Infocustv

landed T5 13:10 on time connection was 14:50.

That said Karma bit us on the Butt though. After a great service being transferred to T3, when we eventually boarded the Qatar airlines (sub in aircraft) only to sit on it on the tarmac for 2hrs 20min after the aircon went tech, subsequently offloaded and had a new aircraft not long after. 4 hour delay to BUD so did get €300 comp.

Oh and we were only traveling in ET not CE

CCayley

If BA confined its services to things it offers on a consistent basis there wouldn't be very much left! I suppose it's better that some people get this service and so make their connections, even if not everyone who would benefit will end up getting it. This also clears the way for fun discussions in threads involving periodic rants from flyertalkers who missed their flight to wherever because the BA Land Rover was in use elsewhere...

corporate-wage-slave

The MCT on that is 90 minutes and you were 100 minutes. So it counts as tight I guess, even though it is do-able in 45 minutes.

corporate-wage-slave

No limo for me today, I had a CE to CE connection today, T5 to T3, 2 hours 35 minutes on scheduled times, 2 hours 15 mins approx after slots,

jonas123

plenty of time!

redpalmetto

Just spotted this on Business Traveller site:

"British Airways has launched a new service for premium customers, designed to eliminate missed connections at Heathrow.

The new Premium Transfer Drive service offers eligible customers a car transfer from their domestic flight to an onward BA short or long-haul service, where there is a risk of them otherwise missing the connection.

The service is available to the following customers when connecting from a UK domestic service:

Passengers connecting onto a short-haul flight in Club Europe
Passengers connecting onto a long-haul flight in either Club World or First
Silver or Gold Executive Club members
BA says that its team at Heathrow “will track these customers, and where there’s a risk they will miss their connection, will provide an ‘airside’ car transfer between one flight and the next”.

A message will also be sent to the inbound aircraft, so that cabin crew can inform the customer that a car will be waiting, “thereby alleviating any stress or worry”.

Commenting on the new service Carolina Martinoli, British Airways’ new director of brand and customer experience, said:

“Missing a connection is one of the most stressful situations a customer can experience, so helping them through that journey and keeping them informed is critical.

“The new premium transfer service will enable us to identify customers who are at risk of missing their onward flight, and proactively arrange to collect them by car, whisking them directly to their next flight.

“We’re already receiving great customer feedback from customers who have benefitted from the new service and as wifi is introduced on our aircraft, we’ll also be able to use that to communicate directly with customers about their onward flight.”

BA is currently in the process of investing £400 million in its Club World service, with a new restaurant-style dining service launching on its Heathrow-New York service tomorrow, and new White Company bedding and amenity kits being introduced this autumn."

ba.com
This great if so.

redpalmetto

Missed that thread
Mods please close this one

tigertanaka

A welcome improvement from BA - the challenge will be how they deal with this in a consistent manner. Pleasantly surprised that it is being offered for us lowly silvers too.

Not sure there is any chance they will ever drop the the MCT on T5 DOM> T5 INT transfers after this though. I always thought that BA could have knocked off 5/10 minutes due to less walking, no border check and no baggage scan.

orbitmic

I think that is merely the paradoxical effect of choosing to focus on ex-domestic only. It means that with the proposed investment, they will have over-capacity on some days and will end up helping a silver pax with a 1h30 connection from MAN to BRU in Y with 1h20 transit time and plenty of other flights if this was missed, but conversely, they will not help a F pax transiting between MIA and HKG in one hour between T3 and T5 and a need to spend the night in London if they miss their connection.

For full disclosure, only part of my travel is domestic so I am biased, but even if I were excluded for whatever reason, I'll admit that I would have preferred BA to focus predominantly on, say, transfers for F pax (regardless of origin and destination). The way BA has chosen to focus their effort strikes me as rather lazy.

Pilot37

Throughly agree orbitmic! While I am pleased BA are offering a step up in service standards on the ground, I am annoyed at the target having had to do a T3 > T5 > T3 connection last Friday / Monday between International Business and First flights via bus. The Monday transfer was fine, but Fridays took an hour from on-stand at T3 to arriving into the CCR as I had to wait for 3 buses before I could get on. I do count myself lucky that I am able to enjoy the privileges of BA GGL/CCR without paying silly money that some people do, but if AA could meet me off an arriving PHL flight for a private transfer to T5 (for a flight departing 8hrs later) and I am not even in their FFP, BA could do the same for an F passenger arriving into a different terminal!

Pilot37

flying_pig

Completely agree with orbitmic and Pilot37. I would also add that, rather than just connections, perhaps these resources could have also been dedicated to a departure and arrival service for F pax with dedicated escort and vehicle (along the lines of what LH, LX and AF do). Even if they did that "based upon availability" it would have made a lot of premium passengers very happy.

mjh0

The reason for focusing on domestic is pretty evident to me - arriving T5 domestic passengers have already been screened to UK (DfT) standards, so are "clean" from a screening PoV. This is easy to implement.

It comes into it's own with a T5 to T3 transfer, as you keep your clean status by not getting mixed in with arriving international passengers going through the usual flight connections channel and airside bus.

Instead you get put straight back into airside, saving valuable minutes if you're delayed.

I expect it will save about 15-30 minutes on a standard T5-T3 move, depending on arrival gate at T5 (length of walk to bus), wait for bus, and wait for re-screen at T3.

Even on a tight T5 DOM to T5 C gates connection, it's a big help.

Hopefully if this works, it is the first step to smoothing the experience generally.

I do wonder how long it will be before BA and others push the DfT to allow connecting passengers from certain countries which screen to equivalent standards as the UK to be plucked from their arriving plane before being mixed with "dirty" arrivals, and expedited this way, bypassing a re-screen?

lost_in_translation

Whilst I wholeheartedly agree that offering this to ticketed F passengers first would make much more sense (and possibly then extending it further if it works well), that's clearly not the way BA management thinks!

I would also suggest it's possibly a tacit admission that the T5 domestic connections queue situation is now getting out of control. Anyone who's tried to join the queue in the peak morning period knows it basically involves standing still whilst wave after wave of people about to miss their connection are fast-tracked to the front. The queue is normal about 5 times longer than it appears to be!

Tobias-UK

What time is this? I've never waited more than a few minutes for a DOM-INT connection.

tedcruz

You mean immagration!! Relatives of mine who ae silver and have a thing for sitting at the back of the plane constantly miss connections from NCL. This could save me the avios