KARFA

Very odd. You usually get an update if late with some reason. I don’t think I have ever been on a ba flight which boarded on time and was an hour late leaving where the flight crew had said nothing.

corporate-wage-slave

That's invariably mentioned in the Captain or First Officer's spiel just before or just after doors closed. Even if the delay is quite short, perhaps waiting for the last of the baggage to be loaded, then the flight deck pretty much always says so.

u01sss3

I agree. I came in from DXB in March and from JFK today and both times at a remote stand that was occupied. Today's was only meant to be 10 minutes and eventually was 40. We disembarked 45-50 minutes after landing.
Suddenly my 2 hour connection to EDI became tight.
Immigration/E Gates was a breeze was led to a huge line for security - I notice the fast track feature still hasn't been reopened; no doubt to protect us from Covid or some other penny pinching nonsense.
In the end, my shower and breakfast in the lounge never happened so I was hungry and grubby up the road in Y.
I wonder if allowing so many AA/QR flights in T5 has hampered things?
Two people were shuttled away off the aircraft by the Concorde Team but that obviously doesn't extend to a regular GCH.
​​​I should add, the flight deck seemed frustrated and kept us up to date with the info that they had.
​​​

CarefreeBA

Were you on the BA182 today? It seems like you were held for about 40 mins before arriving onto the stand. ATC probably doesn't even know themselves and they're just awaiting for the 'assigned stand' (whatever that is) to become available. The aircraft on your originally assigned stand didn't get towed off and the one on the new stand was delayed by 20mins. It all adds up but am glad you made the connection!

I would agree 100% that QR and AA are taking up BA space at T5 - in these situations it just means a longer, unnecessary wait. I think since T4 is closed, flights which are there move to T3 and therefore AA move to T5. Operationally, it makes sense that AA makes the move but Heathrow is simply trying to squeeze 85% of traffic into one less terminal at the moment and whilst it's not a crumbling disaster, the impact is felt everywhere as things are just slightly more busy.

South London Bon Viveur

Agreed- in my experience the one thing on BA that is consistently good is information from the flight deck. And usually an apology (which, face it, is a very British thing anyway). I'm surprised I haven't yet heard any obvious annoyance on the part of the cockpit crew at these delays and other operational problems- I would have thought the temptation to have a moan to passengers must be quite high, as these things must drive them pretty mad as well.

Captain Schmidt

Apologies, I had assumed that as the OP had started this off as a discussion around an F/CE itinerary, that you were also flying in the pointy end so the cost of a car service wouldn't be an issue.

u01sss3

Hi, yes, I was indeed. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, it's always appreciated to get a look at the bigger picture, even if it was a bit frustrating. Again, the flight crew did their best to keep us informed but probably weren't given the best info themselves.

BOH

I'll add another:
- too many people who cannot be ar$ed to lift their tray off the belt after the security scanner and turn 180 degrees to use a table to re-pack their stuff. So many pax try and re-pack their stuff with the tray still on the belt and this just jams the system up for other trays coming through. Plus pax who do this, then compounding the situation further by just walking off after re-packing their liquids, laptop etc and leaving the empty tray on the belt

NickP 1K

30 mins? This was at morning peak too. Not sure if going through immigration and rechecking in first wing is really that much faster in the grand scheme of things, what do you save entering the UK 7-10 min at most. That also assumes no e-gate issues which can crop up once you choose to go down that route.

Lomapaseo

Thanks for the many comments above. I had been considering using BA to get to the continent but all the discussion about LHR and term 5 has put me off to ever choose BA.

If I were to purchase multiple F tickets for a family group is there any hope that BA would escort our lounge and BA connections for the octogenarians among us

South London Bon Viveur

Totally agree. There should be an instruction for people to do this. To many of us it seems like common sense, but I guess for a lot of people the whole flying/airport experience is disorientating, and things that might seem obvious to me might not be so obvious for someone who is less familiar with everything. A gentle "Please leave security belt area immediately and repack in the repacking area" or something like that might actually help. I also make an exception for older or infirm/physically impaired people, for whom handling trays away to a repacking area might be difficult.

Silver Fox

I don't know what was so bad about the days when there were no trays and just a conveyor belt. Perhaps the mists of time have dimmed my memory and that was a frustrating experience too. Dunno.

Markie

It was agreeably fast today - landed from CDG on an A gate near immigration - A16.
Lots of people at the eGates but very few filtering to the Gate 1,2,3 .... end.
Read passport first time, exited Customs and up to Gold Wing.
2 machines working and one person only at the bins.
In lounge about 20-25 mins after we got to the gate.
(BA Wifi down still.)

Markie

Plus too many people with more than two bags. Somehow there are people who think a man-bag or handbag don't count and they can have two cases in addition to their personal item.
Interestingly Paris CDG checks bag size at check-in which was ok for my compliant wheelie. However, a couple who got to the gate with their bag had a bit of a meltdown with the gate staff, so much so that the crew were told to expect 'angrys' when they boarded.

MaxFlyer

+1. This is one of my biggest airport pet peeves.
Yesterday I just of put away about a dozen trays while waiting for my tray. Even the guy waiting next to me who saw what I was doing just left his tray on the belt after repacking at the belt.