QueenOfCoach

Are you interested in visiting an airline lounge in LHR or LAX? If so, what class are you flying? Economy? Business? First?

LAX/HKG

Thanks QueenOfCoach.

We will be flying in J with no status with OW. If we have time we will certainly want to spend some time in a lounge at LHR.

QueenOfCoach

If you are flying Business Class (J) long haul, I believe you can get access to the BA Galleries lounges in LHR. I am not an expert on the BA lounge access rules, so I certainly invite correction from those who are. I believe, also, you can get access to the lounge in TBIT in LAX. Since I always fly AA out of T4 in LAX, I am not familiar with the TBIT lounges.

There are two BA T5A lounges, plus one in T5B. One at the north end of the terminal, one at the south end. When I flew J into LHR from LAX, I simply wanted to know which lounge would be closest to my departure gate. That's why I tried to figure out, in advance, the probable gate. As I mentioned before, that plan was unsuccessful.

Last time I just asked the guy who checked my BP before the escalator up to Security and he indicated that a A22 was "penciled in". Thus, I went to the South lounge and, luckily for me, that "penciled in" gate was in fact the departure gate. I had a relatively short walk to the gate.

With AA J tickets LHR-LAX, you can certainly get access to the Admirals Club in LHR T3 on your way home. I believe you can access other OW lounges, as well, but I personally have never done that. The AC is fine for me. Some say other OW lounges are better, for what ever reasons. I'm not all that fussy.

nbevan

I can also recommend the British Airways app for AAdvantage members who are quite often on BA segments. It also provides the gate information, and the current estimated arrival time at your destination. And it works for the return trip as well.

To use it you need to join the BA Exec Club and put in the BA record locator for your flights. It also has the benefit that if you book flights on ba.com they will be prepopulated with your personal information (and you can switch to your AAdvantage number at the end of the booking process).

oak522

Is it possible to land yourself after a stay in the Concorde Room during a connection? I arranged time in a cabana for part of a long layover, but it turns out I have a T3-T5 connection. Now I'm debating A) Keeping the CCR reservation and landing myself after showering, etc or B) Cancelling and using the T3 arrivals lounge and going into London directly.

KARFA

I presume you have a fairly large gap between flights? How long is your connection?

You can land yourself and there is information at the bottom of post #2 on how to do this.

Bear in mind when you return to T5 you will have to speak to someone about unregistering you as 'Ready to fly' as the system won't record your exit and think you are still airside. Tbh I would probably just use the T3 arrivals lounge and head in to London though.

QueenOfCoach

Excellent, thank you. I will do that. I just today booked a LAX-LHR-DUS round trip.

oak522

Thanks. Yes, I have 8h10m at LHR, so after a shower I would probably end up passing out in a lounge all day, which seems a waste. I'll ring YouFirst back and cancel.

ThreeRT

Was on the 920 from STR last night, after the standard announcement for preparing for landing, we were treated to an all-singing, all-dancing 'how to' video highlighting the various options for transferring at T5. Over the course of six or seven minutes, the video runs through the procedures for the main types of transfer, namely INT/INT, INT/.DOM, INT/T1-4 (no mention of using e-Gates however! ). I was beginning to think that this was a new 'enhancement', however the mention of T1 led me to think this was a legacy video that is no longer used. Having recently read this guide in preparation for a ex-SVG TP run over Easter, I couldn't help but think that the video had used this thread as a reference!

I only fly 20 or so SH segments a year, and don't recall seeing this video previously. I can speculate that the flight had plenty of onward connections that evening, and maybe the cabin crew thought it may have been of assistance? The plane was one of the newer 320s (G-EUYR), which had a more hi-res moving map than other birds in the fleet.

KARFA

That's a very old video, I have seen it a few times before but it doesn't seem to get played much either on domestic or short haul flights these days. I think if the video has used this thread as a reference it would be more up to date and comprehensive

corporate-wage-slave

I've seen it a few times. Mixed Fleet are more prone to play it, I guess it's on their checklist. On domestic flights (so departing ABZ and MAN) it's somewhat misleading, the rest of it is more or less right though some minor bits have changed.

gw76

Did the basement walkway from B to A, but found it slower than previous occassions using transit.

KARFA

I am trying to think about the last time I saw it, but it must have been months ago perhaps on some flight inbound from the European mainland. LBA is EF and I am more often than not on the last flight down so really no need for a video showing you how to connect at that time. I'll be down from MAN early next month in the early afternoon on a Saturday so I'll see if it gets played then.

BA6501

Walk faster

Innocent Abroad

I have a constant issue with the Fast Track queue in North Security when going through Flight Connection at T5A. The FT queue at the BP and passport control is marked very clearly (at the right hand side of the hall) but I could never tell how to get to the proper queue in North Security. It seems that the escalators take you to the regular queue and that the FT is at the left side of North Security. Is it so? And how does one get there after clearing FC?