BA connecting flights at Heathrow T5: never again
Jul 1, 2013, 4:00 pm
#16
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Jul 1, 2013, 4:08 pm
#18
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If they published what you should really factor in for MCT @LHR T5 it would not look like an attractive option versus connecting at airports like AMS,MUC and ZRH.
Jul 1, 2013, 4:31 pm
#19
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While I personally agree that T5 has been designed poorly (read miserably) for connecting passengers during peak periods, one issue is that there aren't many model hub airports that have been designed much better for international to international connections. I've recently had excellent transit connections in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Helsinki but I honestly can't recall a single exemplary experience elsewhere in the past few years (especially in the U.S., where all international to international transit areas have long been shuttered). For those of us eager to try alternative connecting hubs, what are the best choices?
Jul 1, 2013, 8:46 pm
#21
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Jul 1, 2013, 10:27 pm
#22
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Although I prefer HAH - Heathrow Airport Holdings, which is what used to be BAA and includes the other airports (not many left: I think just Southampton, Glasgow and Aberdeen) not just HAL.
Can we use HAH instead of HAL? It emphasises what a laughing stock BAA has become over the years.
Jul 1, 2013, 10:42 pm
#23
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Remember "HAL" in the movie "2001 A Space Odessy" which went crazy? Maybe HAL is more like HAL than one might think. By the way, the movie "HAL" is down one letter of the alphabet from "IBM".
More OT: tomorrow I have to connect between T5 and T1 at LHR. How is that? I have about 1:45 connection time. How long to get the governmental activities done?
More OT: tomorrow I have to connect between T5 and T1 at LHR. How is that? I have about 1:45 connection time. How long to get the governmental activities done?
Last edited by relangford; Jul 2, 2013 at 12:10 am
Jul 1, 2013, 10:58 pm
#24
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Remember "HAL" in the movie "2001 A Space Odessy" which went crazy? Maybe HAL is more like HAL than one might think. By the way, the movie "HAL" is down one letter of the alphabet from "IBM".
More OT: tomorrow I have to connect between T5 and T1 at LH. How is that? I have about 1:45 connection time. How long to get the governmental activities done?
More OT: tomorrow I have to connect between T5 and T1 at LH. How is that? I have about 1:45 connection time. How long to get the governmental activities done?
You follow signs for flight connections, take a bus to T1. If your flight from T1 is a domestic (includes Ireland due to the Common Travel Area) you will have to pass through immigration (even if your flight into T5 was a domestic, this is a limitation of the flight connection process and domestic - domestic is so rare it's not a priority to fix).
If your flight from T1 is international (except Ireland) then there's no immigration to go through. In all instances there's security.
If you're lucky all can be done in 30 mins, shouldn't take more than an hour unless you're really unlucky with security queues.
Jul 1, 2013, 11:15 pm
#25
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One would also expect HAL to be aware of the start of the holiday season and get more staff in. Then again, one would expect them to be aware of the relationship between cold weather and snow...
Jul 2, 2013, 12:11 am
#26
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Thanks, layz. I'm connecting from long haul (HKG-LHR) to Ireland (LHR-DUB). Maybe enough time to pop into the BA UK and Ireland lounge.
Jul 2, 2013, 12:23 am
#27
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And that is what makes the OP largely correct in saying LHR T5 is not a good place to connect. Overall I think T5 is a nice place to transit for such a large terminal and it is correct that the security issue isn't really BA's fault. But for the bottom line is that any place where 120 minutes is preferred by many makes it a bad place to connect.
Good point. Something needs to be done to shorten the security times. With reasonable security waiting 60 minutes would be fine.
Jul 2, 2013, 12:40 am
#28
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While I personally agree that T5 has been designed poorly (read miserably) for connecting passengers during peak periods, one issue is that there aren't many model hub airports that have been designed much better for international to international connections. I've recently had excellent transit connections in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Helsinki but I honestly can't recall a single exemplary experience elsewhere in the past few years (especially in the U.S., where all international to international transit areas have long been shuttered). For those of us eager to try alternative connecting hubs, what are the best choices?
Jul 2, 2013, 1:51 am
#29
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Can anybody advise the busiest time of day for getting through flight connections in T5? I've just booked a trip for Mrs Wooster and myself from MUC to DEN in December and we have a 3 hour layover at LHR after our flight gets in at 09:00. From what I have read on this topic so far, I'm wondering whether it would be worth us avoiding flight connections and going landside and back in through the main security channels.
Bertie
Bertie
Jul 2, 2013, 2:01 am
#30
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Agree that MUC T2 is an excellent place to connect, with MCT being 30 mins (and I've done a 40 min connection there myself ... was a little nervous but as it turned out it was so quick I had almost 20 mins to wait at the departure gate!)
HAL, read this and weep (or, better still, pull your finger out and fix things...)
Just 30 minutes connecting time at Munich: How Lufthansa does it
http://www.ausbt.com.au/just-30-minu...thansa-does-it
HAL, read this and weep (or, better still, pull your finger out and fix things...)
Just 30 minutes connecting time at Munich: How Lufthansa does it
http://www.ausbt.com.au/just-30-minu...thansa-does-it
Lufthansa also has sway over the amount of security screening staff provided, Kreuzpaintner said, explaining that adding more staff to increase the speed of security checkpoints isn't rocket science. "If our customers are in queues less, they're faster through the terminal."
That may sound like an obvious statement, but it's rare that an airline can influence the speed of screening -- and in Terminal 2, it's pretty impressive.
That may sound like an obvious statement, but it's rare that an airline can influence the speed of screening -- and in Terminal 2, it's pretty impressive.