to 2 hours.
I'd already checked my lounge options. AA flagship lounge, CX first lounge, JL first lounge and Servisair (contracted by the airline I'm flying with). At this early hour only AA was open (and just barely), so I headed directly there. I was allowed in on the strength of my paper ticket and elite card.
The lounge is okay and one of the better ones for American Airlines. It has a couple of showers (key from the staff manning the kitchen), toilets, 2 computers. Breakfast "food" until mid morning and then a little real food - soup, sandwiches, fresh fruit, as well as the usual lounge junk food. A mix of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Champagne was Charles Varcy.
I had a shower first. As I had lots of time I limited my time on the computer to short bursts, and only hopped on when both computers were free, to enable all other lounge users the option of using them. In between I grabbed some drinks and later also had an early lunch (breakfast having been very early local time onboard the BA flight). There was a steady flow of passengers coming and going all morning without the lounge ever feeling crowded.
Less than 3 hours before departure I went back to transfer desks to try to check in, but it was still not open. I then went to the nearby Cathay Pacific first class lounge. The agent on reception clumsily admitted me. This was nicer, being less full and better food. Champagne was Veuve Clicquot.
Less than 2 hours before departure I went back to transfer desks. There was still no visible sign of check in being open so I walked up to their agent, Air Canada, and was able to check in. I then returned to the lounge, where the agent was happy I came back as he could now enter my details into the computer and thus register a charge for the lounge access.