MaxFlyer

On 10 March I thought I hit the jackpot as the 173 was showing gate A18. I thought it must be one of the long haul planes being used on short haul routes hence why it was parked there. However, the gate then changed to A10. We all got on the bus only to be bussed around the corner to gate A18. We had to climb the stairs which are inside the tower that connects the jet bridge to the terminal. No one could understand why we couldn’t board from A18.

dwugson

Couldn't help laughing while looking up the You First contact address - 'Priority boarding, straight from our exclusive First lounge' as one of the benefits of traveling in F. Who do you think you're kidding!!! Especially as the bussed gates seem to be used more than ever at the moment.

salut0

“elf and safety?”

SxMan

The worst possible thing is when an aircraft is doing an inbound to one terminal, say terminal three, and an outbound from the other – in this case terminal five. It will probably park at a 5 remote stand, which means an incredibly long bus journey for passengers arriving and needing to be taken to terminal three.

ademanuele

I was on BA1370 LHR-MAN yesterday. It departed from the dreaded Gate 4B. Was a little surprised to be taken to a plane that was connected to a gate on Terminal 5B and we boarded from the rear of the plane. I appreciate 5B is usually used for international, but is there a reason why we could not directly board rather than getting a bus?

KARFA

there are only two gates on B which have the biometric equipment needed for domestic and DUB/JER flights, so I suspect the aircraft wasn’t on one of those and therefore passengers must be boarded from A4 or A10a

ademanuele

Thanks, that would explain it. Interesting that LHR enforces/requires biometric checks, this stopped at Manchester T3 (after Covid?), and there are no routine checks on passenger identity. Perhaps there could be some flexibility on how/when used at LHR (as in this example) to improve the customer experience (I assume passenger photos will still come up on the computer screen at the gate). Time taken (and annoyance factor) to get passengers on a bus and to the plane (plus additional time for passengers with disabilities) vs a check of a photo at the gate???

KARFA

for MAN the connections centres closed at the start of covid and never reopened so there is no need for biometrics since everyone has come from landside.

at LHR if doing an INT-INT connection you do not do immigration and stay airside, so there is still a need to check that people getting on a domestic flight are the same as came through security - and they haven’t swapped BPs with someone on an INT-INT connection who has not gone through immigration.

Jambon87

Since I restarted international travel in March 22. Every connection has involved a bus gate, wether that’s been disembarking via bus or boarding via bus gate.

This has ranged from waiting an hour to disembark a 789 from Dallas, to just last week the chaos of A4 Gate on a flight to Glasgow and the utter chaos that ensued from it.

I seem to be unlucky in this regard, and dread a LHR connection.

abraxias

I had four flights in a row from T5 that went from bus gates. All to different destinations too. Just think BA hate me now. It’s even more grating when you’re in a premium cabin and looking forward to the whole experience.

xxxxx

Or, more likely, the PBB was unserviceable.

Visconti

RE: The Bussing Craze

Ok, a bit of a rant here, but in the past several weeks, I've been bussed on LAX/LHR multiple times (until now, I thought perhaps it would be best to avoid airports beginning with an L), and recently during my transfer in DOH, I was, you guessed it, bussed again to a long haul! Not sure if it's a post pandemic thing, but I've been bussed more in "First World" airports this past month than I have in my entire life of flying, 30+ years, give or take.

A suggestion for BA. Though I'd imagine any pax would be disappointed at finding the bus gates, at least QR handles it by boarding in separate busses, coach in a larger one, while J/F in another more comfortable one. If busses remain a necessary evil even for First World airports, at the very least BA should consider mimicking QR here?

iamfrequentlyatflyertalk

Could anyone confirm what the pre boarding process is for any of the bus gate departures. Is there a specific bus for those requiring extra time and those with infants who pre board ahead of priority boarding, or are they also crammed into the buses with the luxury of being first on last off?

IJN Harekaze

The last time I ended up with the A-10 gate of destiny and doom, those that could not walk or had mobility issues were put on a scissor lift and boarded through the front right after being taken to one side before the buses left

thegreatmrsj

No those with infants or needing longer time are indeed first on, last off and trying to board in the general melee of people pushing off the buses