Originally Posted by
Exec_Plat
I always ask "so where does the flight to XYZ usually depart from?" and "I know I cant rely on that, but it will help me plan"
This will elicit a bit more that "not announced yet"
In Heathrow, there is no "usual" gate. A couple of years ago I got the Heathrow app and tracked the departure gate for my upcoming BA LHR-DUS flight for about three weeks. I wanted to see if there was some kind of pattern, so I could sit in the departure lounge near the expected gate.
There was no pattern. None. That same LHR-DUS flight left from the north, south and middle part of T5A, and a couple of times from T5B. It was absolutely random.
Edited to add 4/8/2016: I want to make it clear that predicting the terminal that a flight will departure from is easy. That you can do from the LHR website. You will know, well in advance, if your flight will depart from T5, T3, etc. Predicting the exact gate is far more problematic. When tracking my LHR-DUS flight, I knew I would depart from T5, but had no idea if there was any particular gate assigned to that flight on a regular basis. I was interested in knowing in advance so I could wait in either the North or South BA lounge closest to my gate.
In addition to having the Heathrow app on my iPhone, with a pop-up notice of the departure gate announcement, I just ask the person scanning my boarding pass prior to the escalators up to T5 Security if they see anything "penciled in" for that flight that day. (The "conformance" check.) So long as the BP checker knows I know it's tentative, they usually don't mind telling me so long as they actually have the info at hand. All that does for me is tell me what part of the T5 departure lounge (north? south? middle?) I should park my butt and wait, hoping for a relatively short walk to the gate. I still keep an eye on the app and the TV monitors. Things can and do change.
I'm pretty much used to the routine. I've been making the LAX-LHR-DUS trek every year for the past 20+ years.