Originally Posted by
Cuba64
The LHR T2 economy check in is awful... I’ve had pretty comical experiences there. Self service for 6 airlines with the staff to assist clearly struggling. The queue management was a joke. I feel embarrassed for travelers from other countries that have to endure this.
Check in is one of the weak spots of LHR T2. I can see why they divided it into four zones but as the whole terminal is *A plus EI I don't know why they had to be so rigid about the zones particularly as Y passengers with no status have to use the machines and bag drop. You can get huge queues in one zone while another zone is quiet just meters away. The premium check in for which you have to pass through the economy zone is a bit better but sometimes negotiating the economy zone to get to the premium zone is a challenge.
Most airlines then have a number of desks open for premium passengers and there is rarely much of a wait except for LH. When T2 opened I remember asking a number of the staff on the premium desks how they liked their new work place and was surprised that most said that while the environment was a big improvement they often found they were doing nothing at the premium desks but had to watch people struggle with economy check in when they would rather have been helping.