Starcloud

As the title says really. Having done a few flights into LHR with BA in recent weeks, one which was onto a connecting flight (both T5), I don't understand why they don't announce the arrival gate on arrival. I have flown KLM in the same period who do. It is really annoying.

ACARS

Because it is pointless and useless information. When you arrive into LHR and disembark you have two options, flight connections centre for security or the border to land yourself into the UK. You don’t enter the departures area until you’ve accomplished at least one of those. The only difference is a domestic arrival which is a straight forward exit with no border check, or a boarding pass check to get back into the departures area. At AMS you disembark into the departures area.

chgoeditor

Moving this to our BA forum.

chgoeditor
co-mod, Info Desk

Can I help you

Exactly, you can only enter the departure gate area after clearing security at the flight connection area within each of satellite buildings or the departure security.

golfmad

I tend to agree with the posters above but I'm interested to hear from the OP why knowing the arrival gate at LHR would be useful?

YacozA

Assuming they know (I am convinced sometimes they decision the gate after the plane has landed).... BA's IT systems are in need of other modernisation rather than this added (mildly un-useful) functionality.

BA6501

I suppose knowing the satellite (or not) of arrival can be helpful for general "knowing" of how long it may take to get landside (there's a big difference between arriving at A12 and C56's mile-long jetbridge); it can also be helpful to those on short connections (who may well know their onward gate already via the app) if they know they're doing a T5C-T5C connection for example. But this is only really useful to those who know T5 very well - that said, that's true of any terminal/airport for whichever airline does announce this...

orbitmic

I disagree it’s useless. As mentioned above, knowing which section of t5 you arrive at enables you to make more informed decisions if you transfer (eg on where you might want to recoear security and whether to use transit or walk). I certainly make those arbitrations but of course I don’t need anyone to tell me where I am.

having said that, to me, the far more useful info and one Ba to my knowledge is the only European major never to give - is departure gates for connections leaving shortly. Again if arriving at a satellite it would make you save a few precious seconds when deciding whether, say, to head to the A gates or clear security at b or c;

my personal view is that Ba’s departure gate information (be it on screens or in flight) is worst in class within Europe and whilst the idea of keeping departing pax captives so that they waste their money in shops is bad enough, I find the whole notion even more unjustifiable with connecting pax for whom a minute or two saved will sometimes make the difference between making or missing your connection.

msm2000uk

If I need to know the arrival gate, I look out the window.

Those of us who spend far too much time at LHR, can narrow down the gate number range pretty quickly once the airport starts taxiing towards the relevant satellite and side.

M

golfmad

I'm trying to remember whether the Flighty App gives me BA gate arrival information. It certainly does for AA but I just can't remember whether it does it for BA. I'll have a check on Sunday. Or perhaps flightyryan can confirm?

SxMan

Recently, pilots have announced when we are arriving at a gate very conveniently located for both immigration control, customs and then exit.

My most recent arrival was to a remote stand somewhere near the fire station – although this was not mentioned until the doors were actually opened. At which time it was – oh, we are at a remote stand and buses will take you to terminal three. Terminal three! We were virtually outside terminal five.

Scots_Al

Your last sentence is they key one. If you're sufficiently familiar with the airport to make those decisions, you're sufficiently familiar with it to know where you are without being told!

orbitmic

i don’t really agree. There are plenty of shades of knowledge between the « don’t know, don’t care » and the weekly or more flyers like any of us who might even know from habit which of our frequent flights to a short haul destination often goes from B or C gates rather than A based on frequent rotations and day of the week.

For instance, plenty of people will have flown a few times and experienced the transfers at A v B gates but not enough to recognise which is the terminal their plane is approaching from sight. Or if I have family members or friends who fly I will routinely give them advice on how to optimise transfers but they will need to know which part of the terminal thru are arriving into to use that knowledge. And of course there are the onboard magasines even dematerialised which give info on airport maps and connection for a reason and which many people look at to be prepared but which become useless if you are not told where you’ll be starting from.

In fact, I can even use my own example: I dislike LH so rarely fly them but I am an experience flyer and still transit with them through FRA once or twice a year. I know enough that I have experienced the « good » and « bad » arrivals for transfers at fra and can always check ft before a trip to see if anything has changed, but I don’t use fra enough to clutter limited brain space with an instant memory of the terminals geography.

i think sometimes on ft, because many of us fly a lot, we tend to think that everything below us qualifies as « occasional » but that’s not quite true. In the real world, there are many shades from people about to set foot on a plane for the first time in their lives to people who fly 5-10 times a year who may not be as « frequent » flyers as some of them sometimes assume but fly well above the human average and more than enough to be able to prepare their connection well.

Several of those in between categories could certainly find some use in such basic information and to be honest, I’m not really sure what the downside would be of adding « we are arriving into terminal 5, B gates » or whatever to the arrival message by either pilot or sccm. if anything, that’s certainly less superfluous than « as you can see it is raining ».

D1L

If arriving away from the main terminal of T5, its pretty much a standard that the pilots will announce "we are parking at T5B / C". The cabin crew won't announce this, as believe it or not, that arrival stand can change from leaving the runway until actually pulling up to it.

If there's a large group with short connections, it's common that a ground agent on the airbridge with further information will be there or a request is given to make an announcement onboard.

The gate information and departure screens at LHR have very little to do with BA. If they already know the gate and their aircraft is there, then its Heathrows restriction to "hold" people within the shopping and dining areas until approx -60 or under. This is the case for all airlines, not just BA. Again however, another reason, particularly on shorthaul related flights, is that as mentioned above, the assigned gate can change at very short notice for a huge amount of reasons...

CT-UK

I have been on a few inbound flights where they have had a large number of tight connections and they have said those travelling to XYX you flight will depart from the B or C gates.