Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Posts: 63,807
I know some people like to settle down and get relaxed before the hoardes start rampaging on board down the back, but it really doesn't make sense at T5 if you are in First, CE and CW. With very few exceptions you are unlikely to have luggage issues (and if you did, they would be caused before any boarding....).
The way T5 works is that they can't close boarding before T-20. So if you sail in at T-22 you'll find an empty gate on longhaul (and sometimes shorthaul too), and you can walk in unimpeded. You simply time your departure from the lounge accordingly. You can get to any T5A gate within 6 minutes from the Concorde Room, 13 minutes for T5B and 16 minutes to T5C.
If you turn up early, you just add to Sheer Weight Of Traffic (SWOT), which is often re-intepreted as "everyone but me".