Terminal 5 Transfer Advice
 

I will be arriving at Heathrow in a few weeks' time from Seattle at 1120, with an onward connection on BA from Terminal 5 departing five hours later. My priorities at Heathrow are to have a shower and, if possible, a decent (hot) breakfast and would appreciate advice, observations etc. on my options.
I assume that I can leave the secure area and use the Arrivals Lounge but wonder if, realistically, I have enough time before it closes at 1400. Has anyone experience of entering the lounge after landing at around 1130? For example, UK Border queues, availability of food in the lounge, the keenness of staff to close at 1400 etc.
Perhaps it would make more sense to go directly to a Galleries lounge. Does anyone know if the Galleries' showers are readily available or are there queues for their use at this time of the day? Am I right in thinking that I would not be able to get breakfast at around the middle of the day in a Galleries lounge? (I do know that Galleries' breakfasts are nothing like as good as those in the Arrivals Lounge.)
I'd be grateful for any advice (particularly if I've missed something important) and thank you in advance.

I have never had an issue waiting for a shower at T5. Granted my sample size is only 12.

Even if you do have to wait fo 30-45 minutes I think any time spent waiting would be offset by the time and aggravation of clearing customs and immigration to visit the arrivals lounge.

Hot food in Arrivals tends to disappear around 12:00! :(

I've also never had to wait for a shower. I think you'll be fine and it's not worth the hassle of going through border control twice.

The hot food in the arrivals lounge is cleared away at 12. They close like clockwork at 1400, too.

Given the fact you'll arrive at around 1130, and you'll need to clear immigration and customs, it's probably going to be well past 12 by the time you've got to the arrivals lounge and had a shower. Presumably you'll want to shower before you scoff breakfast? :)

I'd forego the arrivals lounge and just go straight to T5 galleries and get a showered and fed there. The curry isn't all that bad, really!

Urgh! Does it?

I'm arriving at noon in a couple of days and figured I'd be there about 12:30 so was counting on grabbing a quick hot breakfast.

Will they prepare anything to order if there's no hot food out?

Hi,

Sorry but I do not think so ( there should still be some cold food available)

Regards

TBS

OK, thanks muchly for the info, even if it's not what I wanted to hear!

That's really annoying. I actually chose that combination of flights so that I could use the arrivals lounge for breakfast on my way through.

Oh well.

What class of travel are you arriving/departing in, and what oneworld status do you have (if any)?

I don't think it's worth going to Galleries Arrivals for 11:30 - most hot food is cleared away from 12:00, if not before.

The Concorde Room, Galleries First and Galleries Club departure lounges all offer a breakfast menu officially until 12:00, but usually this is switched at around 11:30 to the 'all-day dining' menu.

I've done BA48 many times into LHR and I usually manage to make it into the Arrivals lounge before the breakfast clears. They used to clear at 12.00 but for the past few years they leave the hot food out until at least 12.30. As for immigration I think fast track is now open until 1.00 so that should help speed things up assuming your eligible to use it. The UK/EU line is usually fairly quick no more than 10-15mins.

I pass through the Arrivals lounge from the 284 frequently - most recently on Monday this week, and this has certainly not been my experience.

Fresh hot food stops coming out from the kitchen at about 11:30 and then is left until 12, where everything is then fairly quickly cleared away. There might be a spare sausage and some rather dried up, cold beans at 12:10, but you'll probably not be wanting to eat them.

I am assuming you are are arriving from Seattle in Club World. There's definitely no point going through to Arrivals, at that hour I think there's a high risk of getting no breakfast. Or more likely forced towards cornflakes and a banana.

In your shoes, if the quality of offering is important, I would pay a few pounds and eat at Plane Food (unless you have access to the First Lounge or CCR). In other words sticking airside. You may want to go to Plane Food first if a hot breakfast is specifically what you want, then maybe go to South Lounges for the shower afterwards. Now there maybe a 20 minute wait for a shower, they give you a bleeper thing, so normally one would go into the lounge during that period. So that's why you may want to eat first, then have a coffee in the Galleries Club lounge waiting for your shower call.

One factor to bear in mind is your next flight. If this is ex-Europe, it may go from Gates B or C. Again another reason for going to Plane Food first, but the lounge there is generally quieter (at least in my experience, but not everyone's). However if this scenario is correct then you may well find yourself arriving and departing from Terminal B, there is a mini flight connection there, very quick, so it would be hassle free to stay there, even if you end up missing breakfast and going straight to lunch. There are showers in T5B but for some reason I've never had the chance to use them.