The T5 Pods are back :)

Old Sep 21, 2022, 4:26 am
  #61  
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There is no pedestrian access around that part of the perimeter road.
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 4:34 am
  #62  
 
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Originally Posted by chriswiles
T5 pods are not back. Down for maintenance again yesterday.
Wow talk about timing. I used the pods yesterday morning at 07am, they seemed to be working fine. A couple more reports and we'll have near-realtime POD reporting. Also thanks to the heroes that continue leaving the Thistle gate open
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 4:45 am
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Originally Posted by chriswiles
It was open when I flew out on Friday, but definitely noticed it was more juddery and a bit slower. The thing is though, you have to go all the way to second floor to find it's closed....and you pay extra for the convenience!
I flew back in on Sunday and there was a sign on the screen saying "We've had to slow down. Your journey will take a little longer today".

Sounds like POD will need to be quite a lot cheaper to offset the risk if you're booking any time soon, over just booking short stay.
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 5:01 am
  #64  
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Originally Posted by Wozza2404
I flew back in on Sunday and there was a sign on the screen saying "We've had to slow down. Your journey will take a little longer today".
That sign has been there for some time now. The journeys are definitely slower these days. A few weeks ago I arrived at Pod Parking Station B to get the pod and there were two engineers working on one of the doors, while the other doors for the other pod wouldn't close. They hadn't noticed this, so I asked them if there was anything they could do. It seemed not, so walked up to Pod Parking Station A and caught one from there. Not exactly the premium experience LHR makes you pay for.

I'm giving up on parking at Heathrow now. The prices are ridiculous. It's becoming cheaper to take a taxi for anything more than a two day trip.
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 8:42 am
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Originally Posted by gms
I'm giving up on parking at Heathrow now. The prices are ridiculous. It's becoming cheaper to take a taxi for anything more than a two day trip.
I have pod parking booked next week and wanted to change it to short term as I don't want another 'down for maintenance' again at 10.30pm, but short term was almost 300 🤦🏽‍♂️
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Old Sep 22, 2022, 3:19 am
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Two of us used the pods Tuesday night and again Wednesday morning. Thistle never charged us when we arrived at the hotel Tuesday night, and only charged us one fare when we departed Wednesday morning.
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Old Sep 22, 2022, 4:53 am
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Pods working today which pleased Mrs.Also got flubbed on the Orlando flight so my luck in today for a change. 😁
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Old Sep 22, 2022, 5:42 am
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Originally Posted by Mike Skyflier
Pods working today which pleased Mrs.Also got flubbed on the Orlando flight so my luck in today for a change. 😁
They always work in the day. I've not had an issue getting on them flying out, it's flying back at night. They seem to close early. Twice now they've been closed after 10pm. Problem is, first you know is when you go to floor 2 and you see the 'bus replacement' warning. So frustrating.
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Old Sep 22, 2022, 6:25 am
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What time do they start? Hoping to use them tomorrow morning some time between 5-6
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Old Sep 22, 2022, 6:41 am
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Originally Posted by jowlymonster
What time do they start? Hoping to use them tomorrow morning some time between 5-6
4am.
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Old Sep 22, 2022, 1:42 pm
  #71  
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Originally Posted by chriswiles
I have pod parking booked next week and wanted to change it to short term as I don't want another 'down for maintenance' again at 10.30pm, but short term was almost 300 🤦🏽‍♂️
BA sell tickets for London to New York for 305 return.
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Old Sep 22, 2022, 2:42 pm
  #72  
 
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Originally Posted by chriswiles
They always work in the day. I've not had an issue getting on them flying out, it's flying back at night. They seem to close early. Twice now they've been closed after 10pm. Problem is, first you know is when you go to floor 2 and you see the 'bus replacement' warning. So frustrating.
Pods were down Monday morning and 30 minute wait for a mini bus which was only big enough for half the que. Pods were back up and running Wednesday night. Agree they should stick something in the terminal when pods are out so you can walk straight to bus rather than go up, down then realise you just missed the replacement bus and thats another 20 mins
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Old Sep 22, 2022, 3:31 pm
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Originally Posted by rlnnpt
Pods were down Monday morning and 30 minute wait for a mini bus which was only big enough for half the que. Pods were back up and running Wednesday night. Agree they should stick something in the terminal when pods are out so you can walk straight to bus rather than go up, down then realise you just missed the replacement bus and thats another 20 mins
Definitely the galling thing about the POD service. You pay for the speed and convenience, then you have to add 20-30 minutes extra to get the friggin bus! Totally right.
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Old Nov 17, 2022, 9:32 am
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I recently had the experience of parking up only to find the PODs were inactive, and as others have experienced, I had to wait ages for a bus which was not big enough to take everyone queueing, and so missed the first one. Luckily on my return the PODs were working otherwise I would have faced the note sending me down to the bus stop, so I appreciate it could have been worse.

The whole thing actually made me quite angry, not because the PODs weren't working (these things happen after all) but rather the substandard backup bus service, and that HAL effectively charged me for something they didn't provide. I expect all of this is covered somewhere in their small print, but it did prompt me to complain to HAL on the basis of poor service, which I rarely do. I filled in the complaint form and got a response within an hour with an offer of a partial refund. I felt it was fair based on the degraded service. In reality it was only a token amount which set me inline with the regular long stay parking charge on that date instead, but that's all I actually asked for. It was the principle of the whole thing that prompted me to complain. I hope others have had, or may have similar success.

The disappointment I still have though is that I probably won't book the PODs for the time being as I really don't want that feeling of "will they be working, or won't they". At least with the regular long stay it is consistent.
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Old Nov 17, 2022, 9:45 am
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Originally Posted by travelsbyplane
I recently had the experience of parking up only to find the PODs were inactive
I've given up on the PODs since the last two trips landed around 10pm-ish and they were out of action and you only get to know when you get to floor 2 of the car park and see the notice! You then have to go all the way back to the ground floor and wait for a bus - often adds 45 minutes to the wait time, which totally negates the price you pay for the 'convenience' of the PODs.

And that's overlooking I left my briefcase on the POD replacement bus (bearing in mind it would have been around 11.45pm!) as it's black and the bus was so dark, which caused more delay and, as you say, the bus is tiny and can only take around 12 people, meaning you have to wait for it to do an entire loop before you get picked up.

I just pay extra and use short term parking. Sure it's a little more expensive, but you always get a space and it's the closest.
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