I recently travelled with BA from LHR T5 to JFK. The ticket was booked at the cheapest available fare and UUA into CW (actually as a BA Holidays booking, but that is irrelevant here). This was my first time long haul with BA (and therefore my first time in CW).

I arrived at the airport in plenty of time (3 hours before departure, scheduled for 1610) to enjoy the lounge facilities and, despite no spa slots being available, had a pleasant lunch and read of the newspaper in Galleries South. I had spotted on one of the boards in the main terminal area that the gate for the flight would not be displayed until around 1520. Very shortly before this time I checked one of the prominent boards in the lounge to find that no gate information was displayed. I was surprised that this was not known so close to departure so decided to ask at the helpdesk within the lounge. The lady behind the desk checked the flight information and was able to confirm the gate number, which was located within the T5C satellite building (gate C65). However she immediately added that I should not go there at this time as there are no lounge facilities in T5C.

On walking back to a seat I noticed that the gate had now been displayed on the boards; indeed I took a photo and the time was 1519. On her advice I waited about 5 minutes before looking at my boarding pass and noting that it said that the gate closed at 1550. I was concerned about how long it might take to get to the gate so decided to leave at this time. I then had to get to the transit and wait for 5-10 minutes for the next one to appear. By the time I arrived at T5C it was around 1540. I joined a brief queue at Starbucks to take advantage of the £15 "no lounge" credit which I had read about and then walked round to the gate. The time was almost 1550 as I arrived.

Of course had I been a few minutes later, or the queue was longer than a few people, I would have skipped Starbucks (all the time I kept a very close eye on my watch) - my point is that I am amazed at how short a timescale BA provide to get between the main T5(A) lounge and a T5C gate; I struggle to understand why I was advised to wait in the main lounge when in reality I only had 10 minutes to spare, and I walk quite quickly! Bearing in mind passengers are asked to arrive 3 hours before departure this was unnecessarily tight.

As my boarding pass was scanned at the gate one of the other staff announced that the flight was now closing. Everyone else appeared to already be on the plane and it felt like I was "late". Given that BA knew I had been in the main lounge for a while and very much planning on taking the flight (boarding pass was scanned on entry) what would have happened if I didn't arrive at the gate until after 1550? Would I have been turned away?

This does make me rather nervous about any flights departing from T5C. With T5B you would go straight there after security because there is a lounge, but the advice for T5C was clearly to stay in T5A until the last moment. I can't help but think that I was given bad advice.

Is it possible that the gate details are delayed for the boards within the BA lounges? i.e. the main areas of the terminal show a gate number 5-10 minutes prior to the lounge boards?

I should also add that I am aware of the transit walkway, and did have a quick look for any signage (with no luck). I also decided that my first time going to T5C probably wasn't the best time to try it out!

As an aside I am aware of other airports which provide gate details several hours (up to 24 hours) before a flight - e.g. Amsterdam Schiphol. I think this would be a vast improvement on the current system employed at many UK airports.

On another note I can report that my first (and second) flight in CW were excellent and very enjoyable with an attentive crew - even if I didn't realise the divider between the seats only stayed up if you press the button (and not if you just lift it up...)! If I find some time I will try to write a trip report. They were also my first flights on a 777 and a 747 respectively, and I'm sure not the last.