msm2000uk

Is this like something from Harry Potter? If you run at the signpost for Gate 64 fast enough, will you be transported to a secret BA Lounge ?

M

Globaliser

You mean that the T5C lounge won't suddenly appear, fully-formed, overnight? I had personally put no store by the apparent absence of building works there - or maybe I simply haven't noticed them.

corporate-wage-slave

I can't remember where I put the original post - it was several years ago, but yes, BA do provide a lounge wifi router in T5C, using the usual password. The router is to be found just above the seating area facing T3 of Starbucks (by the bin area), which old lags will remember as the alternative lounge provision arrangement at T5C.

Prospero

Those architectural sleuths among us will have noticed the small structural projection attached at high level to T5C's core near Gate C56. This has all the hallmarks of an escalator landing connection. Of course, the escalator is absent at the moment but what it tells us is provision has been built-in for future public access to a new mezzanine level, probably not too dissimilar to the current arrangement at T5B. Have a look the next time you're there.

sixela73

Is the Starbucks arrangement dead? I've been through 5C twice but never had time to test it

corporate-wage-slave

Dead as a dodo, and partly thanks to this forum from what I was told, too many abuses going on.

Lucanesque

That must be it... can you try it and report back (pictures helpful). Ta

mmxbreaks

I've always been perplexed why there is no lounge at C gates. It's the only satellite where the A380 can depart, which means more passengers, more business passengers, more status passengers and, therefore, potentially less pressure on the T5A lounges.

That said, often the gates aren't called until relatively close to departure time, sometimes "you'll be leaving from C gates" at the check-in desks manifests as B gates an hour before departure. And there's a lot of business in T5A that Heathrow will be wanting greatest footfall to pass through - especially high-earning passengers with expendable cash, theoretically those in F (who, presumably, will be sticking with the Concorde room over any T5C lounge anyway?).

xenole

I've always wondered why all the long haul flights are from the remote gates therefore taking those passengers away from shops etc. and having the short haul flights from the main terminal, those passengers being less likely to be having an hour or two meal, duty free, Louis Vuitton shopping etc.

As for a T5c lounge, looking at how empty the B gates one is, would it actually take people away from the A gate lounges? Ideally, I want to spend as little time as possible in a terminal with 2-3 shops and little else.

Don't think it's all the high earners who are spending cash, thus the first wing so they could avoid the shops.
More likely your average say Japanese tourist getting excited over a £800 LV bag, Union Jack gifts and some bottle of whisky for example.

Calum

I am firmly against a lounge in T5C, the quieter T5C stays the better unless of course they get on with T5D.

jdtravels

Without knowing the actual reason, I'm just randomly guessing here. But I would postulate that for the present at least, it's because of how the gates were built- meaning that there won't be enough space for the larger planes to attach to T5A bridges. As for what happened at the planning stage, perhaps they expected quicker turnover of narrow-bodies? That would reduce the overall number of passengers having to make the trip to the B/C concourses.

pennineuk

Many airports have their short-haul gates close to the main entrance/concourse. I guess it is to minimise travel time to/from entrance to aircraft. If you are on a long haul flying for many hours, a longer trek to a remote gate is a small proportion of your overall travel time, compared to a domestic or European flight of just a couple of hours.

xenole

Well, most business people etc. on short haul flights aren't going to be turning up 3-4hrs before their 1-2hr flight.
With a lot of airports, LHR, being shopping malls with planes attached, surely the idea is to maximise the footfall rather than cater more to those who aren't likely, or in a position, to take advantage of duty free etc.

A lot of people do turn up early at the B/C gates as they like to be on time, follow announcements (blindly) and so on. Factor in travel times, boarding 30-40 mins before a LH flight and that's a good hour of people's time that I'm sure the airport would want them to be spending money in.
It pretty much makes it easier for the people on shorter flights to spend as little time as possible at the airport at the expense of those more likely to spend.

Back to the C gates.
I'm shock that someone actually had some sort of foresight to even think of putting in something for the future!

Personally, I would like the Starbucks offer to come back. Got to be cheaper than building and running a new lounge especially seeing as it wasn't that widely known?

UKtravelbear

Lots of the short hauls are UK domestics and perhaps it is easier to have them use T5A as it is easier to keep the passengers separated so they can just exit.

UKtravelbear

Well they thought about building a shell train station and tunnels so space for a lounge and an escalator is hardly rocket science.

I wonder of it was HAL or BA who decided on the shell space for the lounge above the gates?