Originally Posted by
Genius1
Staff don't recommend going to T5B or T5C unless flights are shown to be departing from there, because the average passenger would likely miss their flight if the gate changed - either to T5A or to another satellite. T5A also has most of the shops and services in T5, so is generally a more interesting place, particularly for non-lounge-eligible passengers.
As a counterweight: this non-lounge-eligible passenger finds the crowded, noisy, retail park in T5A most unpleasant, and is grateful for the accounts of the passageways on FT^ -- had a layover of about 90mins this afternoon and took a takeout from Pret* over to T5B, added a drink from the Costa machine, and again found a deserted gate to wait at, get some work done, watch the world go by... Time spent in peace and quiet - more so, frankly, than GC the few times I have been in - before heading back to A to continue the journey. Thank you,
c-w-s for (inadvertently?) making this possible!
But I certainly see why people could get temporalily mislocated going back and forth underground ... so not to question the reasons why this isn't actively encouraged.
* Near-contradiction duly acknowledged!