“All departures to America from T5B”
 

pre clearance prep?

Pre-clearance?

Hopefully not! Presumably that would make the T5B lounge out-of-bounds to non-US passengers...

There would be merry hell to pay if pre clearance were only available to BA / AA at LHR.

So no.

Anyway I thought T5 was already full hence why BA also used T3. Are BA really going to shunt more flights to T3 to accommodate AA at T5? I think not.

American Airlines moving to T5 so that all TATL is in one place and we lose the T3-5 connections for Europe-USA and BA moving more non-US long-haul flights to T3 - with a new OneWorld lounge in both...?

American as in airline or country (?) in OP? :confused:

I think the OP meant all BA-operated flights to/from the US have started using T5B only.

Thence, we have speculation to why that might be....(assuming it is a pre-cursor to something else, and not just an arbitrary logistical challenge BA have set themselves...)

My speculative vote was then than American Airlines might move to join BA in T5B to bring the TATL joint venture under one roof. BA would have to move some more flights over to T3, but would I guess look to prioritize those flights with the fewest premium connections to the US and other T5 flights...

Pre-Clearance would be a negative in my view as Global Entry negates much of that benefit.

Perhaps if AA moves to T5B all/most/some flights without a First cabin will move to T3.

Surely, pre-clearance would be a huge benefit for those without Global Entry (who comprise the vast majority of passengers)?

Perhaps I'm misreading your post, but you seem to be saying that you would not like to see pre-clearance at LHR because then every Tom, Dick and Harry would have the same easy entry to the US that you currently enjoy.

Plus if you have GE, it still makes immigration quicker than for everyone else at the pre-clearance....? Which - given the connections model BA runs at T5, could be really important as without GE you would need to allow longer for connections...

Pre-Clearance isn't all it's cracked up to be. At pre-clearance in Dublin, they don't trust that Dublin airport has done its scanning job properly, so out come your liquids and electronics again and off come your shoes. If several US-bound flights are departing at the same time, the queues can be enormous. Global Entry helps with that, of course, but I still find GE on arrival quicker than on departure.

One other nice thing about immigration on arrival is that you clear into a quieter area of the airport. With pre-clearance, you're treated like a domestic flight and disembark into a terminal thronged with hordes of departing passengers.

No I don't have a problem with everyone having Pre-Clearance, just that it means you have to be at the airport much earlier and tight connections are problematic.

Edit to Add: Also those with CCR and GF access will also have to head to the gate at least an hour, possibly 2 hours, before departure which would be a negative for all of them

It's not a trust issue more of a regulatory issue. The US and Ireland/EU have different screening requirements and therefore all passengers going airside at DUB pass through Irish security screening and passengers travelling to the US (on a pre-screened flight) also pass through US security. There was a trail in SNN a few years ago looking to a combined screening solution but I haven't heard anything of it since. Link

Aside from the T5B issue, I’ve done pre-clearance at DUB a few times (some good, some awful) and a fair few more clearing on arriving in the US (without GE, because I’m an infrequent peasant).

Give me pre-clearance any day ... the last thing I want at the end of a long flight/day is horsing around in an Immigration line at destination. And, IME, mingling with the Domestic pax at the far end is perfectly survivable if you you don’t have your head up your backside. At PHX, after Immigration & Customs you end up in the Reclaim Hall with everyone else anyway ... after a longggg walk!

I use LHR too infrequently to comment on the theory being expounded ... I can see benefits and disadvantages, especially with the very poor T3-T5 connection issue.

The same is true at AUH. You first go through regular security screening to get airside and then a second security screening to enter the US CBP area before meeting an immigration officer. I've generally found the CBP officers based in AUH more friendly than those at any US airport.

my guess is they are going to stockpile all of the 772s with Rockwell-Collins IFE at T5B so all of us flying in/out of the NYC area are guaranteed the worst possible experience, especially on the 8-hour return home...

T5B has four A380 capable stands.

Opinion is divided l.. :D

T5B stands 544-558 (5 in total) are wide enough for an A380 - I alighted at one of these recently when all the capable gates at T5C were either obstructed or faulty. None of these have 3 airbridges though, so if they are used then the upper deck passengers need to disembark via the aircraft's internal stairs.

4 in total, 544-547. 548 is not A380 accessible, 558 is on T5C.

Is 558 slightly narrower? Looks similar to 557 but I obviously have never measured it myself :)

As far as I can see we have gone from all of T5B being for flights to the USA to pre-clearance in a single bound - yet for the life of me I cannot see how they could process all those passengers in that space. Maybe I will wait and offer opinion when this is actual fact rather than speculation on our parts.

That would have been true 10 years ago maybe but I do not think that it is true anymore. I do not have GE but I find entry into the US since the kiosks have been in place no longer the major pain than it used to be. If you have pre-clearance, it means that you front-load the extra time needed to proceed through clearance. And since you need to plan on the basis of the worst case scenario, it means that you must turn up at the airport a long-time in advance, especially where you have a large number of flights leaving within the same departure window, which would be the case with London. If you want to have some sense of how counter-productive pre-clearance can be in some circumstances, just turn up any saturday at AUA and see the humungous queues of people "pre-clearing", which results in having to turn up at the airport much, much earlier than would otherwise be the case.

That would not work like that. Minimum connection times would have to be calculated so as to ensure that the quasi-totality of passengers can make the connection, so, even with GE, your minimum connection time would be based on the lowest common denominator of passenger lambda. What you would gain is some more time in the lounge, assuming that the lounge is located after pre-clearance. I suspect that a consequence might also be lounge-overcrowding.

Ah, PUCCI, with the right incentives they coukd get rid of a lot of shops to create the space. ISTR there’s a aubstantial core to T5B, and as many here know the BA Lounge upstairs is quite large for the custom it receives. I could see a solution.

If you mean 548, it's not about the width, the pavement hasn't been strengthened to support the A380. 558 and 557 are on T5C and are both A380 capable, but 558 is a non-contact stand.

Never likely to use it so didn't give it much attention but I'm sure I read something recently about that being on the cards. If there's room then it would make sense.

Señora Pucci, you beat me too it! I couldn't see how a 747 waiting for a gate at T5C can immediately become 'pre-clearance is starting at T5B'. I've only had one small beer and two glasses of wine, so I don't think my misunderstanding is due to alcohol consumption. (I'm eating albondigas, but I don't think that's entirely relevant.)

Perhaps it's due to my advancing years. Can some of the more switched on members of FT explain how a plane waiting for a gate at T5C means pre-clearance is coming to T5B?

Yours,
Confused.

I've had a look at the AA board

There is not a peep about any possible AA move to T5. Nothing, Nul, NADA

I imagined wails of 'no' at them being deprived of the CX and QF loungesand the proposed AA Flagship Lounge in T3 and being forced to use BA Galleries in T5

But nothing!

Sorry to disappoint, but USA departures from T5B has largely been around efficiencies. The team who do the passport checks/selectees and security searches can be based there with little need to be going between T5B and T5C. This also means that the swabbing equipment can be based at each gate and not need to be moved around. Moving them ends up with them having to be calibrated after each move.

Longer term there may be other benefits to having these flights in T5B.