KARFA

Well I suppose at an extreme you can walk all the way to T5C. Go up to -2. Get on the transit when it arrives. Wait until the doors close on the departures side and open on the arrivals side. Get off. Go down to -4, and walk back to T5A

Definitas

we became aware of the walkways a few years ago, courtesy of FT and I had always assumed that the same tunnel is used for arrivals and departures (we have definitely seen people walking in the opposite direction to us), In the unfortunate event that we are languishing in the T5B lounge and had to return to T5A for bussing, I have always thought that we would have to walk back to T5A. Am I correct In understanding your post that we could get on the shuttle and not get off when the doors open but wait until the opposite doors open for departing pax to board and exit on that side and then just go up on the lift to 5A departures? That�s genius if it's true.

KARFA

yes so what we are discussing here is landing yourself, and if you did what I mention you would be at immigration when you got back to t5a. (EDIT: i.e. I am talking about staying on at T5C).

the basic princple if you want to remain in the departures stream is if going A->B->C you can take the transit or walk. If you want to go C->B->A you can only walk. If you stay on the transit at C you will swap in to the arrivals stream.

scottishpoet

Reading cws's post below I realise I misunderstood the quoted post, so deleted my post

corporate-wage-slave

No, at T5A the inbound transit is searched by HAL after arriving passengers have left, and the other doors not opened until the search is over. It's also bound to be slower than walking back which can easily be done.

emworksintv

Sat in the T5B Galleries lounge and just heard a manual announcement for passengers on a Washington flight now departing from A10. The announcement made it clear that they must take the walkway rather than the train and then gave clear directions - not sure if that is common but it's very sensible for them to clarify this.

Now I need to make the same journey myself as my (different) flight is also departing from A10 it appears!

AirborneLocksmith

What is the (approximate) distance between the start of the tunnel at T5A and the end of the tunnel at T5C (the door to the exit platform for the transit)?
I'm doing a "run at least a mile each day" challenge, and because of long flights, my only chance to get a run in during a particular day in June may be during my LHR layover.
I figure T5A to T5C + up and down the T5C concourse (south end to north end and back) + T5C to T5A would do the trick since measuring the distances on mapmyrun.com it looks like it's about 700 meters between T5A and T5C (wall to wall) and 280 meters from the south to north end of T5C, but it'd be good to know more accurate measurements if someone happens to have it.
Another option would be to take the TTS to T5C, go through the door to the tunnel, and do T5C-T5A-T5C-T5A (full length of the tunnel three times)

NWIFlyer

I've never formally measured it, but based on my walking time from A to C using the walkways that feels about right - maybe even a little short. If you actually have to run the mile, I think you'll have difficulty doing any of it around the gate areas themselves because of the volume of people - quicker and easier just to double back for 100m or so at either end. You could even press the lift button on your return at A and you'll likely have covered the distance by the time it arrives.

Obviously you're going to need an "offline" way of measuring because you're not going to get a GPS signal down there. You could try taking the lift to the gate area at C then letting your watch get a signal. It should then make a straight line best-guess of the distance, but unless it's vital to be that accurate it's a bit of a faff.

AirborneLocksmith

Thank you for your feedback. I'll skip the plan to run in the gate area.
The "run a mile a day" challenge operates on an honesty system. If I estimate the distance as accurately as I can, that's good enough. Running the full length of the tunnel three times should be more than enough to surpass a mile based on any information I can find. I found a post on a runners' forum stating that the advertised length of the TTS is 670 meters, so the pedestrian tunnel should be about that long as well. I know that I won't have any GPS coverage down there, but my Apple watch does a decent job of tracking running distance without GPS coverage. If the Apple watch says that I went farther than a mile (at least 1.2 or 1.3 miles), I'm confident that I went at least one mile.

corporate-wage-slave

The end of the passageway in T5C is the TTS station. The start at T5A is slightly before. Using Google maps I get 770 metres, so I think 750 is a good assumption to T5A to B to C, then back again then T5A to T5B is your mile.

chacor

First time today I've had the lounge dragon at T5B question me if I knew how to get back to T5A afterwards – I reassured her I did, to which she responded "not your first time then?". Wasn't expecting that, my previous T5B lounge visits have consisted of a BP scan and that's been about it.

corporate-wage-slave

I can scarcely believe this thread is 10 years old. But in the early days there was often a challenge about doing this, not to the extent of denying access, but sheer amazement that anyone would know about the passageways. There are many signs now advertising the route, but that wasn't the case, going back in time (hence the thread). These days the usual reaction is not even to check the gate, but some agents like to write on the gate number if it's blank. But usually it's a matter of supreme indifference.