Totally OT for this thread now, but since you asked....
I assume they got away OK thank you. After getting them checked in Mr WSM and I left them at the Assistance waiting area opposite H, with an estimated wait of 20+ minutes for someone to come along and take them through.
I feel so very sorry for whoever eventually went through security behind them. They turned out to have hand luggage full of various liquids and potions, plus an asthma inhaler in every pocket, stubbornly refusing the plastic bags I suggested they start decanting stuff into while they waited. ”We didn’t have to do that when we left Sydney.”
If they didn’t get stopped for trying to smuggle through a large bottle of chilled water I bought them for the wait, I suspect they drank it all (“Throw it away before security?!? We hate wasting water!”) and then had to make several toilet stops each on the way to the lounge/gate.
BA and airport staff gave us a rather disappointing run-around when we arrived at T5 to be honest. We were first sent to the Assistance check-in desk at A, where I transferred the frail friend into an airport wheelchair while we queued. Then, when it was discovered that the pair were travelling in CW, we were sent to check in at H. So I had to push the frail friend in an airport wheelchair plus our now empty borrowed wheelchair the whole length of departures while his wife pushed the luggage trolley. (Mr WSM had been parking the car and was by this time waiting at H. He didn’t know where we were because he doesn’t ever know his mobile is ringing unless I pick it up and throw it at him.)
En route to H a passing BA member of staff said that they might even do the checking in at the Business Class Assistance desk. “I can’t check you in! I am nothing to do with BA!” was the response we got there. So over to H to join a long queue. When I asked if there was any way to avoid having to queue, we were directed to a dedicated assistance check-in desk at G16. That would have been good had it actually been manned. We were finally taken to the First Wing check-in desks but that experience was lost on my friends who were by now getting quite fed up.
They encountered none of the disappearing bookings problems I had feared earlier in the day. Checking in was only slightly delayed because only one of the pair had a visa for getting back into Australia - she is a citizen and he isn’t, but she forgot to offer her Australian passport instead of the British one.
After a long day Mr WSM and I were glad to head back to the Hilton T5 (after a small detour to get a bottle of wine and nibbles from M&S) then spent the rest of the evening sitting outside sipping wine and plane spotting.