babats

British Airways will be switching some flights between Terminal 3 and Terminal 5 at Heathrow for the start of this year's winter season as it looks to improve the experience of transfer customers and increase network efficiency.

Since the merger of British Airways and Iberia under the umbrella of IAG, increasing numbers of passengers are taking advantage of the two airlines� complimentary route networks and transferring at the Heathrow and Madrid hubs.

To make the connections process smoother for customers, British Airways will move its flights to Spain from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 from October 30, 2011.

The airline's network and operational planning teams are continuing to work closely with Iberia to facilitate the move of its Madrid services from Terminal 3 into Terminal 5 in the near future.

In order to free up space for the move of British Airways' flights in between Heathrow and Madrid/Barcelona, a small number of destinations will move out of Terminal 5 and into Terminal 3: These will be flights to and from Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, Bucharest and Larnaca.

British Airways� joint services with Qantas to Singapore, Sydney and Bangkok will remain at Terminal 3, along with services to Gibraltar, Lisbon, Helsinki and Vienna.

FlyerTalker688786

But it would be better if Iberia's service standard can be alighed to the same level of BA. No way I am going to pay for a glass of water for the MAD BCN flight.

VC10 Boy

Why not download the free BA ap. 24 hours in advance you can check in and receive your boarding pass. It clearly states which terminal you will depart from. Then just wave at officialdom and your passage through to the gate will be serene, unless said gate is A10.

If planning to fly to LCA, it's moving to T3, so you'll need to find another carrier to ensure the serene experience continues.

Swanhunter

I'd be delighted if CE was brought up to the standards of Iberia.

Camflyer

Excellent news that the Spain flights are moving to T3. That's one less reason to have to use the forsaken terminal.

OPebble

Sorry but my experience is obviously at 180 degrees variance to yours! I avoid IB flights like the plague!

Swanhunter

Better - much better - food, better wine, good service, spotlessly clean planes. BA has (very average) champagne and a full English in the morning.

In Y however BA spanking IB by miles.

BA235

If I've understood this correctly then the BA operated Spanish services will transfer to T5 with the Iberia operated ones to follow at a later date. Now, I'm not complaining because BCN is one of my regular routes and, BA T3 lounges aside, I loathe T3, but isn't this a (further) recipe for confusion?

ian001

Possibly, yes. And as IB operate more flights to MAD than BA the full benefit for transfers etc won't be realised until IB moves in.

For the destinations moving to T3, they are collectively served by about 13 daily flights in the winter season. BA operates 8 flights to BCN in Winter and about 5 of the 13 BA/IB services to MAD. So when IB moves its 8 daily flights to T5, I assume more flights will move to T3.

DWFI

Fantastic. Now not only is VIE in T3, but BUD and PRG also. No love for central Europe...

Why is there some kind of shortage of capacity in T5? Didn't they plan for growth, or is that too forward thinking for BA and BAA?

BizFlyin

You can't fit every flight in one terminal... have a look at how many int'l destinations BA has flights to from LHR.

dnajockey

Don't worry, it will all be fine with T6

BA304

Plan. What is this word you speak of?

I suppose the divide between T3 and T5 is always going to create winners and losers so the only way to decide is based on the patterns of connecting passengers.

Having said that, I think it's a bit unfair that BA flights have to be sacrificed* to eventually make way for IB.

*by which I mean move to T3

where2travel

Actually, does BA fly to a large number of different destinations compared to other airlines from their own hub/country?

I don't know the answer but I've often thought that, although the BA network covers a large part of the globe, the actual number of destinations isn't that great but maybe I'm focussing on long-haul.

DWFI

That's why there is T5A, T5B, T5C, [T5D]
BA has lots of destinations. True. But to give some examples:

EK flies to roughly as many destinations from DXB T3 as BA does from LHR T5
LH certainly flies to as many destinations (if not more) from FRA T1 as BA does from T5
ATL has a similar configuration to T5 in terms of the main building and then satellite buildings, and DL fly to WAY more places than BA.


And the 3rd runway, right?