kered

If there was ever proof that the saying YMMV was accurate, this is it.

As it was all through the 90's that I enjoyed my transfers through Heathrow the most & as I said up thread, actually looked forward to my time spent transiting the airport.

Funny ole world isn't it, one man's poison and all that

+1 on that statement ^

I've grown to detest T5 with a vengeance & yearn for those halcyon days of yore when I used to be a regular T3 transfer passenger.

Actually about a year or so ago, I got to re-live those T3 days for a couple fo hours when "Mrs Kered" & I had a TATL trip with VS. I have to say that once we machete'd our way through all the "passenger processing" to get there, we found that we thoroughly enjoyed our time spent at T3.

A brief little snippet of enjoyable Heathrow time again

Arsey00

Kered, although our miles may very well vary, that statement was actually paraphrasic of yours. I was replying to the person who disparaged pre-T5 LHR with a wide brush, only agreeing that 'just' prior to T5 (early oughties), it lost its shine. But that through the '90s, I really enjoyed it.

The something that needed to be done, by the way, was *not* T5. I won't say it's as bad as T3 at its worst, but still a complete waste of effort.

kered

Ah yes, I see now ^

hillrider

The benefit to HAL may be measured in an increase in sales per square foot of retail space.

hillrider

Incidentally, there is data out there that says that BA long-hauls out of conformance-less T3 have a higher punctuality than BA long-hauls out of T5.

Love BA onboard service, hate connecting at T5. Especially when you're stopped at conformance at T-35, only to see at T-15 that the aircraft you've been offloaded from by the conformance BS is delayed by 45 minutes and you would have had ample of time to make it, instead of being stuck with a 3-hour delay.

catandmouse

+1 to this
and of course once you're airside again, absolutely impossible to find someone who might "on-load" you again. Has happened to me too often to count, which is why for me conformance is a big fail.

zhaobao

I wonder if HKG already has some sort of this in place. Security people scan your BP and confirm your name on your ID before letting you proceed to immigration control and the actual security, and technically, this could link to all the airlines and airport control of each airline would know whether the passenger has either boarded, is somewhere in the secure area or out there. They just don't automatically kick passengers out as yet if they show up at T-xx.

corporate-wage-slave

[Duplicate post]

corporate-wage-slave

It's not (yet) linked to flight operations. I went all the way airside to discover my aircraft had been cancelled, and had been for some hours. Since I didn't have checked luggage it was only in the lounge that I found this out. Due to the complexities of HKG I suspect they would not be able to put conformance in place, but the system certainly checks the boarding card for date of travel (etc).

stifle

A large majority of airports scan your boarding pass before you go through security and can supply this data. The focus of the question is whether passengers should be stopped from going through security if they have not done so by a certain time.

iplaybass

Ultimately, what does this mean for those of us doing the T3 to T5 shuffle? I am looking at a 1:40 transfer, flying inbound on AA F. If I understand this correctly, if I don't get my connecting BP from flight connections at T5 by T-35, then I'm basically stuck waiting for a rebooking on the later flight?

Thanks... had no idea it would get this complicated.

wyvern

I have never been a fan of conformance.

Now there is a requirement for passport checks if you have OLCI'd, I think there is an argument for making the conformance time the time of your first interaction with the DCS/check-in system at the airport, be it SSCI, bag drop, passport check or entering the security area.

I'd also be happier if the conformance time was T-30 not T-35 - for a lot of airlines is T-30 still the latest a business class/premium passenger can check in with hand baggage only.

I'd be even happier still if conformance was not enforced and offloads happened if you were not checked in at all at T-30 for short haul/T-45 for long haul, or were not at the gate at T-20. Other airports manage something like this perfectly well.

CUPPSIT

The same thing is already in place at LGW (both terminals & for all flights) and is being planned or deployed at lots of other airports across europe. At least Heathrow have decided to tell people about it rather than leave it as a surprise when the gates/security agent refuse to let you through.

Big difference is that for BA the conformance check goes back to BA systems (i.e. are you actually checked in etc..) whereas for all other airlines it is just a simple check of the boarding pass compared to the status/time of the flight.

Having to escort passengers who have missed their flight back out of the departure lounge costs time & money (to some combination of the airport/airline/handler) so everyone wants to reduce it as much as possible

shorthauldad

Loads of airports have a really cunning solution to this "problem". You are allowed to exit the airport yourself, as if you were an arriving passenger (i.e. through any applicable border controls). Doesn't cost time and money if you lay the bl**dy terminal out properly in the first place!

I suppose T5's designers were so desperate to allow UK Domestic pax full access to all the shops that having a segregated area for Domestic flights was ruled out early on...

Disco Volante

Why is it necessary to escort them?