salut0

After the attempted bombings in London and the flaming Jeep in Glasgow, AA's Park Avenue checkin at LHR T3 is closed.

Travelling to JFK yesterday, we arrived on the Heathrow Express and went to check-in inside the terminal at AA's desks at Zone B. When we approached the Business Class line they asked if we were in J-class. On receiving the answer "I have a Platinum card" they directed us instead to an empty First Class checkin at a CX desk in the check-in zone opposite, and when I asked, they told me that Park Avenue was closed.

I hope it opens again and doesn't suffer the fate of the very convenient Paddington station check-in desks which closed after 9/11 due to security and probably more likely due to airline cost-cutting...

spanishflea

Was it not already closed temporarily while the rebuilding works went on?

Or had it just been moved yet again?

salut0

Not sure what rebuilding works you're referring to. It used to be across the street where the new car park they are building will be. Once that building work started, it moved into a small shack outside the terminal on the opposite side of the forecourt (left hand side as you drove in round the corner). Now, as far as I understand, even that shack has closed.

Did you mean that the shack had closed since January (the last time I travelled out of LHR T3 before my flight yesterday)?

Traviss

It had been moved across to the the opposite side of the area where the cars/taxis/buses drop people off... on the right as you drove in to Terminal 3 instead of the left.

sllevin

In the little "shed" it was open as recently as Satuirday June 30th (which was the morning after the London events, but several hours before the Glasgow events).

Steve

Cofyknsult

We go across the concourse to CX, they go to Guantanamo, it's a fair trade...

fly co to see the yanks

i like how the check-in area is called PAArk AAvenue.

why is it called such?

you really aren't paarking there. you are just getting dropped off.

salut0

I assume it's nothing to do with parking a car and everything to do with the street "Park Avenue" in New York City.

And for the interested, here's a photo I just found on flickr of the aforementioned temporary Park Avenue check-in "shack" at LHR T3 (it's the corrugated iron thing with a protruding canopy on the left next to the terminal building):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregsbl...n/photostream/

And here's one from the other side of it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdub66/530695185/

(And just for fun, nostalgic reasons, here's a photo of the old Park Avenue across the road. You can see the awning protruding on the bottom right of the picture:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/finkangel/35688329/ )

SNA_Flyer

Park Avenue never really did much for me - I usually used the inner desks when coming off the HEX... Too much of a trudge outside, and the inside rarely had a wait at the F counter anyway.

I do miss the Paddington Checkin - that was absolutely brilliant.

DataPlumber

mAAybe it is merely a fAAiled attempt AAt being witty through repetition?

Frequentflyer99

Can someone please confirm that the shack is still operational. With top tier status is the shack or the CX F desk the better option, if arriving by car ?

Also a real newbie question ! Is online check in available for flights departing from the UK. aa.com suggests not, but surely that can't be right. If it is available, does it open at T-24 on the dot ?

brp

No online check in for international flights on AA. The information on the site about the capabilities of the site is correct.

Cheers.

Traviss

If you're being dropped off by car then you can be set off about 5 yards from the "shack" (its really not that bad!) and be off in to the terminal armed with your boarding passes, in my experience, within 2 or 3 minutes, couldn't be simpler...

SSmith

Only trouble is the shack doesn't open very early. I was at LHR at 6am for the 7.55am LHR-ORD last Friday and the shack wasn't open...

Steve

martin33

it isn't called that. it's called Park Avenue.

and the shed wasn't open when my group departed July 23.